Scienture Holdings, Inc. 10-K

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS You should be aware that there are substantial risks for an investment in our common stock. You should carefully consider these risk factors before you decide to invest in our common stock and should not consider this list to be a complete statement of all risks and uncertainties. If any of the following risks were to occur, such as our business, financial condition, results of operations or other prospects, any of these could materially affect our likelihood of success. If that happens, the market price of our common stock, if any, could decline, and prospective investors would lose all or part of their investment in our common stock. Risks Related to Our Business We operate a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate its current business and predict its future success and viability. We hold a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Scienture LLC was formed in 2019 and its operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing its company, business planning, raising capital, identifying and developing its product candidates for the treatment of central nervous system (“CNS”) and cardiovascular (“CVS”) diseases, securing intellectual property rights, and planning and undertaking preclinical studies and clinical trials. Scienture LLC has not yet demonstrated an ongoing ability to generate revenues, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture any product on a commercial scale or arrange for a third party to do so on its behalf or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Scienture LLC’s limited operating history as a company makes any assessment of its future success and viability subject to significant uncertainty. Scienture LLC encounters risks and difficulties frequently experienced by early-stage biopharmaceutical companies in rapidly evolving fields, and Scienture LLC has not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome such risks and difficulties. If Scienture LLC does not address these risks and difficulties successfully, its business will suffer. The success of our business depends primarily upon its ability to identify, develop, and commercialize product candidates, including our existing product candidates: SCN-102, SCN-104, SCN-106, and SCN-107. We only have one product candidate, SCN-102, for which it has conducted pivotal clinical studies to date, and we will be required to similarly perform pivotal clinical studies for the other products in its pipeline in order to obtain regulatory approval for these earlier stage candidates. Our business depends heavily on its ability to obtain FDA approval for SCN-102 and successfully launch this product candidate and do the same for the other products in its pipeline. We do not know whether it will be able to develop any products of commercial value. We do not have any products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date. We will continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to its preclinical and clinical development and ongoing operations. As a result, we are not profitable and has incurred losses in each period since its inception. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and likely will continue to have, an adverse effect on our financial condition. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we continue our research and development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if, and as, we: ● advance our product candidates through clinical development; ● seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials; ● hire additional clinical, quality control, medical, scientific and other technical personnel to support the clinical development of our product candidates; ● experience an increase in headcount as we expand our research and development organization and market development and pre-commercial planning activities; ● undertake any pre-commercial or commercial activities to establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, including in relation to our product candidates; ● seek to identify, acquire and develop additional product candidates, including through business development efforts to invest in or in-license other technologies or product candidates; ● maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; and ● make milestone, royalty, interest, or other payments due under any in-license, collaboration agreements; financing agreements, or other arrangements with third parties. Biopharmaceutical product development entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any potential product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval, secure market access and reimbursement and become commercially viable, and therefore any investment in us is highly speculative. Accordingly, you should consider our prospects, factoring in the costs, uncertainties, delays and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in clinical development, especially clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies such as us. Any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they would otherwise be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known or unknown factors in achieving our business objectives. Additionally, our expenses could increase beyond our expectations if we are required by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities to perform clinical trials in addition to those that we currently expect, or if there are any delays in establishing appropriate manufacturing arrangements for or in completing our clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates. 32 Table of Contents We need additional capital which may not be available when needed or on commercially acceptable terms. Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our product candidates. Developing biopharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. Moving forward, we expect our expenses to continue to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we conduct clinical trials of, and seek regulatory and marketing approval for, our product candidates. Even if our current or future product candidates are approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with research and development of product candidates, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of our working capital requirements. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our operations with existing cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and any future equity or debt financings and upfront and milestone and royalty payments, if any, received under any future licenses or collaborations. While we believe that our cash as of the date of this Annual Report will be sufficient to meet our funding requirements during the next 12 months, this belief may prove to be wrong as we could utilize available capital resources sooner than we expect. We will eventually need to raise additional capital or secure debt funding to support on-going operations. This may include raising additional financing on an opportunistic basis in the future. For example, we may seek to raise equity capital or obtain additional capital in the near term due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for current or future operating plans. Attempting to secure additional financing may divert management from day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop product candidates. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including but not limited to: ● the scope, timing, progress, costs and results of discovery, preclinical development and clinical trials for our current or future product candidates; ● the number of clinical trials required for regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates; ● the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of any of our current or future product candidates; ● the costs associated with acquiring or licensing additional product candidates, technologies or assets, including the timing and amount of any milestones, royalties or other payments due in connection with our acquisitions and licenses; ● the cost of manufacturing clinical and commercial supplies of our current or future product candidates; ● the costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending any intellectual property-related claims, including any claims by third parties that we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights; ● the effectiveness of our approach at identifying target patient populations and utilizing our approach to enrich our patient population in our clinical trials; ● our ability to maintain existing, and establish new, strategic collaborations or other arrangements and the financial terms of any such agreements, including the timing and amount of any future milestone, royalty or other payments due under any such agreement; ● the costs and timing of future commercialization activities, including manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution, for any of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval; ● the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval; ● expenses to attract, hire and retain skilled personnel; ● our ability to establish a commercially viable pricing structure and obtain approval for coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party and government payors; ● the effect of macroeconomic trends including inflation and rising interest rates; ● addressing any potential supply chain interruptions or delays; ● the effect of competing technological and market developments; and ● the extent to which we acquire or invests in business, products and technologies. 33 Table of Contents We anticipate that the sources of capital available to us will be through the sale of equity and debt, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all, and may, if sold, cause significant dilution to existing stockholders. Our ability to raise additional funds will depend on financial, economic, political and market conditions and other factors, over which we may have no or limited control. The issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our shares to decline. If we are unable to access additional capital moving forward, it may hurt our ability to grow and to generate future revenues, our financial position, and liquidity. Furthermore, we could be forced to delay, limit, reduce or terminate product development programs, future commercialization efforts or other operations. If we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities or we issue any equity or convertible debt securities in connection with a collaboration agreement or other contractual arrangement, our stockholders’ ownership interests also will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of stockholders. Debt financing, if available, may result in increased fixed payment obligations and involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends or acquiring, selling or licensing intellectual property rights or assets, which could adversely impact the ability to conduct our business. 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 our intellectual property, technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborators or others at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable. Any of these occurrences may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects. Market conditions and changes in financial regulations and policies can impact the viability of financial institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all. Any inability to access or delay in accessing these funds could adversely affect our business and financial position. In addition, changes in regulations governing financial institutions are beyond our control and difficult to predict; consequently, the impact of such changes on our business and results of operations is difficult to predict and may have an adverse effect on us. Due to the significant resources required to develop our product pipeline, and depending on our ability to access capital, we must prioritize the development of certain product candidates over others and we may fail to expend our limited resources on product candidates or indications that may have been more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success. Due to the significant resources required for the development of our product candidates, we must decide which product candidates and indications to pursue and advance and the amount of resources to allocate to each. Our decisions concerning the allocation of research, development, collaboration, management and financial resources toward particular product candidates, therapeutic areas or indications may not lead to the development of viable commercial products and may divert resources away from better opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the viability or market potential of any of our product candidates or misread trends in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular for CNS and CVS diseases, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or other diseases and disease pathways that may later prove to have greater commercial potential than those we choose to pursue, or relinquish valuable rights to such product candidates through collaboration, licensing or royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to invest additional resources to retain sole development and commercialization rights. Our acquisitions and investments in new businesses and new products, services, and technologies is inherently risky, and could disrupt our ongoing businesses. We have invested and expect to continue to invest in new businesses, products, services, and technologies. Such endeavors may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including insufficient revenues from such investments to offset any new liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments, inadequate return of capital on our investments, distraction of management from current operations, and unidentified issues not discovered in our due diligence of such strategies and offerings that could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such investments and incur unanticipated liabilities. Because these new ventures are inherently risky, no assurance can be given that such strategies and offerings will be successful and will not adversely affect our reputation, financial condition, and operating results. The use of resources for new businesses and new products, services, and technologies, to the extent such new businesses and new products, services, and technologies do not generate revenues or profits may take management’s focus and time away from more profitable endeavors, may require us to take significant write-downs or write-offs, may take funding away from our other operations or growth opportunities, which may ultimately be more profitable, and may have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, liquidity and revenues, any or all of which may cause the value of our securities to decline in value or become worthless. Our business is highly dependent on the success of certain product candidates. If we are unable to successfully complete clinical development, obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize one or more of our product candidates, or if we experience delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed. Scienture LLC has completed development of SCN-102, which received FDA regulatory approval in March 2025 and commenced commercialization in the third quarter of 2025. The remaining product candidates — SCN-104, SCN-106, and SCN-107 — remain in clinical or preclinical development. Management expects SCN-104 and SCN-106 to achieve regulatory approval in 2027 or 2028, with commercialization projected to begin in 2028, and SCN-107 to achieve regulatory approval in 2028 or 2029, with commercialization projected to begin in 2029. Our future success and ability to generate revenue from Scienture LLC’s product candidates is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize one or more of our remaining product candidates. If any of Scienture LLC’s product candidates encounters safety or efficacy problems, development delays, regulatory issues, or other problems, our development plans and business would be materially harmed. We may not have the financial resources to continue development of our product candidates, particularly if we experience any issues that delay or prevent regulatory approval of, or our ability to commercialize, product candidates, including: ● inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities that our product candidates are safe and effective; ● insufficiency of our financial and other resources to complete the necessary clinical trials and preclinical studies; 34 Table of Contents ● negative or inconclusive results from clinical trials, preclinical studies or the clinical trials of others for product candidates similar to ours, leading to a decision or requirement to conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies or abandon a program; ● product-related adverse events experienced by subjects in our clinical trials, including unexpected toxicity results, or by individuals using drugs or therapeutic biologics similar to our product candidates; ● delays in submitting an IND application or other regulatory submission to the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities, or delays or failure in obtaining the necessary approvals from regulators to commence a clinical trial or a suspension or termination, or hold, of a clinical trial once commenced; ● conditions imposed by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials; ● poor effectiveness of our product candidates during clinical trials; ● better than expected performance of control arms, such as placebo groups, which could lead to negative or inconclusive results from our clinical trials; ● delays in enrolling subjects in our clinical trials; ● high drop-out rates of subjects from our clinical trials; ● inadequate supply or quality of product candidates or other materials necessary for the conduct of our clinical trials; ● higher than anticipated clinical trial or manufacturing costs; ● unfavorable FDA or comparable regulatory authority inspection and review of our clinical trial sites; ● failure of our third-party contractors or investigators to comply with regulatory requirements or the clinical trial protocol or otherwise meet their contractual obligations in a timely manner, or at all; ● delays and changes in regulatory requirements, policies and guidelines, including the imposition of additional regulatory oversight around clinical testing generally or with respect to our therapies in particular; or ● varying interpretations of data by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities. In addition, clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not guarantee regulatory approval in any other country. We may in the future conduct one or more clinical trials with one or more trial sites that are located outside the United States. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to conditions imposed by the FDA, and there can be no assurance that the FDA will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept the data from any trial that we conduct outside the United States, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and could delay or permanently halt our development of the applicable product candidates. We are dependent upon our current management, who may have conflicts of interest. Our ability to develop product candidates and our future growth depends on attracting, hiring and retaining key personnel and recruiting additional qualified personnel. Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our key management and scientific personnel, many of whom have substantial experience with developing therapies, identifying potential product candidates and building the technologies related to the clinical development of our product candidates. However, some of officers and directors have duties and affiliations with other companies. Involvement of our officers and directors in other businesses may present a conflict of interest regarding decisions they make for us or with respect to the amount of time available for us. 35 Table of Contents Given the specialized nature of CNS and CVS diseases and our approach, there is an inherent scarcity of experienced personnel in these fields. As we continue developing product candidates, we will require personnel with medical, scientific, or technical qualifications specific to each program. The loss of any of our officers or directors, in particular our current management team consisting of Shankar Hariharan, Narasimhan Mani or Rahul Surana, could have a materially adverse effect upon our business and future prospects. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our team may terminate employment on short notice. The competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries is intense, and our future success depends upon our ability to attract, retain, and motivate highly skilled scientific, technical and managerial employees. We face competition for personnel from other companies, universities, public and private research institutions, and other organizations. If our recruitment and retention efforts are unsuccessful in the future, it may be difficult for us to implement our business strategy, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, our clinical operations and research and development programs depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientists, data scientists, and engineers, particularly in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. There is powerful competition for skilled personnel in these geographical markets, and we may experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications on acceptable terms, or at all. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we do. If we hire employees from competitors or other companies, their former employers may attempt to assert that these employees have breached legal obligations, resulting in a diversion of our time and resources and, potentially, damages. In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the stock awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived benefits of stock awards decline, it may harm our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed. We may seek to collaborate with third parties and may not be able to implement these collaborations on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. The success of certain of our product candidates may depend in significant part on the success of such collaborations. We plan to opportunistically pursue strategic partnerships if we believe that these partnerships can accelerate the development or maximize the market potential of our product candidates. Likely collaborators may include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies. In addition, if we are able to obtain regulatory approval for product candidates from foreign regulatory authorities, we may enter into partnerships or collaborations with international biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies for the commercialization of such product candidates. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a partnership or collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed partnerships or collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the potential differentiation of our product candidates from competing product candidates, design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities and the regulatory pathway for any such approval, the potential market for the product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering the product to patients and the potential of competing products. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available for partnership or collaboration and whether such a partnership or collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our product candidate. If we elect to increase expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue. Partnerships and collaborations are each complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. Further, business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies could result in a reduced number of potential future collaborators. Any partnership or collaboration agreement that we enter into in the future may contain restrictions on our ability to enter into potential partnerships or collaborations or to otherwise develop specified product candidates. We may not be able to negotiate partnerships or collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay development programs, delay potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. We may have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators will dedicate to the development or commercialization of our product candidates. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on any future collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. In addition, any future collaborators may have the right to abandon research or development projects and terminate applicable agreements, including funding obligations, prior to or upon the expiration of the agreed upon terms. Collaborations involving our product candidates pose a number of risks, including the following: ● collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations; ● collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected; ● 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 clinical trial results, changes in the collaborators’ strategic focus or available funding or external factors, such as an acquisition, which divert resources or create competing priorities; ● collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding for a clinical trial program, stop a clinical trial or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials 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; ● a collaborator 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; ● disagreements with collaborators, including disagreements over proprietary rights, including trade secrets and intellectual property rights, contract interpretation, or the preferred course of development might cause delays or termination of the research, development or commercialization of product candidates, might lead to additional responsibilities for us with respect to product candidates, or might result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive; 36 Table of Contents ● 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; ● collaborators may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability; 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 product candidates in the most efficient manner or at all. If any future collaborator is involved in a business combination, we could decide to delay, diminish or terminate the development or commercialization of any licensed product candidate. We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely on third parties, such as Contract Research Organizations (“CROs”), clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct our clinical trials and expect to rely on these third parties to conduct clinical trials of any other product candidate that we develop. Our ability to complete clinical trials in a timely fashion depends on a number of key factors. These factors include protocol design, regulatory and Institutional Review Board approval, patient enrollment rates and compliance with GCPs. Generally, we rely on our third-party partners to accurately report their results. Our reliance on third parties for clinical development activities may impact or limit our control over the timing, conduct, expense and quality of our clinical trials. Moreover, the FDA requires that we to comply with GCPs for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. The FDA enforces these GCPs through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors, principal investigators, clinical trial sites and Institutional Review Boards. For certain commercial prescription drug products, manufacturers and other parties involved in the supply chain must also meet chain of distribution requirements and build electronic, interoperable systems for product tracking and tracing and for notifying the FDA of counterfeit, diverted, stolen and intentionally adulterated products or other products that are otherwise unfit for distribution in the United States. We remain responsible for ensuring that each of our trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards. Our failure or the failure of third parties to comply with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards can result in rejection of our clinical trial data or other sanctions. If we or our third-party clinical trial providers or third-party CROs do not successfully carry out these clinical activities, our clinical trials or the potential regulatory approval of a product candidate may be delayed or be unsuccessful. Additionally, if we or our third-party contractors fail to comply with applicable GCPs for any reason, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our product candidates, which would delay the regulatory approval process. We cannot be certain that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCPs. We are also required to register certain clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions. Furthermore, the third parties conducting clinical trials on our behalf are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such contractors, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time, skill and resources to our ongoing development programs. These contractors may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other drug development activities, which could impede their ability to devote appropriate time to our clinical programs. If these third parties, including clinical investigators, do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct its clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or its stated protocols, we may not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, regulatory approvals for our product candidates. If that occurs, we will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates. In such an event, our financial results and the commercial prospects for any product candidates that we seek to develop could be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed, impaired or foreclosed. We also rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or regulatory approval of our product candidates or commercialization of any resulting products, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue. 37 Table of Contents In addition, we rely on wholesalers and attempt to structure our agreements with such wholesalers to ensure that we are appropriately and predictably compensated for the services we provide. We cannot control the frequency or magnitude of pharmaceutical price changes. We might be unable to renew agreements with wholesalers in a timely and favorable manner. These risks might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial positions or results of operations. Any of the third-party organizations we utilize may terminate our engagements with us under certain circumstances. The replacement of an existing CRO or other third party may result in the delay of the affected trials or otherwise adversely affect our efforts to obtain regulatory approvals and commercialize our product candidates. We may not be able to enter into alternative arrangements or do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, even if there are suitable replacements for one or more of these service providers, there is a natural transition period when a new service provider begins work. As a result, delays may occur, which could negatively impact our ability to meet our expected clinical development timelines and harm our business, financial condition and prospects. Our third-party manufacturing partners may be unable to increase the scale of production or product yield of our product candidates, resulting in increased manufacturing costs and delays in commercialization of our products. Furthermore, changes in methods of manufacturing our product candidates could result in additional costs or delays. In order to produce sufficient quantities to meet the demand for clinical trials and, if approved, subsequent commercialization of our product candidates, our third-party manufacturers will be required to increase production and optimize manufacturing processes while maintaining the quality of our product candidates. The transition to larger scale production could prove difficult. In addition, if our third-party manufacturers are not able to optimize their manufacturing processes to increase the product yield for our product candidates, or if such third party manufacturers are unable to produce increased amounts of our product candidates while maintaining the same quality, then we may not be able to meet the demands of clinical trials or market demands. This could decrease our ability to generate profits and have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations. Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties. Some of these third parties may be located outside of the United States. In order to grow our business, we anticipate that we will need to continue to depend on our relationships with third parties, including our technology providers. Identifying partners, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them, requires significant time and resources. Our competitors may be effective in providing incentives to third parties to favor their products or services, or utilization of, our products and services. In addition, acquisitions of our partners by our competitors could result in a decrease in the number of our current and potential customers. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer use of our products or increased revenue. We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of clinical or commercial quantities of our product candidates, and we lack the resources and the capabilities to do so. Our current strategy is to outsource all manufacturing of our product candidates to third parties, including in jurisdictions outside of the United States such as China. As such, we currently rely on third-party manufacturers to provide all of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (“API”) and the final drug product formulation of all of our product candidates that are being used in our clinical trials and preclinical studies. If we were to need an alternate manufacturer, we would incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement. In addition, we typically order raw materials, API and drug product and services on a purchase order basis and do not enter into long-term dedicated capacity or minimum supply arrangements with any commercial manufacturer. We may not be able to timely secure needed supply arrangements on satisfactory terms, or at all. Our failure to secure these arrangements as needed could have a material adverse effect on our ability to complete the development of our product candidates or, to commercialize them, if approved. We may be unable to conclude agreements for commercial supply with third-party manufacturers or may be unable to do so on acceptable terms. There may be difficulties in scaling up to commercial quantities and formulation of our product candidates, and the costs of manufacturing could be prohibitive. 38 Table of Contents Many of the third-party manufacturers we rely on have only recently begun working with us and have limited or no experience manufacturing our API and final drug products. If our manufacturers have difficulty or suffer delays in successfully manufacturing material that meets our specifications, it may limit supply of our product candidates and could delay our clinical trials. Even if we are able to establish and maintain arrangements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including: ● the failure of the third-party manufacturer to comply with applicable regulatory requirements and reliance on third parties for manufacturing process development, regulatory compliance and quality assurance; ● manufacturing delays if our third-party manufacturers give greater priority to the supply of other products over our product candidates or otherwise do not satisfactorily perform according to the terms of the agreement between parties; ● limitations on supply availability resulting from capacity and scheduling constraints of third parties; ● the failure of the third-party manufacturer to produce materials with acceptable quality on a larger scale; ● the possible breach of manufacturing agreements by third parties because of factors beyond our control; ● the possible termination or non-renewal of the manufacturing agreements by the third party, at a time that is costly or inconvenient to us; and ● the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how. If we do not maintain our key manufacturing relationships, we may fail to find replacement manufacturers or develop our own manufacturing capabilities, which could delay or impair our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates. If we do find replacement manufacturers, we may not be able to enter into agreements with them on terms and conditions favorable to us and there could be a substantial delay before new facilities could be qualified and registered with the FDA and other comparable regulatory authorities. Additionally, if any third-party manufacturer with whom we contract fail to perform its obligations, we may be forced to manufacture the materials ourself, for which we may not have the capabilities or resources, or enter into an agreement with a different manufacturer. In either scenario, our clinical trials supply could be delayed significantly as we establish alternative supply sources. In some cases, the technical skills required to manufacture our product candidates may be unique or proprietary to the original manufacturer and we may have difficulty, or there may be contractual restrictions prohibiting us from, transferring such skills to a back-up or alternate supplier, or we may be unable to transfer such skills at all. In addition, if we are required to change third-party manufacturers for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new manufacturer maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations. We will also need to verify, such as through a manufacturing comparability study, that any new manufacturing process will produce its product candidate according to the specifications previously submitted to the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities. We may be unsuccessful in demonstrating the comparability of clinical supplies, which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials. The delays associated with the verification of a new third-party manufacturer could negatively affect our ability to develop product candidates or commercialize our products in a timely manner or within budget. Furthermore, a third-party manufacturer may possess technology related to the manufacture of our product candidates that such third party owns independently. This would increase our reliance on such third-party manufacturer or require us to obtain a license from such third-party manufacturer in order to have another third party manufacture our product candidates. 39 Table of Contents If any of our product candidates are approved by any regulatory agency, we intend to utilize arrangements with third-party contract manufacturers for the commercial production of those products. This process is difficult and time consuming and we may face competition for access to manufacturing facilities as there are a limited number of contract manufacturers operating under cGMPs that are capable of manufacturing our product candidates. Consequently, we may not be able to reach agreement with third-party manufacturers on satisfactory terms, which could delay commercialization. Some of our manufacturers are located outside of the United States, including in China. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and various other countries, including China, with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Increased tariffs or pending legislation that would impose federal contracting or federal funding limitations on parties directly using or connected to those using the services or equipment of certain foreign entities with known or alleged associations with foreign adversaries could potentially disrupt our existing supply chains and impose additional costs on our business. In particular, certain Chinese biotechnology companies and commercial manufacturing organizations may become subject to trade restrictions, sanctions, and other regulatory requirements by the U.S. government, which could restrict or even prohibit our ability to work with such entities, thereby potentially disrupting our supplies and manufacturing. Additionally, it is possible further tariffs may be imposed that could affect imports of any APIs used in our product candidates in the future, or our business may be adversely impacted by retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries, including restricted access to such raw materials used in its product candidates. Given the unpredictable regulatory environment in China and the United States and uncertainty regarding how the U.S. or foreign governments will act with respect to tariffs, international trade agreements and policies, further governmental action related to tariffs, additional taxes, contracting matters, regulatory changes or other retaliatory trade measures in the future could occur with a corresponding detrimental impact on our business and financial condition. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, seizures or voluntary recalls of product candidates, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly affect supplies of our product candidates. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates must be evaluated by the FDA. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and is completely dependent on, its contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMPs. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities, we may not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates manufactured at these facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA finds deficiencies or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our approved product candidates. Contract manufacturers may face manufacturing or quality control problems causing drug substance production and shipment delays or a situation where the contractor may not be able to maintain compliance with the applicable cGMP requirements. Any failure to comply with cGMP requirements or other FDA and comparable foreign regulatory requirements could adversely affect our clinical research activities and our ability to our its product candidates and market our products, if approved. The FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities require manufacturers to register manufacturing facilities, and also inspect these facilities to confirm compliance with cGMPs. Contract manufacturers may face manufacturing or quality control problems causing drug substance production and shipment delays or a situation where the contractor may not be able to maintain compliance with the applicable cGMP requirements. Any failure to comply with cGMP requirements or other FDA and other comparable regulatory requirements could adversely affect our clinical research activities and our ability to develop our product candidates and market our products following approval, if obtained. Furthermore, should we decide to use any APIs in any of our product candidates that are proprietary to one or more third parties, we would need to maintain licenses to those APIs from those third parties. If we are unable to gain or continue to access rights to such APIs prior to conducting preclinical toxicology studies intended to support clinical trials, we may need to develop alternate product candidates from these programs by either accessing or developing alternate APIs, resulting in increased development costs and delays in commercialization of these product candidates. If we are unable to gain or maintain continued access rights to the desired APIs on commercially reasonable terms or develop suitable alternate APIs, we may not be able to commercialize product candidates from these programs. 40 Table of Contents Changes in methods of product candidate manufacturing or formulation may result in additional costs or delay. As product candidates proceed through preclinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards potential approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as the vendors used to manufacture drug product or manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the materials manufactured using altered processes. Such changes may also require additional testing, FDA notification or FDA approval. This could delay or prevent completion of clinical trials, require conducting bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay or prevent approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence sales and generate revenue. We may be subject to lawsuits. From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business. Such claims, even if lacking merit, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. The successful development of our pharmaceutical products involves a lengthy and expensive process and is highly uncertain. Successful development of our pharmaceutical products involves a lengthy and expensive process, is highly uncertain, and is dependent on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. Product candidates that appear promising in the early phases of development may fail to reach the market for several reasons, including: ● clinical trial results may show the product candidates to be less effective than expected; ● failure to receive the necessary regulatory approvals or a delay in receiving such approvals, which, among other things, may be caused by patients who fail the trial screening process, slow enrollment in clinical trials, patients dropping out of trials, patients lost to follow-up, length of time to achieve trial endpoints, additional time requirements for data analysis or NDA or similar foreign application preparation, discussions with the FDA or other comparable regulatory authority, FDA or other comparable regulatory request for additional preclinical or clinical data (such as long-term toxicology studies) or unexpected safety or manufacturing issues; ● preclinical study results may show the product candidate to be less effective than desired or to have harmful side effects; ● failure to receive the necessary post-marketing approval requirements; or ● the proprietary rights of others and their competing products and technologies may prevent our product candidates from being commercialized. 41 Table of Contents Furthermore, the length of time necessary to complete clinical trials and submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority varies significantly from one product candidate to the next and from one country or jurisdiction to the next and may be difficult to predict. Even if a product is approved, the FDA may limit the indications for which the product may be marketed, require extensive warnings on the product labeling or require expensive and time-consuming clinical trials and/or reporting as conditions of approval. Regulators of other countries and jurisdictions have their own procedures for the approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those countries or jurisdictions. Even if we are successful in obtaining marketing approval, commercial success of any approved products will also depend in large part on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors, including government payors such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs and managed care organizations in the United States or country-specific governmental organizations in foreign countries, which may be affected by existing and future healthcare reform measures designed to reduce the cost of healthcare. Third-party payors could require us to conduct additional studies, including post-marketing studies related to the cost effectiveness of a product, to qualify for reimbursement, which could be costly and divert our resources. If government and other healthcare payors were not to provide coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products once approved, market acceptance and commercial success would be reduced. Even if we are able to obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement for approved products, there may be features or characteristics of our products, such as dose preparation requirements, that prevent our products from achieving market acceptance by the healthcare or patient communities. In addition, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, we will be subject to significant regulatory obligations regarding the submission of safety and other post-marketing information and reports and registration, and will need to continue to comply (or ensure that our third-party providers comply) with current cGMPs and GCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. In addition, there is always the risk that we, a regulatory authority or a third party might identify previously unknown problems with a product post-approval, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency. Compliance with these requirements is costly, and any failure to comply or other issues with our product candidates post-approval could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Risks Related to Our Legal and Regulatory Requirements We are subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare, fraud, abuse false claims, and other laws and regulations as well as health data privacy and security laws and regulations, contractual obligations and self-regulatory schemes. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face investigations and substantial penalties. Furthermore, it may be difficult and costly for us to comply with the extensive government regulations to which our business is subject. Our operations are subject to extensive regulation by the U.S. federal and state governments. Healthcare providers and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our operations and our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors may subject us to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws and other healthcare laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil and criminal false claims laws and the law commonly referred to as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and regulations. These laws will impact, among other things, our clinical research, as well as our proposed sales and marketing programs. We may be subject to health information privacy and security laws by the federal government, the states and other jurisdictions in which we may conduct our business. In particular, we may be subject to regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), which establishes privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, known as “protected health information,” and requires the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. We are directly subject to certain provisions of the regulations as a “Business Associate” through our relationships with customers. We are also directly subject to the HIPAA privacy and security regulations as a “Covered Entity” with respect to our operations as a healthcare clearinghouse, specialty pharmacy and medical surgical supply business. If we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of protected health information entrusted to us, we could be found to have breached our contracts with our customers. Further, if we fail to comply with applicable HIPAA privacy and security standards, we could face civil and criminal penalties. Although we have implemented and continue to maintain policies and processes to assist us in complying with these regulations and our contractual obligations, we cannot provide assurances regarding how these regulations will be interpreted, enforced or applied by the government and regulators to our operations. In addition to the risks associated with enforcement activities and potential contractual liabilities, our ongoing efforts to comply with evolving laws and regulations at the federal and state level might also require us to make costly system purchases /or modifications from time to time. We also may be subject to extensive, and frequently changing, local, state and federal laws and regulations relating to healthcare fraud, waste and abuse. Local, state and federal governments continue to strengthen their position and scrutiny over practices involving fraud, waste and abuse affecting Medicare, Medicaid and other government healthcare programs. Many of the regulations applicable to us, including those relating to marketing incentives, are vague or indefinite and have not been interpreted by the courts. The regulations may be interpreted or applied by a prosecutorial, regulatory, or judicial authority in a manner that could require us to make changes in our operations. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could become liable for damages and suffer civil and criminal penalties, including the loss of licenses or our ability to participate in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state healthcare programs. 42 Table of Contents In addition, we may be subject to the operating and security standards of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FDA, various state boards of pharmacy, state health departments, the HHS, the CMS, and other comparable agencies. We are also subject to certain state laws relating to price gouging. Although we have enhanced our procedures to ensure compliance, a regulatory agency or tribunal may conclude that our operations are not compliant with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, we may be unable to maintain or renew existing permits, licenses or any other regulatory approvals or obtain without significant delay, future permits, licenses or other approvals needed for the operation of our businesses. Any noncompliance by us with applicable laws and regulations or the failure to maintain, renew or obtain necessary permits and licenses could lead to litigation and have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. Because of the breadth of these laws and the limited statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. The shifting compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and expandable systems to comply with multiple jurisdictions with different compliance and/or reporting requirements increases the possibility that a healthcare company may run afoul of one or more of the requirements. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. We may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates under applicable regulatory requirements. The denial or delay of any such approval would delay commercialization of our product candidates and adversely impact our business and results of operations. An NDA or other similar regulatory filing requesting approval to market a product candidate must include extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to establish that the product candidate is safe, effective, pure and potent for each desired indication. The NDA or other similar regulatory filing must also include significant information regarding the chemistry, manufacturing and controls for the product. The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, sale, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries, and such regulations differ from country to country. We are not permitted to market any product candidate in the United States or in any foreign countries until we receive the requisite approval from the applicable regulatory authorities of such jurisdictions. The FDA or any foreign regulatory bodies can delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many reasons, including: ● our inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory body that the product candidate is safe and effective for the requested indication; ● the FDA’s or the applicable foreign regulatory agency’s disagreement with our trial protocol or the interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials; ● our inability to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of a product candidate outweigh any safety or other perceived risks; ● the FDA’s or the applicable foreign regulatory agency’s requirement for additional preclinical studies or clinical trials; ● the FDA’s or the applicable foreign regulatory agency’s non-approval of the formulation, labeling or specifications of a product candidate; ● the FDA’s or the applicable foreign regulatory agency’s failure to approve our manufacturing processes and facilities or the facilities of third-party manufacturers upon which we rely; or ● the potential for approval policies or regulations of the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agencies to significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval. Of the large number of pharmaceutical products in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or other regulatory bodies’ approval processes and are commercialized. Even if we eventually complete clinical testing and receive approval from the FDA or applicable foreign agencies for our product candidates, the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agency may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly additional clinical trials which may be required after approval. The FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agency also may approve a product candidate for a more limited indication or a narrower patient population than we originally requested, and the FDA, or applicable foreign regulatory agency, may not approve it with the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization. 43 Table of Contents Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approval would delay or prevent commercialization of our product candidates and would materially adversely impact our business and prospects. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements, which may result in significant additional expenses. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates. If any of our product candidates are approved by the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority, they will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies, and submission of safety, efficacy, and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, establishment registration and listing, as well as continued compliance with cGMPs and GMPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses, including the duration of use, for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing studies, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product. The FDA may also require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy in order to approve our product candidates, which could entail requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authority requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations and implementing tracking and tracing requirements for certain prescription pharmaceutical products. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMPs and adherence to commitments made in any approved marketing application. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, and quality control. We will have to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for our product candidates. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote any of our products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval. However, companies may share truthful and not misleading information that is otherwise consistent with a product’s FDA approved labeling. We also must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the product labeling or manufacturing processes for our products, if approved. If we discover previously unknown problems with any of our product candidates, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where they manufactured, or if the FDA disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of our products, the FDA may impose restrictions on us, including requiring withdrawal from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, the FDA and other regulatory authorities may, among other things: ● issue warning letters or other regulatory enforcement action; ● impose injunctions, fines or civil or criminal penalties; ● suspend or withdraw regulatory approval; ● suspend any ongoing clinical studies; 44 Table of Contents ● refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications; ● require revisions to the labeling, including limitations on approved uses or the addition of additional warnings, contraindications or other safety information, including boxed warnings; ● impose a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which may include distribution or use restrictions; ● require the conduct of an additional post-market clinical trial or trials to assess the safety of the product; ● impose restrictions on our operations, including closing our contract manufacturers’ facilities where regulatory inspections identify observations of noncompliance requiring remediation; or ● restrict the marketing of the product, require a product recall, seizure or detention, or refuse to permit the import or export of the product. Any government action or investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response, and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our product candidates. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, our operating results will be adversely affected. Moreover, the policies of the FDA and of other regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. In addition, if we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to enforcement action and we may not achieve or sustain profitability. We intend to use certain regulatory pathways to seek regulatory approval of several of our product candidates. If the FDA concludes that our marketing applications no longer qualify for these regulatory pathways, then our applications may not be accepted by the FDA for review and approval of our products may be delayed. We intend to seek FDA approval for certain product candidates through the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway. Section 505(b)(2) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the “FDCA”) was enacted as part of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, (the “Hatch-Waxman Amendments”), and permits the submission of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from preclinical studies or clinical trials not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. The FDA interprets Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA to permit the applicant to rely upon the FDA’s previous findings of safety and efficacy for an approved product. The FDA requires submission of information needed to support any changes to a previously approved drug, such as published data or new studies conducted by the applicant or clinical trials demonstrating safety and efficacy. The FDA could require additional information to sufficiently demonstrate safety and efficacy to support approval. If the FDA later determines our applications for any of our product candidates do not meet the requirements of Section 505(b)(2), or that additional information is needed to support a marketing application for such candidates we are planning to develop under the Section 505(b)(2) pathway, we could experience delays in submitting a marketing application or in obtaining marketing approval. Moreover, even if we obtain approval for our product candidates under the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which they may be marketed or to other conditions of approval, or may contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the products. We may seek priority review designation for our product candidates. We might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to faster regulatory review or approval. If the FDA determines that a product candidate offers a treatment for a serious condition and, if approved, the product would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness, the FDA may designate the product candidate for priority review. A priority review designation means that the goal for the FDA to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review period of ten months. We may request priority review for one or more of our product candidates. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant priority review status, so even if we believe a product candidate for such designation or status, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, a priority review designation does not necessarily result in an expedited regulatory review or approval process or necessarily confer any advantage with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Receiving priority review from the FDA does not guarantee approval within the six-month review cycle or at all. 45 Table of Contents We may seek orphan drug designation from the FDA for our product candidates. We may be unable to obtain such designation or, if obtained, to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug status, including the potential for non-patent market exclusivity. We may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our product candidates, but we may not be able to obtain such designation or maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation (if obtained), including the potential for non-patent market exclusivity. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug or biologic as an orphan drug if it is a product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States, or a patient population of 200,000 or more in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the product will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, 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. Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first regulatory approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same product and indication for that time period, except in limited circumstances. Any competitor developing the same product in the same indication with orphan drug designation may block our ability to obtain orphan drug exclusivity in the future if the competitor receives marketing approval before we do. The applicable exclusivity period is seven years in the United States. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity, that exclusivity may not effectively protect our product from competition because different products can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same product for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later product is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. Moreover, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition or if another product with the same active moiety is determined to be safer, more effective, or represents a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a product nor gives the product any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. If regulatory authorities approve generic versions of our products, or do not grant our products a sufficient period of market exclusivity before approving a generic version, our ability to generate revenue may be adversely affected. Once an NDA is approved, including under the 505(b)(2) pathway, the product covered thereby becomes a “reference listed drug” in the FDA’s publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” commonly known as the Orange Book. Manufacturers may seek approval of generic versions of reference listed drugs through submission of Abbreviated New Drug Applications and may obtain therapeutical equivalence evaluations for 505(b)(2) pathway drugs under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act’s expanded authorities, in the United States. In support of an Abbreviated New Drug Application, a generic manufacturer need not conduct clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy. Rather, the applicant generally must show that its product has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of use or labelling as the reference listed drug and that the generic version is bioequivalent to the reference listed drug, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent. Generic products may be significantly less costly to bring to market than the reference listed drug and companies that produce generic products are generally able to offer them at lower prices. Thus, following the introduction of a generic drug, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded product or reference listed drug is typically lost to the generic product. 46 Table of Contents Generic drug manufacturers may seek to launch generic products following the expiration of any applicable exclusivity period we obtain if any of our products is approved, even if we still have patent protection. In particular, competition that our lead candidate, SCN-102, could face from generic versions could materially and adversely affect our future revenue, profitability, and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in SCN-102. Even if we obtain FDA approval for a product candidate in the United States, we may never obtain approval for or successfully commercialize that candidate outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize a product’s full market potential. In order to market a candidate outside of the United States, we must obtain marketing authorizations and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding quality, safety and efficacy. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by foreign regulatory authorities, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. Approval processes vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approval could result in difficulties and costs for us and require additional non-clinical studies or clinical trials, which could be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our product candidates in those countries. We do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approval in international markets is delayed, our target market for our product candidates will be reduced and we would not be able to realize the full market potential of our product candidates. Even if we are able to commercialize any of our product candidates, the third-party payor coverage and reimbursement status of newly-approved products are uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue. The availability and adequacy of coverage and reimbursement by governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers and other third-party payors in the United States are essential for most patients to be able to afford treatments such as our products or product candidates, if approved. Our ability to achieve acceptable levels of coverage and reimbursement for drug treatments by governmental authorities, private health insurers and other organizations will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our products, and potentially attract additional collaboration partners to invest in the development of our product candidates. We cannot be sure that adequate coverage and reimbursement in the United States, the EU or elsewhere will be available for our products or any products that we may develop, and any reimbursement that may become available may be decreased or eliminated in the future. There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. In the United States, third-party payors, including private and governmental payors, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, play an important role in determining the extent to which new drugs, biologics and medical devices will be covered. The Medicare and Medicaid programs increasingly are used as models for how private payors and other governmental payors develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs, biologics and medical devices. It is difficult to predict at this time what third-party payors will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our products or product candidates. Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for new products approved and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our products or product candidates. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our products and product candidates due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations, and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs, medical devices and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products. 47 Table of Contents We are developing a drug-device combination product, which may result in additional regulatory risks. Our SCN-104 injection pen will be regulated as a drug-device combination product. We currently plan to develop this product as a combination of a small molecule drug product administered using a disposable, multiple fixed dose injection pen. There may be additional regulatory risks for drug-device combination products. We may experience delays in obtaining regulatory approval of SN-104 given the increased complexity of the review process when approval of the product and a delivery device is sought under a single marketing application. In the United States, each component of a combination product is subject to the requirements established by the FDA for that type of component, whether a drug, biologic or device. The delivery device will be subject to FDA design control device requirements which comprise among other things, design verification, design validation (including human factors testing), and testing to assess performance, cleaning, and robustness. Delays in or failure of the studies conducted by us, or failure of us, our collaborators, if any, or our third-party providers or suppliers to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements could result in increased development costs, delays in or failure to obtain regulatory approval, and associated delays in SCN-104 reaching the market. Our third party collaborators and service providers are, or may become, subject to a variety of stringent and evolving privacy and data security laws, regulations, and rules, contractual obligations, industry standards, policies and other obligations related to privacy and data security. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could expose us to significant fines or other penalties and otherwise harm our business and operations. In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties upon which we rely (such as our third party CROs and other contractors and consultants) collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, sensitive third-party data, business plans, transactions, financial information and data we collect about trial participants in connection with clinical trials. Our data processing activities subject us to numerous evolving privacy and data security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to privacy and data security. The legislative and regulatory framework for the processing of personal data worldwide is rapidly evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. In the United States, numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, including federal health information privacy laws, state information security and data breach notification laws, federal and state consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws) govern the processing of health-related and other personal data. At the state level, numerous U.S. states—including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah—have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording individuals certain rights concerning their personal data. Similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels, and we expect more states to pass similar laws in the future. While these states exempt some data processed in the context of clinical trials, these developments may further complicate compliance efforts, and increase legal risk and compliance costs for us and the third parties upon whom we rely. Additionally, we may be subject to new laws governing the privacy of consumer health data. For example, Washington’s My Health My Data Act broadly defines consumer health data, creates a private right of action to allow individuals to sue for violations of the law, imposes stringent consent requirements and grants consumers certain rights with respect to their health data, including to request deletion of their information. Connecticut and Nevada have also passed similar laws regulating consumer health data. These various privacy and data security laws may impact our business activities, including our identification of research subjects, relationships with business partners and ultimately the marketing and distribution of our products. 48 Table of Contents Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards may govern privacy and data security. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the United Kingdom’s GDPR (collectively, “GDPR”) impose strict requirements for processing personal data. GDPR establishes stringent requirements regarding the processing of personal data, including (i) strict requirements relating to processing of sensitive data (such as health data), ensuring there is a legal basis or condition to justify the processing of personal data, where required, (ii) strict requirements relating to obtaining consent of individuals, (iii) expanded disclosures about how personal data is to be used, (iv) limitations on retention of information, (v) implementing safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data, where required, (vi) providing notification of data breaches, (v) maintaining records of processing activities, and (vii) documenting data protection impact assessments where there is high risk processing and taking certain measures when engaging third-party processors. Under GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective activities, fines, and private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. Non-compliance could also result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations. In addition, we may be unable to transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries due to data localization requirements or limitations on cross-border data flows. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and the United Kingdom (“UK”) have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the United States and other countries whose privacy laws it generally believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and UK to the United States in compliance with law, such as the EEA’s standard contractual clauses, the UK’s International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EEA, the UK, or other jurisdictions to the United States, or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face significant adverse consequences, including the interruption or degradation of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions (such as Europe) at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and penalties, the inability to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and injunctions against our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Additionally, companies that transfer personal data out of the EEA and UK to other jurisdictions, particularly to the United States, are subject to increased scrutiny from regulators, individual litigants, and activities activist groups. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to suspend or permanently cease certain transfers of personal data out of Europe for allegedly violating the GDPR’s cross-border data transfer limitations. In addition to privacy and data security laws, we are contractually subject to industry standards adopted by industry groups and may become subject to such obligations in the future. We are also bound by other contractual obligations related to privacy and data security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. We may publish privacy policies, marketing materials, and other statements, such as compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, regarding privacy and data security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators, or other adverse consequences. Obligations related to privacy and data security (and consumers’ data privacy expectations) are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources and may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. 49 Table of Contents We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our privacy and data security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties on whom we rely may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations. If we or the third parties on which we rely fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with applicable privacy and data security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions (e.g., investigations, fines, penalties, audits, inspections, and similar); litigation (including class-action claims) and mass arbitration demands; additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; bans on processing personal data; and orders to destroy or not use personal data. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly more active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these claims allow for the recovery of statutory damages on a per violation basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory damages, depending on the volume of data and the number of violations. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, or financial condition, including but not limited to: loss of customers; interruptions or stoppages in our business operations (including, as relevant, clinical trials); inability to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our products; expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry; adverse publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations. The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses. If we obtain approval of any of our product candidates and we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of such products, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, if approved. In particular, while the FDA permits the dissemination of truthful and non-misleading information about an approved product, a manufacturer may not promote a product for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. If we are found to have promoted such off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion of off-label use and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The government has also imposed consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct must be changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition. Healthcare legislative reform measures may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations. In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. In 2010, the ACA was passed, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both the government and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. There are continued efforts to challenge the ACA. There are also efforts to broaden healthcare coverage. U.S. lawmakers also have explored proposals to reduce drug prices, including requiring price transparency and drug importation measures. These proposals might result in significant changes in the pharmaceutical value chain as manufacturers, pharmacy benefits managers (“PBMs”, managed care organizations and other industry stakeholders look to implement new transactional flows and adapt their business models. PBMs are third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans (prescription drug plans), the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and state government employee plans 50 Table of Contents Provincial governments in Canada that provide partial funding for the purchase of pharmaceuticals and independently regulate the sale and reimbursement of drugs have sought to reduce the costs of publicly funded health programs. For example, provincial governments have taken steps to reduce consumer prices for generic pharmaceuticals and, in some provinces, change professional allowances paid to pharmacists by generic manufacturers. Many European governments provide or subsidize healthcare to consumers and regulate pharmaceutical prices, patient eligibility and reimbursement levels in order to control government healthcare system costs. Some European governments have implemented or are considering austerity measures to reduce healthcare spending. These measures exert pressure on the pricing and reimbursement timelines for pharmaceuticals and may cause our customers to purchase fewer of our products and services or influence us to reduce prices. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payers of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare may adversely affect: ● the demand for any of our product candidates, if approved; ● the ability to set a price that we believe is fair for any of our product candidates, if approved; ● our ability to generate revenues and achieve or maintain profitability; ● the level of taxes that we are required to pay; and ● the availability of capital. Legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical and biologic products. In addition, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements. We cannot predict what healthcare reform initiatives may be adopted in the future. We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved drug. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our drugs. Inadequate funding for the FDA and other government agencies, including from government shutdowns, or other disruptions to these agencies’ operations, could hinder such agencies’ ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely. 51 Table of Contents The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new product candidates to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new product candidates to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years the United States government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations. Risks Related to Our Technology and Intellectual Property We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and trade secret rights throughout the world. If our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights are inadequate, we may not be able to compete effectively in our market. We may not be able to pursue patent coverage of our product candidates in certain countries outside of the United States. Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States may be less extensive than those in the United States. 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. The breadth and strength of our or our licensors’ patents issued in foreign jurisdictions or regions may not be the same as the corresponding patents issued in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our or our licensors’ inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our or our licensors’ inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and further, may export otherwise infringing products to certain territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. In addition to seeking patents for some of our product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology, and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect these trade secrets, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors, and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive, and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. If we are unable to prevent unauthorized material disclosure of our intellectual property to third parties, we may not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in the market, which could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. If we choose to go to court to stop a third party from using any of our trade secrets, we may incur substantial costs. These lawsuits may consume our time and other resources even if successful. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the United States and abroad. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed. 52 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 protections, particularly those relating to biotechnology and biopharmaceutical products. This difficulty with enforcing patents could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our or our licensors’ patents or marketing of competing products otherwise generally in violation of our proprietary rights. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our or our licensors’ patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, put our or our licensors’ 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. 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 or license. We depend on in-licensed intellectual property. If we fail to comply with our obligations under intellectual property licenses with third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business. Scienture LLC is a party to the Innocore License, an exclusive and royalty-bearing intellectual property license agreement. In connection with our efforts to expand our pipeline of product candidates, we expect to enter into additional license agreements in the future. We expect that any future license agreements we may enter into may impose various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, insurance, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with these obligations, our licensors may have the right to terminate the relevant agreement, in which event we would not be able to develop or market the products covered by such licensed intellectual property, or to pursue other remedies. We may not be able to obtain licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, or at all. Furthermore, if we lose intellectual property rights licensed under existing agreements or fail to obtain future licenses, we may be required to expend considerable time and resources to develop or license replacement technology. If we are unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected proprietary technologies and product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. If we or our licensors are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our product candidates, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to our product candidates, and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates may be adversely affected. Furthermore, we do not intend to seek patent protection for one of our products, SCN-106. Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our product candidates, their respective components, formulations, combination therapies, methods used to manufacture them and methods of treatment that are important to our business. If we or our licensors does not adequately protect our or our licensors’ intellectual property rights, competitors may be able to erode or negate any competitive advantage we may have, which could harm our business and ability to achieve profitability. We and our licensors seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our product candidates that are important to our business. We may in the future also license or purchase patent applications filed by others. If we or our licensors are unable to secure or maintain patent protection with respect to our product candidates and any proprietary product candidates and technology we develop, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be materially harmed. 53 Table of Contents If the scope of the patent protection we or our licensors obtain is not sufficiently broad, we may not be able to prevent others from developing and commercializing products and technology similar or identical to our product candidates or otherwise maintain a competitive advantage. The degree of patent protection we require to successfully compete in the marketplace may be unavailable or severely limited in some cases and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. We cannot provide any assurances that any of our or our licensors’ patents have, or that any of our or our licensors’ pending patent applications that mature into issued patents will include, claims with a scope sufficient to protect our product candidates or otherwise provide any competitive advantage. In addition, to the extent that we license intellectual property, we cannot make assurances that those licenses will remain in force. Even if our owned and licensed patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. The scope of the invention claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and this scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Any patents that eventually issue may be challenged, narrowed or invalidated by third parties. Consequently, we do not know whether any of our product candidates will be protectable or remain protected by valid and enforceable patent rights. Our competitors or other third parties may be able to circumvent our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. In addition, we may not pursue or obtain patent protection in all relevant markets. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering product candidates that we license from third parties and are reliant on our licensors. Therefore, we cannot be certain that these patents and applications will be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. If such licensors fail to maintain such patents, or lose rights to those patents, the rights we have licensed may be reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after it is filed. Various extensions may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases, at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our and our licensors’ patent rights are highly uncertain. Our and our licensors’ pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our product candidates or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive products. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity, or enforceability, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. There may be prior art of which we are not aware that may affect the validity or enforceability of a patent claim. There also may be prior art of which we are aware, but which we do not believe affects the validity or enforceability of a claim, which may, nonetheless, ultimately be found to affect the validity or enforceability of a claim. We or our licensors may in the future, become subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art, opposition, derivation, revocation, re-examination, post-grant and inter partes review, or interference proceeding and other similar proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others in the USPTO or other foreign patent office. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our product candidates. Furthermore, 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 owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to our product candidates. 54 Table of Contents In addition, we rely on certain of our licensors to prosecute patent applications and maintain patents and otherwise protect the intellectual property we license from them and may continue to do so in the future. We have limited control over these activities or any other intellectual property that may be related to our in-licensed intellectual property. For example, we cannot be certain that such activities by these licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and enforceable patents and other intellectual property rights. We have limited control over the manner in which our licensors initiate an infringement proceeding against a third-party infringer of the intellectual property rights or defend certain of the intellectual property that is licensed to us. It is possible that any licensors’ infringement proceeding or defense activities may be less vigorous than had we conducted them. Moreover, some of our owned and in-licensed patents and patent applications may in the future be co-owned with third parties. If we are unable to obtain an exclusive license to any such third-party co-owners’ interest in such patents or patent applications, such co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. In addition, we or our licensors may need the cooperation of any such co-owners of our owned and in-licensed patents in order to enforce such patents against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us or our licensors. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects. Notwithstanding the importance of obtaining and maintaining patent protection for our products, we are not pursuing, and do not intend in the future to pursue, patent protection for one of our products, SCN-106. SCN-106 is a potential biosimilar product. Developing and commercializing a biosimilar product is time consuming, costly, and subject to numerous factors that may delay or prevent such development and commercialization. The biosimilar markets in which we compete are undergoing and are expected to continue to undergo, rapid and significant change. We expect competition to intensify as technology advances and consolidation continues. New developments by other manufacturers and distributors could render our products uncompetitive or obsolete. The Company did not maintain a fully integrated financial consolidation and reporting system throughout the period and as a result, extensive manual analysis, reconciliation and adjustments were required in order to produce financial statements for external reporting purposes. does not currently have a sufficient complement of technical accounting and external reporting personnel commensurate to support standalone external financial reporting under public company or SEC requirements. Specifically, the Company did not effectively segregate certain accounting duties due to the small size of its accounting staff and maintain a sufficient number of adequately trained personnel necessary to anticipate and identify risks critical to financial reporting and the closing process. In addition, there were inadequate reviews and approvals by the Company’s personnel of certain reconciliations and other processes in day-to-day operations due to the lack of a full complement of accounting staff. Even if we are able to obtain regulatory approvals for SCN-106, the commercial success of SCN-106 is dependent upon market acceptance. Levels of market acceptance for our product could be affected by several factors, including: a. internal control over financial reporting a. the availability of alternative products from our competitors; b. the prices of our products relative to those of our competitors; c. the timing of our market entry; d. the ability to market our products effectively at the institutional level; e. the perception of patients and the healthcare community, including third-party payers, regarding the safety, efficacy and benefits of our drug products compared to those of competing products; and f. the acceptance of our products by government and private formularies. Some of these factors will not be in our control, and SCN-106 may not achieve expected levels of market acceptance. Many of our competitors in the biosimilar space have longer operating histories and greater financial, research and development, marketing, and other resources than we do. Consequently, some of our competitors may be able to develop biosimilar products and/or processes competitive with, or superior to, our products and/or processes and can enter the market prior to or after we launch the product. Furthermore, we may not be able to offer customers payment and other commercial terms as favorable as those offered by our competitors. Such actions have the potential to significantly reduce the potential market share and profitability of SCN-106. 55 Table of Contents Obtaining and maintaining patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies. Our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements. We cannot be certain that an allowed patent application will become an issued patent because there may be events that cause withdrawal of the allowance of a patent application. For example, after a patent application has been allowed, but prior to being issued, material that could be relevant to patentability may be identified. In such circumstances, the applicant may pull the application from allowance in order for the USPTO to review the application in view of the new material. We cannot be certain that the USPTO will issue the application in view of the new material. Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and foreign countries may require the payment of maintenance fees or patent annuities during the lifetime of a patent application and/or any subsequent patent that issues from the application. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process and following the issuance of a patent. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application. Such noncompliance can result in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. Such an event could have a material adverse effect on our business. Issued patents covering our product candidates could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or the USPTO. If we or one of our licensing partners initiates legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering our product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product candidates, as applicable, is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace, and there are various grounds upon which a third party can assert invalidity or unenforceability of a patent. Third parties may also raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, inter partes review, post grant review and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (such as opposition proceedings). Such proceedings could result in revocation or amendment to our or our licensors’ patents in such a way that they no longer cover our 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 we, our patent counsel, our licensors and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, or if we are otherwise unable to adequately protect our or our licensors’ rights, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business and our ability to commercialize or license our technology and product candidates. Changes to patent law in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions could diminish the value of our patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates. As is the case with other biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry involves both technological and legal complexity, and is therefore costly, time-consuming and inherently uncertain. Patent reform legislation in the U.S. and other countries could increase those uncertainties and costs. Passed in 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the “Leahy-Smith Act”) made a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law, including provisions affecting the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefining prior art and providing more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents. In addition, the Leahy-Smith Act transformed the U.S. patent system into a “first-to-file” system, effective on March 16, 2013 and has impacted our business by making it more difficult to obtain patent protection for our inventions and increasing the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. Moreover, recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our or our licensors’ ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our or our licensors’ ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our or our licensors’ existing patents and patents that we or our licensors might obtain in the future. We cannot predict how future decisions by the courts, Congress or the USPTO may impact the value of our or our licensors’ patents. Similarly, any adverse changes in the patent laws of other jurisdictions could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. Changes in the laws and regulations governing patents in other jurisdictions could similarly have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain and effectively enforce our patent rights. 56 Table of Contents If we do not obtain patent term extension for our current product candidates, our business may be materially harmed. Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of our current product candidates, one or more of our or our licensors’ U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the 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. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply for a patent extension within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents, or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. 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 believe we are entitled to, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products sooner than we would expect, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be materially harmed. We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could be distracting, expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful. Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensors. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that our patents or our licensors’ patents are invalid or unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that the patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Defense against these assertions, non-infringement, invalidity or unenforceability regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties or redesign our infringing products, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. Post-grant proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by the USPTO may be brought to determine the validity or priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications or those of our licensors. An unfavorable outcome could result in a loss of our current patent rights and could require us to cease using the related technology or require us to obtain license rights from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Litigation or post-grant proceedings may result in a decision adverse to our interests and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management, employees, and contractors. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our trade secrets or confidential information, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as those within the United States. Furthermore, 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. In addition, our licensors may have rights to file and prosecute such claims, and we are reliant on them. We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our intellectual property or asserting that we violated intellectual property rights of others, the outcome of which would be uncertain. These claims could be extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and limit our ability to operate, and could distract our personnel from normal responsibilities. Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to commercialize, develop, manufacture, market, and sell our product candidates without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. We have yet to conduct comprehensive freedom to operate searches to determine whether we would infringe patents issued to third parties. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our product candidates, including interference proceedings before the USPTO. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing its product candidates. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business. 57 Table of Contents If a third party alleges that we infringe its intellectual property rights, we may face a number of issues, including, but not limited to: ● infringement and other intellectual property misappropriation which, regardless of merit, may be expensive and time-consuming to litigate and may divert management’s attention from our core business; ● substantial damages for infringement or misappropriation, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product or technology at issue infringes on or violates the third-party’s rights, and, if the court finds we have willfully infringed intellectual property rights, we could be ordered to pay treble damages and the patent owner’s attorneys’ fees; ● an injunction prohibiting us from manufacturing, marketing or selling our product candidates, or from using our proprietary technologies, unless the third party agrees to license its patent rights to us; ● even if a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties, upfront fees and other amounts, and/or grant cross-licenses to intellectual property rights protecting our product candidates; and ● we may be forced to try to redesign our product candidates or processes so they do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, an undertaking which may not be possible or which may require substantial monetary expenditures and time. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. Patents issued in the United States by law enjoy a presumption of validity that can be rebutted only with evidence that is “clear and convincing,” a heightened standard of proof. There may be issued third-party patents of which we are currently unaware with claims to compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Patent applications can take many years to issue. There may be currently pending patent applications which may later result in issued patents that may be infringed by our product candidates. Moreover, we may fail to identify relevant patents or incorrectly conclude that a patent is invalid, not enforceable, exhausted, or not infringed by its activities. If any third-party patents, held now or obtained in the future by a third party, were found by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of our product candidates, constructs or molecules used in or formed during the manufacturing process, or any final product or methods use of the product, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize the product unless we obtained a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire or they are finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. Similarly, if any third-party patent were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover any aspect of our formulations, any combination therapies or patient selection methods, the holders of any such patent may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the product unless we have obtained a license or until such patent expires or is finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, our ability to commercialize our product candidates may be impaired or delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business. Even if we obtain a license, such license may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications are threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize our product candidates. Parties making claims against us may seek and obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, could involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties or redesign its infringing product candidates, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, even in the absence of litigation, we may need or may choose to obtain licenses from third parties to advance its research or allow commercialization of its product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize its product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. We generally enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, and contractors. These agreements generally provide that inventions conceived by the party in the course of rendering services to us will be our exclusive property. However, these agreements may not be honored and may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us. Moreover, there may be some circumstances where we are unable to negotiate for such ownership rights. Disputes regarding ownership or inventorship of intellectual property can also arise in other contexts, such as collaborations and sponsored research. If we are subject to a dispute challenging our rights in or to patents or other intellectual property, such a dispute could be expensive and time-consuming. If we are unsuccessful, we could lose valuable rights in intellectual property that we regard as our own. 58 Table of Contents This is especially relevant as some of our employees and contractors may have been previously employed at, or may have previously provided or may be currently providing consulting services to, universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. We could in the future be subject to claims that we or our employees and contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed alleged trade secrets or other confidential information of former employers or competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees and contractors do not use the proprietary information or know how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we caused an employee or contractor to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement, or that we or our employees or contractors have, inadvertently or otherwise, used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of a former employer or competitor. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. European patents and patent applications could be challenged in the recently created Unified Patent Court for the European Union. We or our licensors’ European patents and patent applications could be challenged in the recently created Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) for the European Union. We may decide to opt out our European patents and patent applications from the UPC. However, if certain formalities and requirements are not met, our European patents and patent applications could be challenged for non-compliance and brought under the jurisdiction of the UPC. We cannot be certain that our or our licensors’ European patents and patent applications will avoid falling under the jurisdiction of the UPC, if we decide to opt out of the UPC. Under the UPC, a granted European patent would be valid and enforceable in numerous European countries. A successful invalidity challenge to a European patent under the UPC would result in loss of patent protection in those European countries. Accordingly, a single proceeding under the UPC could result in the partial or complete loss of patent protection in numerous European countries, rather than in each validated European country separately as such patents always have been adjudicated. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business and our ability to commercialize our technology and product candidates and, resultantly, on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations. Our use, or the use by our third party collaborators and service providers, of new and evolving technologies, such as artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning (“ML”), may result in spending additional resources and present new risks and challenges that can impact our business, including by posing security and other risks to our sensitive data. As a result, we may be exposed to reputational harm, other adverse consequences, and liability. The use of new and evolving technologies, such as AI/ML, in our operations, and the operations of third parties upon which we rely presents new risks and challenges that could negatively impact our business. The use of certain AI/ML technologies can give rise to intellectual property risks, including compromises to proprietary intellectual property and intellectual property infringement. Additionally, several jurisdictions around the globe, including Europe and certain U.S. states, have proposed, enacted, or are considering, laws governing the development and use of AI/ML, such as the European Union’s AI Act. We expect other jurisdictions will adopt similar laws. Additionally, certain privacy laws extend rights to consumers (such as the right to delete certain personal data) and regulate automated decision making, which may be incompatible with our use of AI/ML. These obligations may make it harder for us to conduct our business using AI/ML, lead to regulatory fines or penalties, require us to change our business practices, retrain our AI/ML, or prevent or limit our use of AI/ML. For example, the Federal Trade Commission has required other companies to turn over (or disgorge) valuable insights or trainings generated through the use of AI/ML where they allege the company has violated privacy and consumer protection laws. If we cannot use AI/ML or our use is restricted, our business may be less efficient, or we may be at a competitive disadvantage. The rapid evolution of AI/ML will require the application of significant resources to design, develop, test and maintain our products and services to help ensure that AI/ML is implemented in accordance with applicable law and regulation and in a socially responsible manner and to minimize any real or perceived unintended harmful impacts. Our vendors may in turn incorporate AI/ML tools into their own offerings, and the providers of these AI/ML tools may not meet existing or rapidly evolving regulatory or industry standards, including with respect to privacy and data security. Further, bad actors around the world use increasingly sophisticated methods, including the use of AI/ML, to engage in illegal activities involving the theft and misuse of sensitive data. Any of these effects could damage our reputation, result in the loss of valuable property and information, cause us to breach applicable laws and regulations, and adversely impact our business. 59 Table of Contents If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets 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 the trademark registration process, we may receive so called “Office Actions” from the USPTO objecting to the registration of our trademark. Although we would be given an opportunity to respond to those objections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, in the USPTO and in comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and/or to seek the cancellation of 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. Risks Related to Our Common Stock We may not be able to comply with Nasdaq’s continued listing standards. There is no guarantee that we will be able to maintain our listing on Nasdaq for any period of time by perpetually satisfying Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements. Our failure to continue to meet these requirements may result in our securities being delisted from Nasdaq. At times, we have received deficiency notices from Nasdaq regarding our inability to comply with various of the continued listing rules (including stockholders’ equity requirements, publicly held share requirements, and timely filing requirements). For example, on October 14, 2025, we received a written notice from the Listing Qualifications department of Nasdaq indicating that we were not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1), as the minimum bid price of our common stock had been below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days (the “Minimum Bid Price Requirement”). This written notice had no immediate effect on the listing or trading of our common stock on Nasdaq. According to the notice, we have 180 calendar days, or until April 13, 2026 (the “Initial Compliance Period”), to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. To regain compliance, the minimum bid price of our common stock must meet or exceed $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the Initial Compliance Period. In the event we do not regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement during the Initial Compliance Period, we may be eligible for an additional 180-calendar day compliance period (the “Additional Compliance Period”) if, at that time, we meet the continued listing requirement for the market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards for the Nasdaq Capital Market, with the exception of the bid price requirement. Additionally, we would need to provide written notice of our intention to cure the deficiency during the Additional Compliance Period, including by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary. Our failure to regain compliance during the Initial Compliance Period or the Additional Compliance Period, if applicable, could result in delisting. While we believe we will be able to timely regain compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, there can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement or will otherwise be able to maintain compliance with other Nasdaq listing criteria. If our common stock were to be delisted from Nasdaq, it would likely reduce the liquidity of our common stock, and, among other things, may decrease the attractiveness of our common stock to the investment community, and make it more difficult for us to issue equity securities for capital raising purposes or for acquisitions. Our common stock has in the past been a “penny stock” under SEC rules, and may be subject to the “penny stock” rules in the future. It may be more difficult to resell securities classified as “penny stock.” In the past (including immediately prior to our common stock being listed on Nasdaq in February 2020), our common stock was a “penny stock” under applicable SEC rules (generally defined as non-exchange traded stock with a per-share price below $5.00). While our common stock is not now considered a “penny stock” because it is listed on Nasdaq, if we are unable to maintain that listing, unless we maintain a per-share price above $5.00, our common stock will become “penny stock.” These rules impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers that recommend the purchase or sale of penny stocks to persons other than those who qualify as “established customers” or “accredited investors.” For example, broker-dealers must determine the appropriateness for non-qualifying persons of investments in penny stocks. Broker-dealers must also provide, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, a standardized risk disclosure document that provides information about penny stocks and the risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, disclose the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, furnish monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account, provide a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser, and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. Legal remedies available to an investor in “penny stocks” may include the following: ● If a “penny stock” is sold to the investor in violation of the requirements listed above, or other federal or states securities laws, the investor may be able to cancel the purchase and receive a refund of the investment. ● If a “penny stock” is sold to the investor in a fraudulent manner, the investor may be able to sue the persons and firms that committed the fraud for damages. These requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity, if any, in the secondary market for a security that becomes subject to the penny stock rules. The additional burdens imposed upon broker-dealers by such requirements may discourage broker-dealers from effecting transactions in our securities, which could severely limit the market price and liquidity of our securities. These requirements may restrict the ability of broker-dealers to sell our common stock and may affect your ability to resell our common stock. Many brokerage firms will discourage or refrain from recommending investments in penny stocks. Most institutional investors will not invest in penny stocks. In addition, many individual investors will not invest in penny stocks due, among other reasons, to the increased financial risk generally associated with these investments. For these reasons, penny stocks may have a limited market and, consequently, limited liquidity. We can give no assurance at what time, if ever, our common stock may be classified as a “penny stock” in the future. 60 Table of Contents The exercise of outstanding warrants, options and other securities that are exercisable into shares of our common stock will be dilutive to our existing stockholders. As of the date of this Annual Report, we had outstanding various warrants, stock options and other securities that are exercisable into shares of our common stock. For the life of the options and warrants, the holders have the opportunity to profit from a rise in the market price of our common stock without assuming the risk of ownership. The issuance of shares upon the exercise of outstanding securities will also dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. The availability of these shares for public resale, as well as any actual resales of these shares, could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our common stock pursuant to the exercise of outstanding options or warrants, or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our common stock may have on the market price of our common stock. Sales or distributions of substantial amounts of our common stock (including shares issued in connection with an acquisition), or the perception that such sales could occur, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. We have not historically paid or declared any dividends on our common stock and do not expect to pay or declare cash dividends in the future on a regular basis, if at all. Although we declared special cash dividends in the first and third quarters of 2024, those dividends were declared as the result of a sale various business assets and not paid from cash generated in our operations. We have not historically paid or declared any dividends on our common stock or preferred stock. Any future dividends on common stock will be declared at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend, among other things, on our earnings, our financial requirements for future operations and growth, and other facts as we may then deem appropriate. As such, the return on your investment, if any, has historically been dependent solely on an increase, if any, in the market value of our common stock. Our common stock price is likely to be highly volatile because of several factors, including a limited public float. The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and the market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile in the future. You may not be able to resell shares of our common stock following periods of volatility because of the market’s adverse reaction to volatility. Other factors that could cause such volatility may include, among other things: ● actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results; ● the absence of securities analysts covering us and distributing research and recommendations about us; ● we may have a low trading volume for a number of reasons, including that a large portion of our stock is closely held; ● overall stock market fluctuations; ● announcements concerning our business or those of our competitors; ● actual or perceived limitations on our ability to raise capital when we require it, and to raise such capital on favorable terms; ● conditions or trends in our industry; ● litigation; 61 Table of Contents ● changes in market valuations of other similar companies; ● future sales of common stock; ● departure of key personnel or failure to hire key personnel; and ● general market conditions. Any of these factors could have a significant and adverse impact on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the stock market in general has at times experienced extreme volatility and rapid decline that has often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. There may not be sufficient liquidity in the market for our securities in order for investors to sell their shares. The market price of our common stock may continue to be volatile . The market price of our common stock will likely continue to be highly volatile. Some of the factors that may materially affect the market price of our common stock are beyond our control, such as conditions or trends in the industry in which we operate or sales of our common stock. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that we are a small company which is relatively unknown to stock analysts, stock brokers, institutional investors and others in the investment community that generate or influence sales volume, and that even if we came to the attention of such persons, they tend to be risk-averse and would be reluctant to follow an unproven company such as ours or purchase or recommend the purchase of our shares until such time as we became more seasoned and viable. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in our shares is minimal or non-existent, as compared to a mature issuer which has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on share price. It is possible that a broader or more active public trading market for our common stock will not develop or be sustained, or that trading levels will not continue. These factors may materially adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our performance. In addition, the public stock markets have experienced extreme price and trading volume volatility. This volatility has significantly affected the market prices of securities of many companies for reasons frequently unrelated to the operating performance of the specific companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Stockholders may be diluted significantly through our efforts to obtain financing and satisfy obligations through the issuance of additional shares of our common stock. Wherever possible, our board of directors will attempt to use non-cash consideration to satisfy obligations. In many instances, we believe that the non-cash consideration will consist of restricted shares of our common stock or where shares are to be issued to our officers, directors and applicable consultants. Our board of directors has authority, without action or vote of the stockholders, but subject to Nasdaq rules and regulations (which generally require shareholder approval for any transactions which would result in the issuance of more than 20% of our then outstanding shares of common stock or voting rights representing over 20% of our then outstanding shares of stock), to issue all or part of the authorized but unissued shares of common stock. In addition, we may attempt to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock, possibly at a discount to market. These actions will result in dilution of the ownership interests of existing stockholders, which may further dilute common stock book value, and that dilution may be material. Such issuances may also serve to enhance existing management’s ability to maintain control of the Company because the shares may be issued to parties or entities committed to supporting existing management. 62 Table of Contents