Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
An investment in our common stock involves risks. You should consider carefully the following risks and all of the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before investing in our common stock. The risks described below are those that we believe are the material risks that we face. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business. See “Forward-Looking Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have incurred substantial losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses in the future.
Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate net revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful further development and commercialization of our OCS products. We generated net revenue of $25.6 million and $23.6 million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and December 28, 2019, respectively, and incurred net losses of $28.7 million and $33.5 million for these same years. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $398.2 million. To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of equity, borrowings under loan agreements and revenue from clinical trials and commercial sales of our OCS products. Our losses have resulted principally from costs incurred in connection with our research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing and commercialization activities.
We expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future as we focus on growing commercial sales of our products in both the U.S. and select non-U.S. markets, including growing our sales and clinical adoption team, which will pursue increasing commercial sales and clinical adoption of our OCS products; scaling our manufacturing operations; continuing research, development and clinical trial efforts; and seeking regulatory clearance for new products and product enhancements, including new indications, in both the U.S. and select non-U.S. markets. Further, following the closing of our IPO in May 2019, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a result, we will need substantial additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research, development and clinical trials expenses. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Although we fund a portion of our operations from net revenue from sales of our OCS products for use in clinical trials and from commercial sales, we expect that we will need to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances until such time, if ever, that we can generate substantial net revenue sufficient to achieve profitability. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements, when needed, on favorable terms or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.
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We may need to raise additional funding, which might not be available on favorable terms or at all. Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our shareholders.
As we continue to pursue and increase commercial sales of our OCS products, we expect our costs and expenses to increase in the future, particularly as we expand our sales and clinical adoption team, scale our manufacturing operation, continue research, development and clinical trial efforts, and seek regulatory clearance for new products and product enhancements, including new indications, both in the United States and in select non-U.S. markets. The timing and amount of our operating and capital expenditures will depend on many factors, including:
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the amount of net revenue generated by sales of our OCS Consoles, OCS Perfusion Sets and OCS Solutions and other products that may be approved in the United States and select non-U.S. markets;
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the costs and expenses of expanding our U.S. and non-U.S. sales and marketing infrastructure and our manufacturing operations;
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the extent to which our OCS products are adopted by the transplant community;
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the ability of our customers to obtain adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for procedures performed using the OCS products;
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the degree of success we experience in commercializing our OCS products for additional indications;
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the costs, timing and outcomes of any future clinical studies and regulatory reviews, including to seek and obtain approvals for new indications for our OCS products;
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the emergence of competing or complementary technologies;
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the number and types of future products we develop and commercialize;
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the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications and maintaining, enforcing and defending intellectual property-related claims; and
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the level of our selling, general and administrative expenses.
Additional capital might not be available when we need it, and our actual cash requirements might be greater than anticipated. If we require additional capital at a time when investment in our industry or in the marketplace in general is limited, we might not be able to raise funding on favorable terms, if at all. If we are not able to obtain financing on terms favorable to us, we may need to cease or reduce development or commercialization activities, sell or license to third parties some or all of our assets or merge with another entity, any of which could result in a loss of all or part of your investment.
In addition, if we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible securities, the issuance of these securities could dilute your percentage ownership in our company. Furthermore, newly issued securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of common shareholders. If we raise additional funds through additional debt financing, we may need to dedicate a substantial additional portion of any operating cash flows to the payment of principal and interest on such indebtedness. The terms of any debt financing also could impose significant restrictions on our operations.
Our existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to operate our business.
As of December 31, 2020, we had $35.0 million of outstanding long-term debt under our credit agreement with OrbiMed Royalty Opportunities II, LP, or OrbiMed, which we refer to as the Credit Agreement. We could incur additional indebtedness in the future. Our payment obligations under the Credit Agreement reduce cash available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, research and development and general corporate needs. In addition, indebtedness under the Credit Agreement bears interest at a variable rate, making us vulnerable to increases in market interest rates. If market rates increase substantially, we will have to pay additional interest on this indebtedness, which would further reduce cash available for our other business needs.
Our obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by substantially all of our assets and the assets of our wholly-owned subsidiaries. The security interest granted over our assets could limit our ability to obtain additional debt financing. In addition, the Credit Agreement contains negative covenants restricting our activities, including limitations on dispositions, mergers or acquisitions; encumbering our intellectual property; incurring indebtedness or liens; paying dividends or redeeming stock or making other distributions; making certain investments; liquidating our company; modifying our organizational documents; entering into sale-leaseback arrangements and engaging in certain other business transactions. In addition, we are required to maintain a minimum liquidity amount of $3.0 million and are required, on an annual basis, to deliver to OrbiMed annual audited financial statements with an unqualified audit opinion from our independent registered public accounting firm. Failure to comply with the covenants in the Credit Agreement, including the minimum liquidity and unqualified audit opinion covenants, could result in the acceleration of our obligations under the Credit Agreement, and, if such acceleration were to occur, it would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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We may not have sufficient funds, and may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due under our debt arrangements. The obligations under the Credit Agreement are subject to acceleration upon the occurrence of specified events of default, including payment default, change in control, bankruptcy, insolvency, certain defaults under other material debt, certain events with respect to regulatory approvals and a material adverse change in our business, operations or other financial condition. If an event of default (other than certain events of bankruptcy or insolvency) occurs and is continuing, OrbiMed may declare all or any portion of the outstanding principal amount of the borrowings plus accrued and unpaid interest to be due and payable. Upon the occurrence of certain events of bankruptcy or insolvency, all of the outstanding principal amount of the borrowings plus accrued and unpaid interest will automatically become due and payable.
Our outstanding indebtedness and any future indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations, could increase our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and market conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry and impose a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt or better debt servicing options. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis—Long-term Debt” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our financial results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which makes our results difficult to predict and may cause our results to fall short of expectations.
Our financial results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to a number of factors, including the timing of patient enrollment in and regulatory approvals for our clinical trials, the availability of donor organs for transplantation, which is unpredictable and could impact the volume of transplant procedures performed at transplant centers using the OCS, and foreign currency exchange rates. We expect that revenue from sales will fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, and our future quarterly and annual expenses as a percentage of our revenue may be significantly different from those we have recorded in the past. Our financial results in some quarters may fall below expectations. Comparing our financial results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful, and you should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. Because the timing of organ transplant procedures is generally unpredictable, we have not experienced seasonality in our business from quarter to quarter and do not expect to do so in the foreseeable future.
Our ability to use our net operating losses and research and development credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income may be subject to limitations.
As of December 31, 2020, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards of $322.0 million and $252.7 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income and begin to expire in 2021 and 2030, respectively. The Company’s federal net operating losses include $108.0 million, which can be carried forward indefinitely. As of December 31, 2020, we also had U.S. federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $7.6 million and $5.0 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future tax liabilities and begin to expire in 2021 and 2024, respectively. A material portion of these NOL and tax credit carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. In addition, in general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50% change by value in its equity ownership over a three-year period, is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs, its research and development credit carryforwards and its disallowed interest expense carryovers to offset future taxable income. Our existing NOLs and research and development credit carryforwards may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, some of which might be beyond our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Our NOLs and credits may also be impaired under state law. For these reasons, if we determine that an ownership change has occurred or in the event we experience a change of control, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of the NOLs, research and development credit carryforwards or disallowed interest expense carryovers incurred prior to 2018.
Furthermore, our ability to utilize our NOLs or credits is conditioned upon our attaining profitability and generating U.S. federal and state taxable income. As described above, we have incurred significant net losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future; and therefore, we do not know whether or when we will generate the U.S. federal or state taxable income necessary to utilize our NOL or credit carryforwards. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, NOLs arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 will not be subject to expiration. In addition, the deduction for NOLs in any taxable year is limited to 80% of annual taxable income in respect of NOLs generated during or after 2018. The TCJA also reduced the corporate income tax rate to 21%, from a prior rate of 35%. This may cause a reduction in the potential economic benefit of our NOLs and other available deferred tax assets.
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The transition away from LIBOR may adversely affect our cost to obtain financing.
On July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, rates after 2021. The Financial Conduct Authority and the ICE Benchmark Administration recently announced that LIBOR may continue for legacy contracts until June 2023. While there is no certainty as to what rate or rates may become accepted alternatives to LIBOR, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a steering committee comprised of U.S. financial market participants, selected and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York started in May 2018 to publish the Secured Overnight Finance Rate, or SOFR, as an alternative to LIBOR. SOFR is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash in the overnight U.S. treasury repo market. The manner and impact of the transition to SOFR or another alternative rate may materially adversely affect the trading market for LIBOR-based securities, which may result in an increase in borrowing costs under our Credit Agreement. Any replacement for LIBOR may result in an effective increase in the applicable interest rate on our current or future debt obligations, including our Credit Agreement.
Risks Related to Research and Development and Commercialization
We depend heavily on the success of the OCS and achieving market acceptance. If we are unable to successfully commercialize the OCS, our business may fail.
We have invested all of our efforts and financial resources in the development of the OCS, educating surgeons, transplant centers, organ procurement organizations and private and public payors of the benefits of the OCS and providing services related to the OCS. While the OCS Lung has received PMA from the FDA for the preservation of donor lungs currently utilized and currently unutilized for double lung transplantation, and our OCS products have received the CE Mark and several other international regulatory approvals for lung, heart and liver for sales outside the United States, we might not be able to commercialize successfully the OCS for the approved indications or obtain approvals for additional indications or in additional jurisdictions on our planned timing or at all. Our ability to generate product revenue and become profitable depends solely on sales of OCS Perfusion Sets and OCS Solutions, which we refer to collectively as disposable sets, and OCS Consoles. Our assumptions regarding demographic trends, donor organ availability and the use of transplantation as a treatment for end-stage organ failure may prove to be incorrect.
In order to achieve market acceptance for the OCS, we expect that we will need to demonstrate to surgeons, transplant center program directors, organ procurement organizations and private and public payors that the OCS potentially results in some or all of the following: improvements in post-transplant clinical outcomes, increases in the utilization of donor organs, expansion of the pool of potential donors and reduction in the total cost of care as compared to available alternatives. Data from our ongoing or future clinical trials may not demonstrate that the OCS provides these benefits. Our estimates of the potential pools of donors are only estimates and subject to uncertainty, risk and change. In addition, the medical community might not consider data collected from our patient registry meaningful or compelling, or the data collected from our patient registry or any clinical or commercial experience could indicate that the OCS is unsafe, which would substantially undermine our commercialization efforts.
Surgeons, transplant centers and private and public payors often are slow to adopt new products, technologies and treatment practices that require additional upfront costs and training. We expect that the cost of the OCS will significantly exceed the cost of cold storage preservation. In addition, surgeons may not be willing to undergo training to use the OCS, may decide the OCS is too complex to adopt without appropriate training and may choose not to use the OCS. Based on these and other factors, transplant center program directors, organ procurement organizations and private and public payors may decide that the benefits of the OCS do not outweigh its costs. In addition, adoption of the OCS may be constrained by the capacity of individual transplant centers to perform transplants due to factors such as the number of its surgeons trained on the use of the OCS. As a result, demand for the OCS could be materially lower than we expect it to be, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
The clinical trial process required to obtain regulatory approvals is lengthy and expensive, with uncertain outcomes.
In order to obtain PMA approval for a device, the sponsor must conduct clinical trials, often well-controlled clinical studies, designed to assess the safety and effectiveness of the product. Conducting clinical trials is a complex and expensive process, can take many years and outcomes are inherently uncertain. We incur substantial expense for, and devote significant time to, clinical trials but cannot be certain that the product tested will ever generate revenue sufficient to cover the costs of trials. We may experience significant setbacks in clinical trials, even after earlier clinical trials showed promising results, and failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. Any of our products may malfunction or may produce undesirable adverse effects that could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials. We, the FDA or another regulatory authority may suspend or terminate clinical trials.
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Successful results in early studies do not assure positive results in subsequent clinical trials. The data we collect from our preclinical studies and clinical trials may not be sufficient to support FDA or other regulatory clearance or approval. Additionally, the FDA may disagree with our interpretation of the data from our studies and trials. The FDA may conclude that the clinical trial design, conduct or results are inadequate to prove safety or effectiveness, and the FDA may require us to undertake expensive and lengthy additional trials, which may delay clearance or approval of products.
Clinical trials are necessary to support PMA applications and may be necessary to support PMA supplements for modified versions of our marketed device products. Trials often require enrollment of large numbers of subjects, who may be difficult to identify, recruit and maintain as participants in the clinical trial. We have obtained PMA approval for the OCS Lung for the preservation of donor lungs currently utilized and currently unutilized for transplants in the United States. As a condition of this PMA approval, we are required to conduct two post-market studies. Adverse outcomes in post-approval studies can result in withdrawal of approval of a PMA or restrictions on the approval. We will need to conduct additional clinical studies to support use of the OCS in, and development of OCS products for, new organs, like kidney, and for commercialization of our products in additional foreign jurisdictions. Clinical trials in organ transplant are difficult to design and implement, take substantial time to conduct and are expensive. The results of clinical trials are inherently uncertain. The initiation and completion of any studies may be prevented, delayed or halted for numerous reasons. The following could adversely affect the costs, timing or successful completion of our clinical trials:
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we have been required and, prior to collecting clinical data in the future to support new PMA applications, will be required again to submit an IDE application to the FDA, which must become effective prior to commencing human clinical trials, and the FDA may reject our IDE application and notify us that we may not begin investigational trials;
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regulators and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree as to the design or implementation of our clinical trials;
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regulators and/or IRBs, or other reviewing bodies may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial, or to conduct or continue a clinical trial at a prospective or specific trial site;
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we may not reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different trial sites;
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clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs;
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the number of subjects or patients required for clinical trials may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be insufficient or slower than we anticipate, and the number of clinical trials being conducted at any given time may be high and result in fewer available patients for any given clinical trial, or patients may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate;
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our third-party contractors, including those manufacturing products or conducting clinical trials on our behalf, may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner or at all;
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we might have to suspend or terminate clinical trials for various reasons, including a finding that the subjects are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
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we may have to amend clinical trial protocols or conduct additional studies to reflect changes in regulatory requirements or guidance, which we may be required to submit to an IRB and/or regulatory authorities for re-examination;
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regulators, IRBs or other reviewing bodies may require or recommend that we or our investigators suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including safety signals or noncompliance with regulatory requirements;
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the cost of clinical trials may be greater than we anticipate;
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we may be unable to recruit a sufficient number of clinical trial sites;
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regulators, IRBs or other reviewing bodies may fail to approve or subsequently find fault with our manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we enter into agreement for clinical and commercial supplies, the supply of devices or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials may be insufficient, inadequate or not available at an acceptable cost, or we may experience interruptions in supply;
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approval policies or regulations of FDA or applicable foreign regulatory agencies may change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval; and
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our current or future products may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics.
Patient enrollment in clinical trials and completion of patient follow-up depend on many factors, including the size of the patient population, the nature of the trial protocol, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the clinical trial, patient compliance, competing clinical trials clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product being studied in relation to other available products or services, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For example, patients may be discouraged from enrolling in our clinical trials if the trial protocol requires them to undergo extensive post-treatment procedures or follow-up to assess the safety and effectiveness of a product, or they may be persuaded to participate in contemporaneous clinical trials of a competitor’s product. In addition, patients participating in our clinical trials may drop out before completion of the trial or experience adverse medical events unrelated to our products. Delays in patient enrollment or failure of patients to continue to participate in a clinical trial may delay commencement or completion of the clinical trial, cause an increase in the costs of the clinical trial and delays, or result in the failure of the clinical trial.
Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the regulations of the FDA and other applicable regulatory authorities’ legal requirements and regulations and are subject to oversight by these governmental agencies and IRBs at the medical institutions where the clinical trials are conducted. In addition, clinical trials must be conducted with supplies of our devices produced under certain requirements of the QSR, and other regulations. Furthermore, we rely on clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and while we have agreements governing their committed activities, we have limited influence over their actual performance. We depend on transplant centers to conduct our clinical trials in compliance with good clinical practice, or GCP, requirements. To the extent that transplant centers fail to enroll participants for our clinical trials, fail to conduct the study to GCP standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of trials, including achieving full enrollment, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both. In addition, clinical trials that are conducted in countries outside the United States may subject us to further delays and expenses as a result of increased shipment costs, additional regulatory requirements and the engagement of non-U.S. institutions, as well as expose us to risks associated with clinical investigators who are unknown to the FDA, and different standards of diagnosis, screening and medical care.
Failure can occur at any stage of clinical testing. For example, our clinical studies may produce negative or inconclusive results, and, in the future, we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct clinical and non-clinical testing in addition to those we have planned. After submission of our PMA applications for OCS Lung and OCS Heart, the FDA requested certain additional clinical analyses, technical information and clarifications as part of the agency’s normal review process. The FDA ultimately approved the PMA for the OCS Lung. While we believe we responded in full to the FDA’s requests with respect to the PMA application for the OCS Heart, including by submitting short and longer-term data from the OCS Heart EXPAND Trial and OCS Heart EXPAND Continued Access Protocol, the FDA could ask us to conduct additional clinical trials or submit additional evidence to support the OCS Heart PMA application, or other PMA applications in the future, if the FDA does not believe the data we have already submitted is sufficient. Our failure to adequately demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the OCS or any product we may develop in the future would prevent receipt of regulatory clearance or approval and, ultimately, the commercialization of that product or indication for use. Even if our future products are cleared or approved in the United States, commercialization of our products in foreign countries would require approval by regulatory authorities in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials. Any of these occurrences could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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We must continue to educate surgeons, transplant centers and private and public payors and demonstrate the merits of the OCS compared with cold storage or new competing technologies. Surgeons, transplant centers and private and public payors may require additional clinical data prior to adopting or maintaining coverage of the OCS.
Directors of transplant programs are key decision-makers in the adoption of novel medical devices used in organ transplantation. An important part of our commercialization efforts is to educate transplant center program directors and other surgeons on the relative merits of the OCS. Our success depends, in large part, on effectively marketing and educating program directors and other surgeons about the benefits of the OCS. Acceptance of the OCS also depends on educating program directors, other surgeons and private and public payors as to the distinctive characteristics, perceived medical and economic benefits, safety, ease of use and cost-effectiveness of the OCS. If program directors, other surgeons and private and public payors do not find our body of published clinical evidence and data compelling or wish to wait for additional studies, they may choose not to use or provide coverage and reimbursement for our products. Currently, universal national healthcare systems do not reimburse transplant centers for the use of the OCS and reimbursement in international markets may require us to undertake additional clinical studies.
In addition, the long-term effects of our OCS beyond one to three years following transplantation are not yet known. Certain surgeons, transplant centers and private and public payors may prefer to see longer-term safety and efficacy data than we have produced. We cannot provide assurance that any data that we or others may generate in the future will be consistent with that observed in our existing clinical studies.
Our long-term growth depends on our ability to improve the OCS platform, including by expanding into new indications and developing the next generation of our products, and expanding access to the OCS, including through the potential development of a turnkey perfusion service for transplant centers.
Our business plan contemplates that we will continue to improve the OCS platform, including by expanding into additional organs and developing the next generation of our products. Developing such new or modified products is expensive and time-consuming and diverts management’s attention away from current operations. The success of any new product offering or product enhancements to our OCS platform will depend on several factors, including our ability to:
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properly identify and anticipate surgeon and patient needs;
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develop and introduce new products and product modifications in a timely manner;
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avoid infringing upon, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties;
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demonstrate the safety and efficacy of new products and product modifications;
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obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals;
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comply with regulations regarding the marketing of new products or product modifications;
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provide adequate training to potential users of our products;
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receive adequate coverage and reimbursement for procedures performed with our products; and
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develop an effective sales and marketing effort.
We also are developing a turnkey perfusion service that would facilitate organ retrieval and transportation to transplant centers, which we believe would expand access and use of the OCS. We may not be successful in the development of such a service, which will depend on recruiting and retaining qualified surgeons and coordinating with regional organ procurement organizations. If we are not successful in expanding our indications and developing the next generation of our products, our ability to increase our revenue may be impaired, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
We depend on a limited number of customers for a significant portion of our net revenue and the loss of, or a significant shortfall in demand from, these customers could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
We generate a significant amount of our net revenue from a limited number of customers. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, Massachusetts General Hospital accounted for 14% of our net revenue and Duke University accounted for 10% of our net revenue. We expect that sales to relatively few customers will continue to account for a significant percentage of our net revenue in future periods. However, these customers or any of our other customers may not continue to utilize our products at current levels, pricing, or at all, and our revenue could fluctuate significantly due to changes in economic conditions, the use of other methods for organ preservation, such as cold storage, or the loss of, reduction of business with, or less favorable terms with any of our largest customers. Our future success will depend upon the timing and volume of business from our largest customers and the financial and operational success of these customers. If we were to lose one of our key customers or have a key customer significantly reduce its volume of business with us, our revenue may be materially reduced, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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We depend on single-source suppliers and, in a few cases, sole-source suppliers for many of the components used in the OCS.
We rely on single-source suppliers and, in a few cases, sole-source suppliers for many of the components used in the OCS. For example, each of Fresenius Kabi Austria GmbH and Fresenius Kabi AB, which we refer to collectively as Fresenius, is our single-source supplier of OCS Solutions for the OCS Lung and the OCS Heart, respectively. While we have manufacturing and supply agreements with certain of our suppliers, for most of our suppliers, we place purchase orders on an as-needed basis. Our suppliers could discontinue the manufacturing or supply of these components at any time. We do not carry a significant inventory of these components. Our suppliers may not be able to meet our demand for their products, either because of acts of nature, the nature of our agreements with those manufacturers or our relative importance to them as a customer, and our manufacturers may decide in the future to discontinue or reduce the level of business they conduct with us. We might not be able to identify and qualify additional or replacement suppliers for any of these components quickly or at all or without incurring significant additional costs. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to establish alternative relationships on similar terms, without delay or at all. We may also face regulatory delays or be required to seek additional regulatory clearances or approvals if we experience any delay or deficiency in the quality of products obtained from suppliers or if we have to replace our suppliers. In addition, many of the components used in the OCS are specifically designed for use in the OCS, which means that off-the-shelf components may not be available as substitutes.
Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for any of these materials or components, if required, or any supply interruption from our suppliers, could limit our ability to manufacture our products, result in production delays and increased costs and adversely affect our ability to deliver products to our customers on a timely basis. Our inability to obtain sufficient quantities of components for the OCS also could adversely affect clinical development of the OCS. If we are not able to identify alternate sources of supply for the components, we might have to modify our product to use substitute components, which could lead to additional regulatory obligations that could impact our marketing ability, cause delays in shipments, increase design and manufacturing costs and increase prices for our products. Any such modified product might not be as effective as the predecessor product or might not gain market acceptance. This could lead to customer dissatisfaction and damage to our reputation and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
We will need to increase our manufacturing capacity in the future and may encounter problems at our manufacturing facility or otherwise.
In order to manufacture the OCS in quantities sufficient to meet our anticipated commercial opportunity, we will need to increase our manufacturing capabilities. We may encounter technical challenges to increasing the scale at which we manufacture the OCS, including with respect to material procurement and quality control and assurance. An increase in production could make it more difficult for us to comply with quality system regulations or other applicable requirements that are currently enforced by the FDA and other regulatory authorities, or that may be introduced in the future, in both the United States and in other countries. Commercial scale production of the OCS on a continuing basis also will require us to hire and retain additional management and technical personnel who have the necessary manufacturing experience and skills. We might not successfully identify, hire or retain qualified personnel on a timely basis or at all. Our inability to increase the scale of our manufacturing of the OCS could impair our ability to generate revenue and adversely affect market acceptance of our product.
In addition, all of our manufacturing operations are conducted at a single facility in Andover, Massachusetts. Any interruption in operations at this location could result in our inability to satisfy product demand. Despite our efforts to safeguard this facility, including acquiring insurance on commercially reasonable terms, adopting environmental health and safety protocols and utilizing off-site storage of computer data, a number of factors could damage or destroy our manufacturing equipment or our inventory of component supplies or finished goods, cause substantial delays in our operations, result in the loss of key information, and cause us to incur additional expenses, including relocation expense, including:
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operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production imposed by regulatory authorities;
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equipment malfunctions or failures;
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technology malfunctions;
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work stoppages;
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damage to or destruction of the facility due to natural disasters or other events; or
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regional or local power shortages.
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Our insurance may not cover our losses in any particular case, or insurance may not be available on commercially reasonable terms to cover certain of these catastrophic events. In addition, regardless of the level of insurance coverage, damage to our facilities or any disruption that impedes our ability to manufacture the OCS in a timely manner could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our failure to compete effectively will harm our business and operating results.
A broad range of medical device, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies offer products, procedures and therapies that have the potential to limit the demand for organ transplantation. Companies within this group vary depending on the type of organ. New therapies for COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, could limit the demand for lung transplants. Alternative products, procedures and therapies including ventricular assist devices, cardiac rhythm management products, total artificial hearts, and drug therapies for the heart and surgical procedures could limit demand for heart transplants. Improved treatments for chronic diseases or conditions affecting the liver as well as efforts to develop artificial livers could limit the need for liver transplants. If demand for organ transplants decreases, sales of the OCS and its components will suffer.
Other companies may develop technologies and products that result in improved patient outcomes or are safer, easier to use, less expensive or more readily accepted than the OCS. Their products or technologies could make the OCS obsolete or noncompetitive. Other companies may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval or clearance for their products sooner than we may obtain approval or clearance for the OCS. Many of these providers of alternative products, procedures and therapies have greater name recognition, significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and clearances and marketing and selling products than we do. Smaller and other early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. Third parties may also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified medical, engineering and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to or necessary for our products or development programs or otherwise advantageous to our business. Our failure to compete effectively will harm our business and operating results.
Failure to maintain an ethical and inclusive corporate culture, or damage to our reputation, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We strive to create a culture in which our employees act with integrity, treat each other with respect and consider themselves empowered to report suspected misconduct. Our ability to attract and retain a high-quality workforce depends upon our commitment to a diverse and inclusive environment, along with our perceived trustworthiness and ethics. Allegations of misconduct by employees, particularly leaders, erode trust and confidence and cause reputational damage. Negative public opinion can result from actual or alleged conduct by the Company or those currently or formerly associated with the Company. Issues can arise in any number of circumstances, including employment-related offenses such as workplace harassment and discrimination, regulatory noncompliance, and failure to properly use and protect data and systems, as well as from actions taken by regulators or others in response to such conduct. Addressing allegations of misconduct detracts focus from business operations and is expensive. We have adopted policies to promote compliance with laws and regulations as well as to foster a respectful workplace for all employees. These policies, which include a code of business conduct and ethics, an insider trading policy, a Regulation FD policy, a sexual harassment policy, a regulated fraternization policy, and a whistleblower policy, are a component of our effort to minimize employee misconduct as well as activities that frequently result in allegations of misconduct, but our employees may fail to abide by these policies. In addition to damaging our reputation, actual or alleged misconduct could affect the confidence of our shareholders, regulators and other parties and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Failure to protect our information technology infrastructure against cyber-based attacks, network security breaches or data corruption could materially disrupt our operations and adversely affect our business and operating results.
The efficient operation of our business depends on our information technology systems. We rely on our information technology systems to effectively manage sales and marketing data, accounting and financial functions, inventory management, product development tasks, clinical data, donor and patient data, customer service and technical support functions. Our information technology systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, fires, floods and other natural disasters; terrorist attacks; cyber-based attacks; attacks by computer viruses or hackers; power losses, computer system or data network failures; security breaches and data corruption. Federal, state and international laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), can expose us to enforcement actions and investigations by regulatory authorities, and potentially result in regulatory penalties and significant legal liability, if our information technology security efforts fail. In addition, our software systems include cloud-based applications that are hosted by third-party service providers with security and information technology systems subject to similar risks.
The failure of either our or our service providers’ information technology could disrupt our entire operation or result in decreased sales, increased overhead costs and product shortages, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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Economic, political and other risks associated with foreign operations could adversely affect our international sales and our results of operations.
Because we market the OCS in countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia and Canada and plan to market it in other international markets, we are subject to risks associated with doing business internationally. During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and December 28, 2019, 25% and 31%, respectively, of our net revenue was generated from customers located outside of the United States. Even if we are successful in commercializing the OCS in the United States, we anticipate that international sales will represent a meaningful portion of our total sales. In addition, some of our employees and suppliers are located outside of the United States. Accordingly, our results of operations could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:
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changes in a country’s or region’s political or economic conditions, including any potential impact resulting from the U.K.’s exit from the European Union;
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longer payment cycles of foreign customers and difficulty of collecting receivables in foreign jurisdictions;
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different or changing regulatory or insurance practices regarding reimbursement for transplant procedures;
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difficulties in developing effective marketing campaigns in unfamiliar foreign countries;
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trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements or customs clearance and shipping delays;
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
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differing tax laws and changes in those laws in the countries in which we are subject to tax, or potentially adverse tax consequences, including the complexities of foreign value-added tax systems, tax inefficiencies related to our corporate structure, and restrictions on the repatriation of earnings;
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changes in international legislation or regulations governing the approval or clearance process for the OCS or ongoing compliance requirements;
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differing business practices associated with foreign operations;
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difficulties in staffing and managing our international operations;
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political, social, and economic instability abroad, terrorist attacks, and security concerns in general;
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the burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws and different legal standards, such as anti-bribery laws, including the FCPA, and U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, or the Bribery Act, data privacy requirements, labor laws and anti-competition regulations;
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differing protection of intellectual property; and
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increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities.
We rely on shipping providers to deliver products to our customers globally. Labor, tariff or World Trade Organization-related disputes, piracy, physical damage to shipping facilities or equipment caused by severe weather or terrorist incidents, congestion at shipping facilities, inadequate equipment to load, dock and offload our products, energy-related tie-ups, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors could disrupt or delay shipping or off-loading of our products domestically and internationally. Such disruptions or delays could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
If one or more of these risks are realized, our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Our success depends on our ability to retain our founder and President and Chief Executive Officer and other members of our management team and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
Our success depends on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified clinicians, surgeons, scientists, engineers, managers and sales personnel. Dr. Waleed H. Hassanein, our founder and President and Chief Executive Officer, and other members of our management team are important to the success of our operations and to our efforts to develop and commercialize the OCS. All of these key employees, including Dr. Hassanein, are at-will employees and can terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of any of these key members of our management team and, in particular, Dr. Hassanein, could impede our achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives. In addition, it will be an event of default under our Credit Agreement if Dr. Hassanein ceases to be our President and Chief Executive Officer and we do not hire a replacement that is reasonably acceptable to OrbiMed within 120 days. We maintain $1.0 million of “key person” insurance policy on the life of Dr. Hassanein, but we do not maintain such insurance on any of our other employees.
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In addition, our expected growth will require us to hire a significant number of qualified personnel, including clinical development, regulatory, sales, marketing, engineering, scientific, clinical support and administrative personnel. There is intense competition from other companies and research and academic institutions for qualified personnel in the areas of our activities. If we cannot continue to attract and retain, on acceptable terms, the qualified personnel necessary for the continued development of our business, we might not be able to sustain our operations or become profitable.
The failure to manage our growth effectively could harm our business.
To manage our anticipated future growth effectively, we must enhance our manufacturing capabilities, information technology infrastructure and financial and accounting systems and controls. Our growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of the OCS for transplants involving additional indications or other organs, such as kidney. Our intended development of a turnkey perfusion service for transplant centers may also require additional capital expenditures or divert attention of our management away from development and commercialization of our OCS products. If we are unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our revenue could grow more slowly than expected and we might not be able to achieve our research and development and commercialization goals, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
The outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects .
The COVID-19 pandemic, including efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, has impacted, and may continue to impact, our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. Impacts to our business as a result of COVID-19 include the temporary disruption of transplant procedures at many of the organ transplant centers who purchase OCS products; disruptions to our manufacturing operations and supply chain caused by facility closures, reductions in operating hours, staggered shifts and other social distancing efforts; labor shortages; decreased productivity and unavailability of materials or components; restrictions on or delays of our clinical trials and studies; delays of reviews and approvals by the FDA and other health authorities; limitations on our employees’ and customers’ ability to travel; and delays in product installations, trainings or shipments to and from affected countries and within the United States. Since April 2020, we have taken several steps to protect the health and safety of our employees, to establish a process to support the continuous supply of our OCS products at transplant centers globally and to maintain financial flexibility. These actions include reducing near-term expenses, such as reducing non-essential discretionary expenses. We also deferred a portion of executive and employee compensation from April 2020 through August 31, 2020.
Additionally, to protect the health of our employees and their families, and our communities, and in accordance with direction from state and local government authorities, we have restricted access to our facilities to personnel and third parties who must perform critical activities that must be completed on-site, limited the number of such personnel that can be present at our facilities at any one time, and requested that most of our personnel work remotely. Also, our sales and clinical adoption team has been restricted from visiting many transplant centers in person. In addition, we temporarily reduced the manufacturing and distribution of our OCS products at our facility in Andover, Massachusetts. Starting in May 2020, we resumed manufacturing and distribution operations to pre-COVID levels. In the event that governmental authorities were to further modify current restrictions, our employees conducting manufacturing activities may not be able to access our manufacturing facilities, and our core activities may be significantly limited or curtailed, possibly for an extended period of time. We also may be faced with limitations in employee resources that would otherwise be focused on our commercial, manufacturing or clinical activities, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people.
In response to the pandemic, healthcare providers have, and may need to further, reallocate resources, such as physicians, staff, hospital beds and intensive care unit facilities, as they prioritize limited resources and personnel capacity to focus on the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and implement limitations on access to hospitals and other medical institutions due to concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19 in such settings. These actions significantly delay the provision of other medical care such as organ transplantation and reduce the number of transplant procedures that are performed, which negatively impacts our revenue and clinical trial activities. These measures and challenges may continue for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is highly uncertain, and may significantly reduce our revenue and cash flows while the pandemic continues. We have observed recovery in the frequency of transplant procedures, but not yet at the same activity level as prior to the disruption of business and economic activities resulting from COVID-19. In addition, while the number of transplant procedures performed has declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, organ transplantations are non-elective, life-saving procedures and we believe that the need for these procedures will persist. However, as interventions to contain the spread of the virus are lifted or reduced, new COVID-19 outbreaks may result in new or heightened restrictions, which could again cause disruptions to our customers’ operations and adversely impact organ transplant procedures. OCS product sales have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic since the first quarter of 2020 and we anticipate OCS product sales will continue to be impacted in 2021; however, the length and extent of the pandemic, its consequences, and containment efforts will determine the future impact on our operations and financial condition.
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An adverse impact on the volume and availability of transplant procedures impacts our clinical trials and enrollment in our post-approval studies, and the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted operations at the FDA and other health authorities, resulting in delays of reviews and approvals, including with respect to our OCS Heart PMA application, and may affect other potential PMA applications.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted, and may continue to impact, our third party suppliers, including through the effects of facility closures, reductions in operating hours, staggered shifts and other social distancing efforts, labor shortages, decreased productivity and unavailability of materials or components. While we maintain an inventory of finished products and raw materials used in our OCS products, a prolonged pandemic could lead to shortages in the raw materials necessary to manufacture our products. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our operations and those of our third-party partners will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the pandemic, additional or modified government actions , new information which may emerge concerning the severity and incidence of COVID-19, actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, periodic spikes in infection rates, new strains of the virus that cause outbreaks of COVID-19, and the broad availability of effective vaccines . In particular, the speed of the continued spread of COVID-19 globally, and the magnitude of interventions to contain the spread of the virus, such as government-imposed quarantines, including shelter-in-place mandates, sweeping restrictions on travel, mandatory shutdowns for non-essential businesses, requirements regarding social distancing, and other public safety measures, will determine the impact of the pandemic on our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects. If we experience a prolonged disruption in our manufacturing, supply chains, clinical trial or commercial operations, or if demand for our products is significantly reduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we would expect to experience a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Additionally, the extent and duration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our stock price and on those of other companies in our industry is highly uncertain and may make us look less attractive to investors and, as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock, our stock price may be more volatile, and our ability to raise capital could be impaired, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity and financial position.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we fail to maintain our license to patents covering the OCS, we will lose the right to manufacture, market and sell the OCS and our business would be harmed.
Our business depends, in part, on our license from the VA, that covers the OCS. We have a license under certain patent rights relevant to our right to manufacture, market and sell the OCS, including the OCS Perfusion Sets and OCS Solutions specific to the lung, heart, liver and kidney for use in the OCS, pursuant to a license agreement with the VA. For more information, see “Item 1. Business—Intellectual Property—Department of Veterans Affairs License” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our license agreement requires us, among other things, to pay royalties, determined as a percentage of our net sales of products covered by the licensed patents. If we fail to make these payments or otherwise fail to comply with the terms of our license agreement, the VA would have the right to terminate our license, in which case we would lose our right to manufacture, market and sell products covered by the licensed patents, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the agreement. If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our license agreement with the VA or any other licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, or are insufficient to provide us the necessary rights to use the intellectual property, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the OCS or other affected products. If we or our licensors fail to adequately protect our licensed intellectual property, our ability to commercialize our products could suffer. Any disputes with our licensor or any termination of the licenses on which we depend could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we infringe or are alleged to infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties or are otherwise subject to litigation or other proceedings regarding our intellectual property rights, our business or competitive position could be adversely affected.
Our commercial success will depend in part on not infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the patents or other intellectual property or proprietary rights of others. Significant litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights occurs in the medical device industry. Third parties may claim that the OCS or aspects or uses of the OCS infringe intellectual property rights for which we do not hold licenses or other rights in the United States and abroad. Third parties in both the United States and abroad may have applied for or obtained, or may in the future apply for and obtain, patents that will prevent, limit or otherwise interfere with our ability to make, use and sell our products.
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Given the vast number of patents in our field of technology, we cannot be certain that we do not infringe existing patents or that we will not infringe patents that may be granted in the future. For example, patent applications in the United States and elsewhere can be pending for many years before issuance, or unintentionally abandoned patents or applications can be revived, so there may be applications of others now pending or recently revived patents of which we are unaware. These applications may later result in issued patents, or the revival of previously abandoned patents, that will prevent, limit or otherwise interfere with our ability to make, use or sell our products. Third parties may, in the future, assert claims that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization, including claims from competitors or from non-practicing entities that have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may have no deterrent effect. As we continue to commercialize our products in their current or updated forms, launch new products and enter new markets, competitors may claim that one or more of our products infringe their intellectual property rights as part of business strategies designed to impede our successful commercialization and entry into new markets. The large number of patents, the rapid rate of new patent applications and issuances, the complexities of the technology involved, and the uncertainty of litigation may increase the risk of business resources and management’s attention being diverted to patent litigation.
If any third-party patents were asserted against us, even if we believe such claims are without merit, there is no assurance that a court would find in our favor on questions of infringement, validity, enforceability, or priority. A court of competent jurisdiction could hold that the asserted third-party patents are valid, enforceable, and infringed, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products. In order to successfully challenge the validity of any U.S. patent in federal court, we would need to overcome a presumption of validity. As this burden is a high one requiring us to present clear and convincing evidence as to the invalidity of any such U.S. patent claim, there is no assurance that a court of competent jurisdiction would invalidate the claims of any such U.S. patent. We may choose or, if we are found to infringe a third party’s patent rights and we are unsuccessful in demonstrating that such patents are invalid or unenforceable, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing, manufacturing, and marketing any of our products. 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 and other third parties access to the same technologies licensed to us, and it could require us to make substantial licensing and royalty payments. We also could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing, and commercializing the infringing technology or products. In addition, we could be found liable for significant monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent or other intellectual property right. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearing, motions, or other interim developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of shares of our common stock. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our industry has experienced substantial litigation and other proceedings regarding patent and other intellectual property rights and lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
In addition to infringement claims against us, we may become a party to other types of patent litigation and other proceedings, including post-grant proceedings declared by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, and opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office, regarding intellectual property rights with respect to the OCS. For example, we may be subject to a third-party preissuance submission of prior art to the USPTO, or become involved in post-grant review procedures, oppositions, derivations, reexaminations, inter partes review or interference proceedings, in the United States or elsewhere, challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time.
In addition, competitors and other third parties may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our patents and other intellectual property rights. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming and divert the time and attention of our management. In addition, many of our adversaries in these proceedings may have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to prosecuting these legal actions than we can.
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A court may disagree with our allegations and may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the third-party technology in question. Furthermore, the other party could counterclaim that we infringe their intellectual property or counterclaim that a patent we have asserted against them is invalid or unenforceable, or both. In patent litigation in the United States, counterclaims challenging the validity, enforceability or scope of asserted patents are commonplace. Similarly, third parties may initiate legal proceedings against us seeking a declaration that certain of our intellectual property rights are non-infringed, invalid, or unenforceable. The outcome of any such proceeding is generally unpredictable.
An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability of our patents covering one of our products, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection covering such product. Competing products may also be sold in other countries in which our patent coverage might not exist or be as strong. Any of these outcomes would have a material adverse effect on our business.
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 litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearing, motions, or other interim developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of shares of our common stock. Even if we ultimately prevail, a court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity and instead award only monetary damages, which may not be an adequate remedy. Furthermore, the monetary cost of such litigation and the diversion of the attention of our management could outweigh any benefit we receive as a result of the proceedings. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business.
If we are unable to establish, maintain or adequately protect our intellectual property rights relating to the OCS, the commercial value of the OCS will be adversely affected and our competitive position could be harmed.
Our success and ability to compete depend in part upon our ability to establish and maintain intellectual property rights covering the OCS in the United States and other countries. We own or have an exclusive license under several patents and patent applications in the United States and corresponding patents and patent applications in a number of foreign jurisdictions. All but one of the issued United States patents under the VA license expired in 2017 and the issued international patents expired in 2018. With respect to the unexpired, issued U.S. patent licensed from the VA, we have been granted an interim patent term extension until September 23, 2021 and we have requested an extension until May 2022. However, the length of the patent term extension is currently being determined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) based on input from the FDA. On February 8, 2021, the FDA provided to the USPTO and determined the regulatory review period for the OCS Lung System. Under the FDA’s analysis, the patent term extension would be until November 6, 2021. With respect to the patents and patent applications that we own, any patents that have or may issue from our currently issued or pending patent applications would be expected to expire between 2026 and 2037, assuming all required fees are paid.
However, we cannot provide any assurances that any of our patents have, or that any of our pending patent applications that mature into issued patents will include, claims with a scope sufficient to protect our OCS technology, any additional features we develop for our OCS technology or any new products. Other parties may have developed technologies that may be related to or competitive with our system, may have filed or may file patent applications and may have received or may receive patents that overlap or conflict with our patent applications, either by claiming the same methods or devices or by claiming subject matter that could dominate our patent position. The patent positions of medical device companies, including our patent position, may involve complex legal and factual questions, and, therefore, the scope, validity and enforceability of any patent claims that we may obtain cannot be predicted with certainty. Our pending and future patent applications may not issue as patents or, if issued, may not issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. Even if issued, our patents may be challenged, narrowed, held unenforceable, invalidated or circumvented, or others could challenge the inventorship, ownership or enforceability of our patents and patent applications, any of which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing similar products or limit the term of patent protection we may have for our products, or cause us to lose our right to manufacture, market and sell the OCS products or components of the OCS products. Additionally, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art, and provide more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents. In addition, the Leahy-Smith Act has transformed the U.S. patent system into a first-to-file system. The first-to-file provisions became effective on March 16, 2013. It is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. For example, the Leahy-Smith Act provides that an administrative tribunal known as the Patent Trial and Appeals Board, or PTAB, provides a venue for challenging the validity of patents at a cost that is much lower than district court litigation and on timelines that are much faster. Proceedings challenging our patents could result in either loss of the patent or denial of the patent application or loss or reduction in the scope of one or more of the claims of the patent or patent application. Furthermore, an adverse decision in an interference proceeding can result in a third party receiving the patent right sought by us, which in turn could affect our ability to commercialize our products.
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Changes in either patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection, which in turn could diminish the commercial value of the OCS. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we may encounter significant problems in protecting our proprietary rights in these countries.
The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, and we cannot ensure that:
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any of our patents, or any of our pending patent applications, if issued, will include claims having a scope sufficient to protect the OCS;
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any of our pending patent applications will issue as patents;
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we will be able to successfully commercialize our products on a substantial scale, if approved, before any relevant patents we may have expire;
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we were the first to make the inventions covered by each of our patents and pending patent applications;
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we were the first to file patent applications for these inventions;
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others will not develop similar or alternative technologies that do not infringe our patents; any of our patents will be found to ultimately be valid and enforceable;
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any patents issued to us will provide a basis for an exclusive market for our commercially viable products, will provide us with any competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties;
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we will develop additional proprietary technologies or products that are separately patentable; or
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our commercial activities or products will not infringe upon the patents of others.
If we are unable to obtain patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act, our business may be materially harmed.
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of our products, one or more of the U.S. patents we own or license may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act. For example, we currently have a pending patent term extension request based on the recently approved OCS Lung that, if granted, would increase the term of one of our patents by up to five years, through May 2022. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent restoration term of up to five years for a patent covering an approved product as compensation for effective patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, even if, at the relevant time, we have an issued patent covering our product, we may not be granted an extension if we were, for example, to fail to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, to fail to apply within applicable deadlines or prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise to fail to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the time period of the extension or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. Only one patent per approved product can be extended, the extension cannot extend the total patent term beyond 14 years from approval and only those claims covering the approved product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for the applicable product will be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration. As a result, our ability to generate revenues could be materially adversely affected. Further, if this occurs, our competitors may take advantage of our investment in development and trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case. If we do not have adequate patent protection or other exclusivity for our products, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We may be unable to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. This could make it difficult for us to stop infringement of our foreign patents, if obtained, or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, some foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. In addition, some countries limit the enforceability of patents against third parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. Patent protection must ultimately be sought on a country-by-country basis, which is an expensive and time-consuming process with uncertain outcomes. Accordingly, we may choose not to seek patent protection in certain countries, and we will not have the benefit of patent protection in such countries.
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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. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technology and the enforcement of our intellectual property.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, the value of the OCS and our business and competitive position could be harmed.
In addition to patent protection, we also rely upon trade secret protection, as well as non-disclosure agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties, to protect our confidential and proprietary information. In addition to contractual measures, we try to protect the confidential nature of our proprietary information using commonly accepted physical and technological security measures. Such measures may not, for example, in the case of misappropriation of a trade secret by an employee or third party with authorized access, provide adequate protection for our proprietary information. Our security measures may not prevent an employee or consultant from misappropriating our trade secrets and providing them to a competitor, and recourse we take against such misconduct may not provide an adequate remedy to protect our interests fully. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to copy or reverse engineer certain aspects of our products that we consider proprietary. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Even though we use commonly accepted security measures, trade secret violations are often a matter of state law, and the criteria for protection of trade secrets can vary among different jurisdictions. In addition, trade secrets may be independently developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse by us. We also have agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties that obligate them to assign inventions made in the course of their work for us to us, however these agreements may not be self-executing, not all employees or consultants may enter into such agreements, or employees or consultants may breach or violate the terms of these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation. If any of our intellectual property or confidential or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently developed by a competitor, the value of the OCS and our business and competitive position could be harmed.
We may be subject to claims that we or our employees have misappropriated the intellectual property of a third party, including trade secrets or know-how, or are in breach of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with our competitors and third parties may claim an ownership interest in intellectual property we regard as our own.
Many of our employees and consultants were previously employed at or engaged by other medical device, biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors, hospitals or other third parties. Some of these employees, consultants and contractors may have executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants do not use the intellectual property, proprietary information, know-how or trade secrets of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these individuals have, inadvertently or otherwise, misappropriated the intellectual property or disclosed the alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information, of these former employers, competitors or other third parties. Additionally, we may be subject to claims from third parties challenging our ownership interest in or inventorship of intellectual property we regard as our own, based on claims that our agreements with employees or consultants obligating them to assign intellectual property to us are ineffective or in conflict with prior or competing contractual obligations to assign inventions to another employer, to a former employer, or to another person or entity. Litigation may be necessary to defend against claims, and it may be necessary or we may desire to enter into a license to settle any such claim; however, there can be no assurance that we would be able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If our defense to those claims fails, in addition to paying monetary damages or a settlement payment, a court could prohibit us from using technologies, features or other intellectual property that are essential to our products, if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. An inability to incorporate technologies, features or other intellectual property that are important or essential to our products could have a material adverse effect on our business and competitive position, and may prevent us from selling our products. In addition, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and could be a distraction to management. Any litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with independent sales representatives. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our products, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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Risks Related to Government Regulation
If we fail to adequately respond to the FDA follow-up inquiries or to obtain or maintain necessary FDA approval for each use of the OCS, or if such approval is delayed, we will not be able to commercially sell and market the OCS.
The OCS products are medical devices subject to extensive regulation in the United States by the FDA and other federal, state and local authorities. The FDA regulates the design, development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, selling, promoting, distributing, importing, exporting and shipping of the OCS. We have obtained PMA approval for the OCS Lung for both the preservation of donor lungs currently utilized for transplantation and donor lungs that are currently unutilized for transplantation, but the OCS has not yet attained PMA approval for preservation of heart and liver donor organs.
In the United States, before we can market the OCS products for each organ, we must first receive PMA approval from the FDA. This process can be expensive and lengthy and entail significant costs. The process of obtaining PMA approval requires significant clinical trial data. It generally takes one year, or even longer, from the time the PMA application is submitted to the FDA until an FDA action date. Despite the time, effort and cost involved in this process, the FDA might not approve the OCS products for use in preservation or transplantation or of donor hearts, livers, or other organs.
Furthermore, unforeseen requirements or delays in obtaining clearances or approvals from the FDA for any future products could result in unexpected and significant costs for us and consume management’s time and other resources. The COVID-19 pandemic may result in delayed review and approval timelines. The pandemic has and may continue to cause disruptions in global regulatory agencies’ daily operations. Any delay in regulatory review resulting from such disruptions could materially affect our development and commercialization plans, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. The duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and difficult to assess.
Moreover, the FDA could ask us to supplement our submissions, collect additional non-clinical data, conduct additional clinical trials or engage in other costly and time-consuming actions, or it could simply deny our PMA application or, if we were to seek any 510(k) clearance for a product, issue a not substantially equivalent determination for a 510(k) device. For example, in 2015, we voluntarily withdrew our original PMA application for the OCS Heart in an effort to expand our data to include OCS Heart EXPAND Trial results as well as to supplement our OCS Heart PROCEED II Trial results with long-term follow-up data that was not collected as part of the original trial protocol. In addition, even if we obtain PMA approval, the approval could be withdrawn or other restrictions imposed if post- market data demonstrate safety issues or inadequate performance. For 510(k) cleared devices, the FDA can use its enforcement authorities to require removal of a device from the market in case of safety issues.
We are currently investigating the safety and effectiveness of the OCS in multiple IDE investigations. Specifically, we completed enrollment in the OCS Liver PROTECT Trial under an IDE and received IDE approval for and are enrolling patients in the OCS Liver PROTECT CAP Trial . We also received IDE approval for a study of the use of the OCS Liver for certain donor livers that are donated after circulatory death that have extended warm ischemia time or older donor age. In addition, we completed the OCS Heart EXPAND Trial under an IDE and received IDE approval for the OCS Heart EXPAND CAP Trial. We also completed enrollment in the OCS Heart DCD trial for donor hearts that are donated after circulatory death under an IDE and received IDE approval for the OCS Heart DCD CAP Trial.
As is typical to the PMA review process, during the course of its initial PMA review and in most cases within 90 calendar days of the company’s PMA filing date, the FDA communicates issues that it has identified and views as deficiencies through a substantive interaction, which in most cases is a letter. That letter is technically referred to as a “major deficiency letter,” and it provides the applicant with an opportunity to address the FDA’s questions. After completing its review of a PMA application, the FDA will take one of the following actions: an approval, an approvable letter, a not approvable letter, or, in rare instances, a denial. We have received a “major deficiency letter” for each PMA application that we have submitted to the FDA, and we believe our responses have been thorough and comprehensive, including most recently with respect to the OCS Liver. The FDA will convene an advisory committee of experts from outside the FDA to review and evaluate our OCS Heart PMA currently under review and to provide recommendations to the FDA as to the safety, effectiveness, risk and benefit of the device. It is not uncommon for the FDA to seek advice from an outside expert panel when considering an application for a novel technology. The FDA ultimately decides whether to approve or disapprove the PMA application and may or may not follow the advisory committee’s recommendation, even if favorable. Notwithstanding a favorable recommendation, the FDA could determine that the data from our clinical trials does not support PMA approval or the claims we wish to make, or the FDA could require us to gather significant additional clinical data or conduct additional non-clinical testing. The FDA had scheduled the advisory committee meeting regarding our OCS Heart PMA application for the second quarter of 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA postponed the advisory committee meeting to October 2020, and in September 2020, the FDA further postponed the advisory committee meeting to allow the FDA to review additional, already collected, short and longer-term data from the OCS Heart EXPAND Trial and OCS Heart EXPAND CAP Trial. The FDA advisory committee panel is expected to be held on April 6, 2021.
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The approval process involving the OCS for each organ is subject to many of the same risks and uncertainties. If we are not able to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for the OCS, or approvals or clearances for future products on a timely basis or at all, our financial condition and results of operations would suffer, possibly materially, and our business might fail. Even if the FDA grants PMA approval for the OCS Heart and OCS Liver for preservation of donor hearts and livers for transplantation, respectively, the claims approved by the FDA may be significantly narrower than those we are seeking.
If we fail to maintain the CE Mark in the European Union, Northern Ireland and the UKCA mark (as applicable) in Great Britain, we will not be able to commercially sell and market the OCS in the EU.
In the European Union, we have the right to affix a CE Mark for the sale of the OCS Lung, OCS Heart and OCS Liver for lung, heart and liver transplants, respectively. Our notified body, BSI is based in the Netherlands and issues the certificates that allow CE marking of the OCS products. We have CE Marks for each of the OCS Heart, the OCS Lung, and the OCS Liver, which were renewed in September 2017. These CE Marks are valid for five years, so they will expire in September 2022. In order to be able to continue to use the CE Mark in the same manner after May 2021, we will have to meet the conditions set out in the transitional provisions in the Medical Devices Regulation (Regulation 2017/745) (MDR), and the in vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulations (2017/746) (IVDR). In Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), the devices will be required to conform to the UK MDR 2002 in order to be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Unlike Great Britain, the Medical Device Regulations (2017/745) and the in vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulations (2017/746) will apply in Northern Ireland from 26 May 2021, and 26 May 2022 respectively, in line with the EU’s implementation timeline. The MHRA will remain the competent Authority for medical devices in Northern Ireland. Before expiry of these certificates, we will need to apply for their re-certification under the new Medical Devices Regulation. We might not be able to continue to use the CE Mark for any current use of the OCS. If:
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we are not able to obtain re-certification of our products for their current use;
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we are not able to do so in time before the certificates expire;
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our technical files for our products do not meet the new (and more stringent) requirements under the Medical Devices Regulation; or
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any variation in the uses for which the CE Mark has been affixed to the OCS requires us to perform further research or to modify the technical documentation required to affix the CE mark, our revenues and operating results could be adversely affected and our reputation could be harmed.
If we fail to obtain and maintain regulatory approval in foreign jurisdictions, our market opportunities will be limited.
FDA clearance or approval or a CE mark does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries. However, the failure to obtain clearance or approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative impact on our ability to obtain clearance or approval elsewhere. If we do not obtain or maintain necessary market authorizations to commercialize our products in markets outside the United States, it would negatively affect our overall market penetration. For example, if, as a result of manufacturing error, the efficacy of our products does not meet the standards claimed in the accompanying instructions for use, regulatory authorities could prevent our products from being placed on the market in the European Union, Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Additionally, we have appointed a U.K. responsible person and will register with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the U.K. Failure to do so may mean that we will be unable to lawfully sell our products in the U.K.
If transplant centers and hospitals cannot obtain adequate reimbursement or funding from governments or third-party payors for purchases of the OCS and additional disposable sets and for costs associated with procedures that use the OCS, our prospects for generating revenue and achieving profitability will suffer materially.
Our prospects for generating revenue and achieving profitability depend heavily upon the availability of adequate reimbursement or funding in both the United States and other markets for purchases of the OCS and for organ transplant procedures that use the OCS.
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In the United States, Medicare generally reimburses the facilities in which transplant procedures are performed based upon prospectively determined amounts. For hospital inpatient treatment, the Medicare prospective payment generally is determined by the patient’s condition and other patient data and procedures performed during the patient’s hospital stay, using a classification system known as MS-DRGs. Prospective rates are adjusted for, among other things, regional differences and whether the hospital is a teaching hospital. Because prospective payments are based on predetermined rates and may be less than a hospital’s actual costs in furnishing care, hospitals have incentives to lower their inpatient operating costs by utilizing products, devices and supplies that will reduce the length of patients’ hospital stays, decrease labor or otherwise lower their costs.
In addition to these MS-DRG-based payments, Medicare reimburses transplant centers for “reasonable and necessary” organ acquisition costs, which are considered “pass-through” costs from the prospective payment system, and are not based on the payments for the applicable MS-DRG. Pass-through organ acquisition costs include services required for the acquisition of an organ, such as tissue typing, organ preservation, transport of organs, donor evaluation and other acquisition costs. The separate payments for these costs are determined on a reasonable cost basis established through the transplant center’s Medicare cost report. During OCS clinical trials, even before the OCS had been approved by the FDA, the Medicare program reimbursed transplant centers for their use of the OCS for lung, heart and liver transplantation. We believe, though cannot be assured, that the costs incurred by transplant centers for the organ-specific OCS Console, OCS Perfusion Sets and OCS Solutions will be classified as organ acquisition costs for which Medicare will provide additional reimbursement. However, Medicare does not reimburse for items determined not to be reasonable and necessary for diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury. The CMS and Medicare contractors who administer Medicare around the country have substantial discretion in determining whether the OCS is reasonable and necessary in this context. Either CMS or a Medicare contractor might determine that Medicare will not cover and reimburse for the cost of the OCS in the absence of reliable clinical data evidencing the benefits to patients of the use of the OCS. The data we collect from our prior, ongoing and planned clinical studies and patient registry may not be sufficient for this purpose in a coverage determination by CMS or a Medicare contractor. Accordingly, Medicare might not reimburse transplant centers for all or a portion of the cost of the OCS. We believe that private insurers and other public insurers in the United States generally will follow the coverage and payment policies of Medicare.
Outside of the United States, reimbursement and funding systems vary significantly by country, and within some countries, by region. Many foreign markets have government managed healthcare systems that govern reimbursement and funding for medical devices and procedures. In the European Union member states, the costs associated with organ transplant procedures may be paid for by national insurance and in some cases private insurers or by both national insurance and private insurers, depending on the priorities established by individual programs. These reimbursement arrangements are subject to complex rules and regulations at the national and regional levels that can vary between member states of the European Union and are likely to require that we demonstrate that the OCS is superior to existing preservation methods. We have no studies currently planned to collect such clinical data, and any studies of this kind likely would be expensive and lengthy and may not ultimately produce results adequate to secure reimbursement. In some cases, we might not be able to secure adequate reimbursement for the OCS at all or until we have collected additional clinical data supporting the benefits associated with the use of the OCS in transplant procedures. Hospitals or surgeons in countries or regions where separate additional reimbursement or funding for the OCS is not available may determine that the benefits of the OCS do not or will not outweigh the cost of the OCS. Adoption of our products in the European Union may be hindered if they impede our customer’s compliance with the requirements of Directive 2010/53/EU (formerly Directive 2010/45/EU), and the Quality and Safety of Organs Intended for Transplantation Regulations 2012 (Statutory Instrument (SI) 2012 No. 1501) (the Regulations) in the United Kingdom which imposes certain standards on procurement, preservation and transport of organs intended for transplantation. Even where reimbursement or funding is available, in some foreign countries, particularly in the European Union, the pricing of medical devices is subject to governmental control. In these countries, reimbursement and pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. For example, some foreign reimbursement systems provide for limited payments in a given period and, therefore, result in extended payment periods, which could hinder adoption of the OCS for use in transplantation, limiting sales. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, it may not be profitable to sell our products in certain foreign countries, which could negatively affect the long-term growth of our business.
Even if existing reimbursement and funding arrangements of governmental programs and other third-party payors provide for sufficient payments to make purchases of the OCS cost-effective for hospitals, the laws and regulations governing these arrangements are subject to change. The continuing efforts of governments, insurance companies and other payors of healthcare costs to contain or reduce these costs could lead to legislative or regulatory reform of the United States or foreign reimbursement and funding systems in a manner that significantly reduces or eliminates reimbursement for the OCS or for transplant procedures.
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If hospitals in the United States or the European Union are not able to obtain reimbursement or funding for the cost of the OCS and additional disposable sets or for transplant procedures generally, they may not have sufficient economic incentives to purchase the OCS. If hospitals or surgeons determine that the benefits of the OCS do not or will not outweigh the initial cost and ongoing expense of the OCS, we might fail to achieve significant sales and may never become profitable.
Reimbursement in international markets is likely to require us to undertake country-specific reimbursement activities, including additional clinical studies, which could be time-consuming and expensive and may not yield acceptable reimbursement rates.
In international markets, market acceptance of our products will likely depend in large part on the availability of reimbursement within prevailing healthcare payment systems. Reimbursement and healthcare payment systems in international markets vary significantly by country, and by region in some countries, and include both government-sponsored healthcare and private insurance. We may not obtain international reimbursement approvals in a timely manner, if at all. In addition, even if we do obtain international reimbursement approvals, the level of reimbursement may not be enough to commercially justify expansion of our business into the approving jurisdiction. To the extent we or our customers are unable to obtain reimbursement for products in major international markets in which we seek to market and sell our products, our international revenue growth would be harmed, and our business and results of operations would be adversely affected.
If we modify our products, we may be required to obtain approval of new PMAs or PMA supplements, vary existing CE Marking, and may be required to cease marketing or recall any modified products until the required approvals are obtained.
Certain modifications to a PMA-approved device require approval of a new PMA or a PMA supplement, while other modifications can be reported in an annual report or through a 30-day Notice. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether a new PMA or PMA supplement is necessary. We may make modifications to our approved devices and manufacturing processes in the future that we believe do not require approval of a new PMA application or PMA supplement, or submission of a 30-day Notice. If the FDA disagrees with our determination and requires us to submit a new PMA, PMA supplement or 30-day Notice for modifications to our previously approved products or manufacturing processes, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain approval or submit the 30-day Notice, and we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties. In addition, the FDA may not approve our products for the indications that are necessary or desirable for successful commercialization or could require clinical trials to support any modification to the device or our modified indications or claims. Any delay or failure in obtaining required approvals would adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn would harm our future growth.
Additionally, any significant change to the quality system or the product range in relation to a CE Marked device will require notification to the notified body which certified the product. The notified body will assess the proposed change. We might not be able to have the CE Mark varied without taking additional steps, or at all. For example, we might need to conduct additional clinical trials and provide additional technical information to the appropriate notified body before the CE Mark can be affixed to the changed product.
Even after approval for the OCS, we are subject to continuing regulation by regulatory authorities and entities in the United States and other countries, and if we fail to comply with any of these regulations, our business could suffer.
Even after approval of the OCS for a specific indication, we are subject to extensive continuing regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities and entities. We are subject to Medical Device Reporting regulations, which require us to report to the FDA if we become aware of information that reasonably suggests our product may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or has malfunctioned and the device or a similar device we market would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur. We must report corrections and removals to the FDA where the correction or removal was initiated to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to remedy a violation of the FDCA caused by the device that may present a risk to health, and maintain records of other corrections or removals. The FDA closely regulates promotion and advertising and all claims that we make for the OCS. If the FDA determines that our promotional materials, training or advertising activities constitute promotion of an unapproved use of the OCS, it could request that we cease or modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory enforcement actions.
The FDA and state authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement actions by the FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:
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untitled letters, warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;
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recall, termination of distribution, administrative detention, injunction or seizure of organ-specific OCS Consoles or disposable sets;
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customer notifications or repair, replacement or refunds;
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operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;
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refusing or delaying our requests for premarket approval of new products or for modifications to existing products, and refusing or delaying our requests for PMAs for new intended uses of the OCS.
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withdrawing or suspending PMA approvals that have already been granted, resulting in prohibitions on sales of our products;
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FDA refusal to issue certificates to foreign governments needed to export products for sale in other countries; and
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criminal prosecution.
Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as potentially defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business, and may harm our reputation and financial results.
We are currently required to comply with strict post-marketing obligations that accompany the affixing of the CE Mark to medical devices in the European Union. These include the obligation to report incidents which meet the criteria for reporting to provide periodic summary and trend reports. Authorities in the European Union also closely monitor the marketing programs implemented by device companies. The obligations that companies must fulfill concerning premarketing approval of promotional material vary among member states of the European Union. A failure to comply with our obligations in marketing and promoting the OCS in the European Union could harm our business and results of operations.
For our currently marketed OCS Lung, as part of the conditions of approval, we must complete three PMA post-approval studies: the OCS Lung INSPIRE Continuation PAS, which is a two-arm observational study intended to evaluate long-term outcomes of the OCS Lung INSPIRE Trial patients, the OCS Lung EXPAND Continuation PAS, which is a single arm study intended to evaluate long-term outcomes of the OCS Lung EXPAND Trial patients, and our OCS Lung Thoracic Organ Perfusion PAS Registry, or TOP Registry, which is a prospective, single-arm, multi-center, observational study designed to evaluate short- and long-term safety and effectiveness of the OCS Lung for both donor lungs currently utilized and unutilized for transplantation. The OCS Lung INSPIRE Continuation PAS, the OCS Lung EXPAND Continuation PAS and the TOP Registry entail submission of regular reports to the FDA. Failure to comply with the conditions of approval can result in material adverse enforcement action, including withdrawal of the approval.
In addition, certain changes and other events with respect to regulatory approvals may cause an event of default under our Credit Agreement, including the initiation of a regulatory enforcement action or issuance of a warning letter with respect to the Company or any of its products or manufacturing facilities that causes the discontinuance of marketing or withdrawal of any products or causes delay in manufacturing. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis —Long-Term Debt,” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
If we fail to comply with the FDA’s QSR, or FDA or EU requirements that pertain to clinical trials or investigations, the FDA or the competent EU authority could take various enforcement actions, including halting our manufacturing operations, and our business would suffer.
In the United States, as a manufacturer of a medical device, we are required to demonstrate and maintain compliance with the FDA’s QSR. The QSR is a complex regulatory scheme that covers the methods and documentation of the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage and shipping of medical devices. The FDA enforces the QSR through periodic inspections and unannounced “for cause” inspections.
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We are subject to periodic FDA inspections to determine compliance with QSR and pursuant to the Bioresearch Monitoring Program, which have in the past and may in the future result in the FDA issuing Form 483s, including during the conduct of clinical trials. Outside the United States, our products and operations are also often required to comply with standards set by industrial standards bodies, such as the International Organization for Standardization. Foreign regulatory bodies may evaluate our products or the testing that our products undergo against these standards. The specific standards, types of evaluation and scope of review differ among foreign regulatory bodies. Our failure to comply with FDA or local requirements that pertain to clinical trials/investigations, including GCP requirements, and the QSR (in the United States), or failure to take satisfactory and prompt corrective action in response to an adverse inspection, could result in enforcement actions, including a warning letter, adverse publicity, a shutdown of or restrictions on our manufacturing operations, delays in approving or clearing our products, refusal to permit the import or export of our product, prohibition on sales of our product, a recall or seizure of our products, fines, injunctions, civil or criminal penalties, or other sanctions, any of which could cause our business and operating results to suffer.
Our products have been and may in the future be subject to product recalls that could harm our reputation and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
The OCS must be manufactured in accordance with federal and state regulations, and we or any of our suppliers or third-party manufacturers could be forced to recall our installed systems or terminate production if we fail to comply with these regulations. The FDA and similar foreign governmental authorities have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design, manufacture or labeling. In the case of the FDA, the recall order must be based on an FDA finding that there is a reasonable probability that the device would cause serious adverse health consequences or death. In addition, foreign governmental bodies have the authority to require the recall of our products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture. Manufacturers may, under their own initiative, recall a product if any material deficiency in a device is found. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of component failures, security failures, manufacturing errors, design or labeling defects or other deficiencies and issues. Recalls of any of our products would divert managerial and financial resources and have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The FDA requires that recalls initiated to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to remedy a violation of the FDCA caused by the device that may present a risk to health be reported to the FDA within 10 working days after the recall is initiated. Companies are required to maintain records of recalls, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary recalls involving our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, we could be required to report those actions as recalls. A recall announcement could harm our reputation with customers and negatively affect our sales. Additionally, any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business and may harm our reputation and financial results. In addition, the FDA could take enforcement action for failing to report the recalls when they were conducted, including warning letters, untitled letters, administrative actions, criminal prosecution, imposition of civil monetary penalties, revocation of our device approval, seizure of our products or delay in clearance or approval of future products.
We have voluntarily recalled certain OCS products from customer sites in the past and may need to take similar actions in the future, which may result in notices to regulatory agencies in other jurisdictions. For example, most recently, in July 2018, we implemented a correction to the OCS Heart and Liver Consoles to address a loss of connection between the OCS Console and Perfusion Sets that was caused by incomplete cleaning, and in March 2018, after identifying out-of-specification plastic components used in the manufacturing of the OCS Lung Console, we recalled the affected units from customer sites and replaced them with known, good product, and we made required notifications to the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies.
Internationally, the approaches to product defects will vary. A product may be recalled in one country but not in others. However, within the European Union, competent authorities are known to communicate with each other, therefore a recall in one EU member state may lead to recalls in the rest of the European Union.
We may not be able to obtain or maintain regulatory qualifications outside the United States, which could harm our business.
Sales of the OCS outside the United States are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. The foreign regulatory approval process generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA clearance or approval in addition to other risks. Complying with international regulatory requirements can be an expensive and time-consuming process, and approval is not certain. The time required to obtain foreign clearances or approvals may exceed the time required for FDA clearance or approval, and requirements for such clearances or approvals may differ significantly from FDA requirements. Foreign regulatory authorities may not clear or approve our product for the same uses cleared or approved by the FDA. Although we have been able to affix the CE Mark to the OCS Lung, OCS Heart and OCS
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Liver in the European Union, we may not be able to maintain such CE Marking, including as a result of the need to re-certify our products, under the new Medical Devices Regulation and the Medical Devices Regulations 20 02 (UK MDR 2002) in Great Britain . Our notified body in the Netherlands, BSI, could determine either itself or at the request of a competent authority that our OCS products do not meet the regulatory requirements for CE marking, which would result in withdrawal of the certificates that allow the CE marking required to market the OCS products in the European Union. In addition, we may not be able to affix the CE Mark to new or modified products and we may fail to obtain any additional regulatory qualifications, clearances or approvals or to comply with additional legal obligations required by the individual member states of the European Union or other countries in which we seek to market the OCS. The FDA also regulates the export of medical devices from the United States. If we are not successful in obtaining and maintaining foreign regulatory approvals or complying with U.S. export regulations, our business will be harmed.
Foreign regulatory agencies periodically inspect manufacturing facilities both in the United States and abroad. Our most recent inspection by our EU Notified Body was in January 2021, which resulted in one minor observation. While we are implementing corrective and preventive action to address the observation, this previous observation may not be closed out. Additionally, we may fail to pass future inspections of our facility by applicable regulatory authorities or entities both in the United States and in other countries. Delays in receiving necessary qualifications, clearances or approvals to market our product outside the United States, or the failure to receive those qualifications, clearances or approvals, or to comply with other foreign regulatory requirements, could limit or prevent us from marketing our products or enhancements in international markets. Additionally, the imposition of new requirements could significantly affect our business and our product, and we might not be able to adjust to such new requirements. If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulations, we could face substantial penalties and our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects could be adversely affected.
We could face product liability suits or regulatory delays due to defects in the OCS, which could be expensive and time-consuming and result in substantial damages payable by us and increases in our insurance rates.
If our products are deemed to be defectively designed, manufactured or labeled, contain defective components, suffer security failures or are hacked, or are counterfeited, we could face substantial and costly litigation by transplant centers that purchase or use the OCS or by their patients or others claiming damages on their behalf. Moreover, transplantations are complex and inherently risky medical procedures. For example, most recipients of heart transplants experience one or more serious adverse events during their transplant and post-operative care, including in some cases, death. In our OCS Lung INSPIRE Trial of donor lungs, 24% of patients experienced serious lung graft related adverse events and in our OCS Heart PROCEED II Trial of donor hearts, 13% of patients experienced serious heart graft related adverse events. Many of the patients currently on a waiting list for a lung, heart or liver transplant already are very sick, with some of them receiving intensive care. All of these patients have a significant risk of death if they do not receive a transplant. Thus, we may incur substantial liability if the OCS fails to perform as expected and, as a result of this failure, patients do not receive the intended transplants or receive transplants that are not successful.
Additionally, if the number of adverse events experienced by patients in clinical trials of the OCS is greater than expected, our clinical trials could be delayed or terminated by us or regulatory authorities. In our OCS Lung INSPIRE Trial of currently utilized donor lungs, 5.3% of patients died within 30 days of transplant, and in our OCS Heart PROCEED II Trial of currently utilized donor hearts, 6% of patients died within 30 days of transplant. Additionally, in a post-hoc observational analysis of all-cause mortality at 60 months post-transplantation for OCS Heart PROCEED II Trial patients, overall deaths were higher in the OCS group compared to the standard of care group. Although death is an anticipated adverse event of the organ transplant population, if the rate of deaths or other serious adverse events using the OCS is greater than expected using conventional transplant procedures, the study could be delayed or halted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
Because the OCS represents a novel approach to organ transplantation, a patient or transplant center may choose to name us as a party to a lawsuit relating to the use of the OCS in connection with a planned or completed transplant procedure regardless of whether the OCS caused or contributed to a serious adverse event or death of a patient. Any claim, whether or not we are ultimately successful, could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizable damage awards against us.
Currently, we maintain product liability insurance covering damages of up to $10 million per occurrence for both the human clinical and commercial use of our product. We also maintain local insurance policies in Belgium, Germany, Australia and the U.K. with coverage ranging from €2.5 million to €10.0 million per occurrence as required by the applicable country. Our current insurance coverage might not be sufficient to cover future claims and is subject to deductibles. Moreover, in the future, we may not be able to obtain insurance in amount or scope sufficient to provide us with adequate coverage against potential liabilities. Any product liability claims brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our product liability insurance rates or prevent us from securing continuing coverage, could harm our reputation in the industry, impair our current or future preclinical studies or clinical trials, hinder acceptance of our products in the market and reduce product sales. Furthermore, we would need to pay any product liability losses in excess of our insurance coverage or within the deductibles provided under our insurance policies applicable to the claim out of cash reserves, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
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The FDA has warned that the threat of cyberattacks on medical devices is no longer theoretical. Hackers and other third parties may try to circumvent security controls on an OCS to gain access to information on the OCS, alter the way an OCS operates, to act as a trojan horse or other entry point to other systems that could lead to those systems suffering cybersecurity breaches or attacks, or to cause harms to transplanted organs or individuals. If our security controls fail to fully protect the OCS and the information on it, we could suffer reputational harm, could undergo regulatory investigations and enforcement, or could have claims brought against us.
Third parties may attempt to produce counterfeit versions of our products, which may harm our ability to sell the OCS and its components, negatively affect our reputation or harm patients and subject us to product liability.
Counterfeit medical devices are an increasing presence on the market. Third parties may seek to develop, manufacture, distribute and sell systems that we believe infringe our proprietary rights, which would compete against the OCS and impair our ability to sell the OCS in jurisdictions in which our proprietary rights are not upheld. In addition, counterfeit products may be promoted in a way that misleads consumers into believing they are affiliated with us. If a counterfeit version of the OCS were to appear on the market, we would expect to be obliged to verify all OCS products currently on the market, and possibly to withdraw all OCS products from the market while verifications are made. We also might be named in a lawsuit relating to any side effects or fatalities allegedly related to the use of a counterfeit OCS irrespective of whether the counterfeit device in fact contributed to such an adverse event or whether we were aware of the existence of the counterfeit device.
Improper marketing or promotion of our products or misuse or off-label use of the OCS may harm our reputation in the marketplace, result in injuries that lead to product liability suits or result in costly investigations, fines or sanctions by regulatory bodies if we are deemed to have engaged in the promotion of these uses, any of which could be costly to our business.
Certain OCS products have been approved by regulatory authorities in the United States, European Union and other jurisdictions for specific indications, and our promotional materials and training methods must comply with regulatory requirements in the countries where they are sold. We train our sales and clinical adoption team to not promote the OCS for uses outside of the approved indications for use, known as “off-label uses.” We cannot, however, prevent a surgeon from using the OCS off-label, when in the surgeon’s independent professional medical judgment he or she deems it appropriate. There may be increased risk of injury to patients if surgeons attempt to use the OCS off-label. Furthermore, the use of the OCS for indications other than those approved by the FDA or approved by any foreign regulatory body may not effectively treat such conditions, which could harm our reputation in the marketplace among surgeons and patients.
If the FDA or any foreign regulatory body determines that our promotional materials or training constitute promotion of an off-label use, or that the materials or training are false or misleading, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance or imposition of an untitled letter, which is used for violations that do not necessitate a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action under other regulatory authority, such as false claims laws, if they consider our business activities to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant penalties, including, but not limited to, criminal, civil and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs and the curtailment of our operations.
In addition, surgeons may misuse the OCS or use improper techniques if they are not adequately trained, potentially leading to unsatisfactory patient outcomes, patient injuries, negative publicity and an increased risk of product liability. If the OCS is misused or used with improper technique, we may become subject to costly litigation by our customers or their patients. Similarly, in an effort to decrease costs, surgeons may also reuse the component and accessories of the OCS that are intended for a single use or may purchase reprocessed OCS components from third-party reprocessors in lieu of purchasing new components from us, which could result in product failure and liability. As described above, product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizeable damage awards against us that may not be covered by insurance.
Legislative or regulatory reforms in the United States or other jurisdictions may make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain regulatory clearances or approvals for our products or to manufacture, market or distribute our products after clearance or approval is obtained.
From time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in the U.S. Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the regulation of medical devices. In addition, FDA regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by the FDA in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. Any new statutes, regulations or revisions or reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional costs or lengthen review times of any future products or make it more difficult to obtain approval for, manufacture, market or distribute our products. We cannot determine what effect changes in regulations, statutes, legal interpretation or policies, when and if promulgated, enacted or adopted may have on our business in the future. Such changes could, among other things, require additional testing prior to obtaining clearance or approval; changes to manufacturing methods; recall, replacement or discontinuance of our products; or additional record keeping.
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The European Parliament passed the MDR, which repeals and replaces the European Union Medical Devices Directive and the Active Implantable Medical Devices Directive, which will become effective in May 202 1. The EU MDR and EU IVDR will fully apply in the EU Member States from May 26, 2021 and May 26, 2022 . Unlike directives, which must be implemented into the national laws of the European Economic Area, or EEA, member states, regulations would be directly applicable, (i.e., without the need for adoption of EEA member state laws implementing them) in all EEA member states and are intended to eliminate current differences in the regulation of medical devices among EEA member states. T he provisions contained within the EU MDR and EU IVDR will not be transposed into law in Great Britain and will not be implemented in Great Britain. Medical Devices in Great Britain are governed under the UK Medical Dev ice Regulations 2002. Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the rules for placing medical devices on the Northern Ireland market differ from those applicable to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). T he EU MDR and EU IVDR will apply in Northern Ireland from May 26, 2021 and May 26, 2022 , respectively . The MDR, among other things, is intended to establish a uniform, transparent, predictable and sustainable regulatory framework across the EEA for medical devices and ensure a high level of safety and health while supporting innovation.
The regulations, among other things:
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strengthen the rules on placing devices on the market and reinforce surveillance once they are available;
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establish explicit provisions on manufacturers’ responsibilities for the follow-up of the quality, performance and safety of devices placed on the market;
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improve the traceability of medical devices throughout the supply chain to the end-user or patient through a unique identification number;
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set up a central database to provide patients, healthcare professionals and the public with comprehensive information on products available in the European Union; and
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strengthen rules for the assessment of certain high-risk devices, such as implants, which may have to undergo an additional check by experts before they are placed on the market.
Our products may be affected by these rules, which may mean longer or more burdensome assessment of our products. These modifications may have an effect on the way we conduct our business in the EEA.
We recognize that our products will have to be re-certified under the MDR and we are in the process of updating internal procedures to ensure compliance with the new MDR and have added international regulatory personnel to assist with the transition.
In addition, there are significant concerns associated with whether EU Notified Bodies will be able to re-certify all devices in their care in time. If we do not manage to re-certify our products under this regulation or cannot rely on the transitional provisions, we may have to take our products off the EU market until this is the case.
We are subject to certain federal, state and foreign fraud and abuse laws, health information privacy and security laws and transparency laws, which, if violated, could subject us to substantial penalties. Additionally, any challenge to or investigation into our practices under these laws could cause adverse publicity and be costly.
There are numerous U.S. federal and state, as well as foreign, laws pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse, including anti-kickback, false claims and physician transparency laws. Our business practices and relationships with providers are subject to scrutiny under these laws. We may also be subject to privacy and security regulation related to patient, customer, employee and other third-party information by both the federal government and the states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to:
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the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons and entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce either the referral of an individual or furnishing or arranging for a good or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. The U.S. government has interpreted this law broadly to apply to the marketing and sales activities of manufacturers. Moreover, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act. Violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute may result in substantial civil monetary and criminal penalties. Similarly, violations can result in exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid;
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the federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalties laws, including the federal civil False Claims Act, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs that are false or fraudulent. These laws can apply to manufacturers who provide information on coverage, coding, and reimbursement of their products to persons who bill private payors. Private individuals can bring False Claims Act “qui tam” actions, on behalf of the government and such individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers,” may share in amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. When an entity is determined to have violated the federal civil False Claims Act, the government may impose substantial civil fines and penalties, and exclude the entity from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs;
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the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which prohibits, among other things, offering or transferring remuneration to a federal healthcare beneficiary that a person knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary’s decision to order or receive items or services reimbursable by the government from a particular provider or supplier;
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HIPAA, which created additional federal criminal statutes that prohibit, among other things, executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program and making false statements relating to healthcare matters. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation;
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the federal Physician Sunshine Act under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the Affordable Care Act, which require certain applicable manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report annually to CMS information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals. Applicable manufacturers are required to submit annual reports to CMS. Failure to submit required information may result in substantial civil monetary penalties;
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many countries in which we operate have laws with extra-territorial effect—those laws apply to our operations outside the relevant country, to the extent they are breached. Examples of such laws include: the FCPA, Bribery Act and the GDPR. The extra-territorial effect of those laws affects our sales and marketing strategy, since in many countries healthcare professionals are officers of the state. This is particularly important in the context of bribery offences, which in the U.K. and in the United States include the offence of bribing a foreign public official. Failure by our sales staff to comply with those laws may result in criminal and civil penalties and damage our reputation; and
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analogous state and foreign law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any private payor, including commercial insurers or patients; state laws that require device companies to comply with the industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state laws that require device manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm customers, foreign and state laws, including the GDPR, governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts; and state laws related to insurance fraud in the case of claims involving private insurers.
These laws and regulations, among other things, constrain our business, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements, including sales programs, we may have with customers, physicians or other potential purchasers of our products. In particular, these laws will influence, among other things, how we structure our sales offerings, including discount and rebate practices, customer support, education and training programs, and physician consulting and other service arrangements. Due to the breadth of these laws, the narrowness of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, and the range of interpretations to which they are subject, it is possible that some of our current or future practices might be challenged under one or more of these laws.
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To enforce compliance with the healthcare regulatory laws, certain enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. For example, the member states of the European Union closely monitor perceived unlawful marketing activity by companies, including inducement to prescribe and the encouragement of off-label use of devices. Responding to investigations can be time-and resource-consuming and can divert management’s attention from the business. Additionally, as a result of these investigations, healthcare providers and entities may have to agree to additional compliance and reporting requirements as part of a consent decree or corporate integrity agreement. Any such investigation or settlement could increase our costs or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business. Even an unsuccessful challenge or investigation into our practices could cause adverse publicity and be costly to respond to. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the healthcare laws or regulations described above or any other healthcare regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, disgorgement and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Moreover, industry associations closely monitor the activities of their member companies. If these organizations or national authorities were to name us as having breached our obligations under their laws, regulations, rules or standards, our reputation would suffer and our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects could be adversely affected.
Failure to comply with anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering laws, including the FCPA, as well as export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations could result in civil or criminal penalties, other remedial measures and legal expenses.
As we grow our international presence, we are increasingly exposed to trade and economic sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other governments and organizations. The U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and U.S. Treasury and other federal agencies and authorities have a broad range of civil and criminal penalties they may seek to impose against corporations and individuals for violations of economic sanctions laws, export control laws, the FCPA and other federal statutes and regulations, including those established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. In addition, the Bribery Act prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both private and public sectors. The substantive offences of offering or receiving a bribe will be committed by an individual where either the bribery takes place in the U.K, or the person paying or receiving the bribe has a close connection with the U.K. An organization which is either incorporated in or carries on part of its business in the U.K will be liable under the Bribery Act if a person associated with the organization (being persons performing services for it) pays a bribe anywhere in the world intending to obtain or retain business for the organization . This is a strict liability offense with the only defenses available being that the organization implemented “adequate procedures” to prevent bribery or it was reasonable for it to not have such procedures in place. Under these laws and regulations, as well as other anti-corruption laws, anti-money laundering laws, export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations, various government agencies may require export licenses, may seek to impose modifications to business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or with sanctioned persons or entities and modifications to compliance programs, which may increase compliance costs, and may subject us to fines, penalties and other sanctions. A violation of these laws or regulations would negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Due to sales of our products to government or government-affiliated entities, we may be exposed to heightened risk of potential violations of the FCPA, the Bribery Act, or other relevant law.
We have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance by us and our directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants and agents with the FCPA, OFAC restrictions, the Bribery Act and other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism laws and regulations. We cannot assure you, however, that our policies and procedures are or will be sufficient or that directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants and agents have not engaged and will not engage in conduct for which we may be held responsible, nor can we assure you that our business partners have not engaged and will not engage in conduct that could materially affect their ability to perform their contractual obligations to us or even result in our being held liable for such conduct. Violations of the FCPA, OFAC restrictions, the Bribery Act or other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws or regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We are subject to, and may in the future become subject to additional, U.S., state and foreign laws and regulations imposing obligations on how we collect, store, process or share information concerning individuals. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business. Complying with such laws could also impair our efforts to maintain and expand our customer base, and thereby decrease our revenue.
In the conduct of our business, we may at times collect, process or share data concerning individuals, including health-related personal data. The U.S. federal government and various states have adopted or proposed laws, regulations, guidelines and rules for the collection, distribution, use and storage of personal information of individuals. We may also be subject to U.S. federal rules, regulations and guidance concerning cybersecurity for medical devices, including guidance from the FDA. State privacy and cybersecurity laws vary and, in some cases, can impose more restrictive requirements than U.S. federal law. Where state laws are more protective, we must comply with the stricter provisions. In addition to fines and penalties that may be imposed for failure to comply with state law, some states also provide for private rights of action to individuals for misuse of personal information. Our ongoing efforts to comply with evolving laws and regulations may be costly and require ongoing modifications to our policies, procedures and systems. Failure to comply with laws regarding data protection would expose us to risk of enforcement actions and penalties under such laws. Even if we are not determined to have violated applicable data laws, government investigations into these issues can be expensive and lengthy and generate adverse publicity, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
The European Union also has laws and regulations dealing with the collection, use and processing of personal data concerning individuals who are located in the European Union, which are often more restrictive than those in the United States. We are subject to the requirements of the GDPR because we are processing personal data in the European Union or offering goods to, or monitoring the behavior of, individuals who are located in the European Union. The GDPR implements more stringent administrative requirements for controllers and processors of personal data, including, for example, shortened timelines for data breach notifications, limitations on retention of information, increased requirements pertaining to health data and pseudonymized (i.e., key-coded) data, additional obligations when we contract with service providers, and more robust rights for individuals over their personal data. The GDPR provides that EU member states may make their own further laws and regulations, including laws and regulations limiting the processing of genetic, biometric or health data, which could limit our ability to use and share personal data or cause our costs to increase, and harm our business and financial condition. If we do not comply with our obligations under the GDPR, we could be exposed to enforcement activity from EU regulators, including substantial fines and litigation. In addition, EU law restricts transfers of personal data to the United States unless certain requirements are met. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business. For example, in July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidated the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Framework, which has led to increased scrutiny of data transfers from the EEA to the United States generally and may increase our costs of compliance with data privacy legislation. We rely on a mixture of mechanisms to transfer personal data from our EU business to the United States. We are also subject to the laws of each EU member state implementing any EU directive applicable to our processing activities, including Directing 2002/58/EC.
We are subject to the requirements of the UK Data Protection Law as amended and superseded from time to time. UK Data Protection Law means: (i) the GDPR as it forms part of UK law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018; (ii) the Data Protection Act 2018; (iii) the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as they continue to have effect by virtue of section 2 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018; and (iv) any other laws in the field of data protection in force in the UK from time to time applicable (in whole or in part) to us.
Any actual or perceived failure by us or the third parties with whom we work to comply with data privacy or security laws, policies, legal obligations or industry standards, or any security incident that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of information concerning individuals, may result in governmental enforcement actions and investigations, including by European data protection authorities and U.S. federal and state regulatory authorities, fines and penalties, litigation and/or adverse publicity, including by consumer advocacy groups, and could cause our customers, their patients and other healthcare professionals to lose trust in us, which could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Healthcare policy changes, including recently enacted or potential future legislation reforming the U.S. healthcare system, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs. For example, the Affordable Care Act, which was enacted in 2010:
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established a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee and identify priorities in comparative clinical effectiveness research in an effort to coordinate and develop such research;
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implemented payment system reforms, including a national pilot program on payment bundling to encourage hospitals, physicians and other providers to improve the coordination, quality and efficiency of certain healthcare services through bundled payment models; and
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expanded the eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs.
We do not yet know the full impact that the Affordable Care Act, and more recent measures impacting the healthcare system, will have on our business. The taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act may result in decreased profits to us, lower reimbursement by payors to hospitals and transplant centers, and/or reduced medical procedure volumes, all of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Under the former Trump Administration, there were ongoing efforts to repeal, modify, or invalidate provisions of the Affordable Care Act. For example, federal legislation repealed penalties for not complying with the individual mandate to carry health insurance. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act has been subject to judicial challenge. The case Texas v. Azar, which challenges the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act was argued before the Supreme Court in November 2020. Pending resolution of the litigation, all of the Affordable Care Act but the individual mandate to buy health insurance remains in effect. The repeal of all or a portion of the Affordable Care Act could result in lower numbers of insured individuals, reduced coverage for insured individuals and adversely affect our business.
In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. The Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended, for example, reduced Medicare payments to providers by 2% per fiscal year, and will remain in effect through 2030 (except for the period from May 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021), when no reduction occurred) unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 also reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA, repealed the formula by which Medicare made annual payment adjustments to physicians and replaced the former formula with fixed annual updates and a new system of incentive payments that are based on various performance measures and physicians’ participation in alternative payment models such as accountable care organizations, which took effect in 2019. It is unclear what effect new quality and payment programs, such as MACRA, may have on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
We expect additional state and federal healthcare policies and reform measures to be adopted in the future, including following in the wake of the transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, any of which could limit reimbursement for healthcare products and services or otherwise result in reduced demand for the OCS or additional pricing pressure and have a material adverse effect on our industry generally and on our customers. Any changes of, or uncertainty with respect to, future reimbursement to hospitals and transplant centers could affect demand for the OCS, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business activities involve the use of hazardous materials, which require compliance with environmental and occupational safety laws regulating the use of such materials. If we violate these laws, we could be subject to significant fines, liabilities or other adverse consequences.
Our research and development programs involve the controlled use of hazardous materials. Accordingly, we are subject to international, federal, state and local laws governing the use, handling and disposal of these materials. Although we believe that our safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials comply in all material respects with applicable regulations, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of an accident or failure to comply with environmental laws, we could be held liable for damages that result, and any such liability could exceed our assets and resources. Our general liability and umbrella insurance policies provide for coverage up to annual aggregate limits of $2 million per occurrence but exclude coverage for liabilities relating to the release of pollutants. The insurance that we currently hold may not be adequate to cover all liabilities relating to accidental contamination or injury due to pollution conditions or other extraordinary or unanticipated events. Furthermore, an accident could damage or force us to shut down our operations.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock and General Risks
The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and could subject us to securities class action litigation.
Since the shares were sold in our IPO in May 2019 at a price of $16.00 per share and through March 9, 2021, the price per share of our common stock has ranged from as low as $10.10 to as high as $44.12. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:
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price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market;
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volatility in the market price and trading volume of comparable companies;
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actual or anticipated changes in our earnings or fluctuations in our operating results or in the expectations of securities analysts;
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results of clinical trials relating to the OCS or competing products;
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failure or discontinuation of any of our product development and research programs;
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regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries, including changes in the healthcare payment systems;
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results or changes in the status of, or developments relating to, applications for regulatory approvals or clearances for the OCS or competing products;
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our announcements or our competitors’ announcements of new products, procedures or therapies;
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departure of key personnel;
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litigation involving us or that may be perceived as having an adverse effect on our business;
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developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;
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market conditions in the medical device and biotechnology sectors;
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changes in general economic, industry and market conditions and trends;
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investors’ general perception of us; and
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sales of large blocks of our stock.
The market for medical device and biotechnology companies, in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.
An active trading market may not be sustained.
You may not be able to sell your shares quickly or at a recently reported market price if trading in our common stock does not remain active. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair market value of your shares. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration.
If securities or industry analysts issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding our business or do not publish research or publish unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. Moreover, if any of the analysts who cover us issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding us, our business model or our stock performance, or if our operating results fail to meet the expectations of the investor community, one or more of the analysts who cover our company may change their recommendations regarding our company, and our stock price could decline.
We have adopted anti-takeover provisions in our restated articles of organization and amended and restated bylaws and are subject to provisions of Massachusetts law that may frustrate any attempt to remove or replace our current board of directors or to effect a change of control or other business combination involving our company.
Our restated articles or organization and amended and restated bylaws and certain provisions of Massachusetts law may discourage certain types of transactions involving an actual or potential change of control of our company that might be beneficial to us or our security holders. For example, our amended and restated bylaws grant the chairperson presiding over any meetings of shareholders the right to adjourn such meeting. Our board of directors also may issue shares of any class or series of preferred stock in the future without shareholder approval and upon such terms as our board of directors may determine. The rights of the holders of our common stock will be subject to, and may be harmed by, the rights of the holders of any class or series of preferred stock that may be issued in the future. Massachusetts state law also prohibits us from engaging in specified business combinations unless the combination is approved or consummated in a prescribed manner. These provisions, alone or together, could delay hostile takeovers and changes in control of our company or changes in our management.
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Our restated articles of organization designate the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (or, if and only if the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts lacks jurisdiction, another state or federal court located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could discourage lawsuits against us and our directors and officers.
Our restated articles of organization designate the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (or, if and only if the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts lacks jurisdiction, another state or federal court located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) as the sole and exclusive forum for any action under Massachusetts statutory or common law: brought derivatively on our behalf, asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our shareholders, asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Massachusetts Business Corporation Act or asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in all cases subject to the court’s having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants. In addition, our restated articles of organization provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. This provision will not apply to actions arising under the Exchange Act, or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Additionally, this exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our shareholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such shareholders find favorable for disputes with us or our directors or officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors and officers. Alternatively, if the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts or a court outside of Massachusetts were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings described above, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other venues or jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.
If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and effective disclosure controls and procedures, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner or prevent fraud, which may adversely affect investor confidence in our company.
Although we are required to annually assess our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and disclose changes that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting on a quarterly basis, as an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the date we are no longer an emerging growth company. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our controls are documented, designed or operated.
To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we have undertaken certain actions, such as implementing new internal controls and procedures and hiring additional accounting staff. We may also need to undertake certain other actions in the future, including the hiring of internal audit staff or additional accounting staff. Testing and maintaining internal controls can divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business. In addition, when evaluating our internal controls over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. If we identify any material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting or we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal controls over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm expresses an adverse opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting once we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports. As a result, the market price of our common stock could be materially adversely affected.
We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our IPO, subject to specified conditions. We would cease to be an emerging growth company prior to such date if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates or we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted, and intend, to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and no requirements to hold non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation and golden parachute payments, to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and to comply with certain requirements of Auditing Standard 3101 relating to providing a supplement to the auditor’s report regarding critical audit matters. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
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In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption, and the reported results of operations contained in our financial statements may not be directly comparable to those of other public companies. Accordingly, we will incur additional costs in connection with complying with the accounting standards applicable to public companies at such time or times as they become applicable to us.
We are also a “smaller reporting company,” as defined under Regulation S-K. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million as of the last business day of our second fiscal quarter. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.
Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Accounting principles and related pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations we apply to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, leases and stock-based compensation, are complex and involve subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by our management. Changes in accounting pronouncements or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments by our management could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None
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