UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM | |||
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019
OR
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |
For the transition period from to .
Commission File Number:
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) | |||
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |||
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (301 ) 556-9900
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||
Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||
Emerging growth company | ||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of June 28, 2019, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates based upon the closing price of such shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on such date was approximately $659.7 million.
As of February 15, 2020, 169,669,195 shares of common stock, no par value per share, were issued and outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE: Portions of the registrant's Definitive Proxy Statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Intrexon®, Trans Ova Genetics®, Oxitec®, ActoBiotics®, ViaGen®, Okanagan Specialty Fruits®, RheoSwitch®, UltraVector®, AquAdvantage®, RTS®, and RheoSwitch Therapeutic System® are our and/or our affiliates' registered trademarks in the United States and AquaBounty™, GenVec™, Precigen™, AdenoVerse™, ActoBio Therapeutics™, Progentus™, AttSite™, and Precigen Therapeutics™ are our and/or our affiliates' common law trademarks in the United States. This Annual Report on Form 10-K, or Annual Report, and the information incorporated herein by reference contain references to trademarks, service marks and trade names owned by us or other companies. Solely for convenience, trademarks, service marks, and trade names referred to in this Annual Report and the information incorporated herein, including logos, artwork, and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, service marks, and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies' trade names, service marks, or trademarks to imply a
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relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies. Other trademarks, trade names, and service marks appearing in this Annual Report are the property of their respective owners. Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report to "Precigen", "we", "us", and "our" refer to Precigen, Inc.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this Annual Report, including statements regarding our strategy; future events, including their outcome or timing; future operations; future financial position; future revenue; projected costs; prospects; plans; objectives of management; and expected market growth, are forward-looking statements. The words "aim", "anticipate", "assume", "believe", "continue", "could", "due", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "potential", "positioned", "project", "seek", "should", "target", "will", "would", and the negative of these terms or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about:
• | our ability to successfully enter new markets or develop product candidates, including the expected timing and results of investigational studies and preclinical and clinical trials, and our research and development programs; |
• | the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings for any product candidates we develop and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for such product candidates for any indication; |
• | our intentions and ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates; |
• | the rate and degree of market acceptance of any products developed by us; |
• | our ability to successfully execute and achieve benefits from our leadership transition plan and organizational restructuring, and to manage the transition to a new chief executive officer; |
• | our efforts to hold or generate significant operating capital, including through partnering, potential asset sales of our non-healthcare assets, and operating cost reductions; |
• | our cash position; |
• | our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements, and need for additional financing; |
• | our strategy and overall approach to our business model, including our efforts to focus our business in the healthcare industry; |
• | our ability to adapt to changes in laws, regulations, and policies; |
• | our reliance on and the performance of third parties, including exclusive channel collaborations, or ECCs, and joint ventures, or JVs; |
• | competition from existing technologies and products or new technologies and products that may emerge; |
• | our expectations related to the use of proceeds from our public offerings and other financing efforts; |
• | actual or anticipated variations in our operating results; |
• | market conditions in our industry; |
• | our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights and technologies; |
• | our ability to retain and recruit key personnel; |
• | our ability to successfully enter into optimal strategic relationships with our subsidiaries and operating companies that we may form in the future; and |
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• | the result of litigation proceedings or investigations that we currently face or may face in the future. |
Forward-looking statements may also concern our expectations relating to our subsidiaries and other affiliates. We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report.
We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this Annual Report, particularly in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, JVs, or investments that we may make.
You should read this Annual Report, the documents that we reference in this Annual Report, the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in this Annual Report and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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PART I
Item 1. | Business |
Overview
We are a dedicated discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing the next generation of gene and cell therapies with the overall goal of improving outcomes for patients with significant unmet medical needs. We are leveraging our proprietary technology platforms to develop product candidates designed to target urgent and intractable diseases in our core therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. We have developed an extensive pipeline of therapies across multiple indications within these core focus areas.
We believe the historically unreliable and costly discovery and development process for new medicines is being replaced by the targeted engineering of biology at the genetic, molecular and cellular level. We believe that our therapies differentiate us from our competition through a focus on advanced multigenic construction, unique delivery mechanisms, and controllable expression. Our pipeline programs have the potential to help solve major outstanding technical and commercial challenges that continue to hinder the biopharmaceutical industry.
We believe that our array of technology platforms uniquely position us among other biotechnology companies to advance precision medicine. Precision medicine is the practice of therapeutic product development that takes into account specific genetic variations within populations impacted by a disease to design targeted therapies to improve outcomes for a disease or patient population. Our proprietary and complementary technology platforms provide a strong foundation to realize the core promise of precision medicine by supporting our efforts to construct powerful gene programs to drive efficacy, deliver these programs through viral, non-viral, and microbe-based approaches to drive lower costs, and control gene expression to drive safety. Our therapeutic platforms, including UltraCAR-T, ActoBiotics, and AdenoVerse Immunotherapy, allow us to precisely control the level and physiological location of gene expression and modify biological molecules to control the function and output of living cells to treat underlying disease conditions.
We currently are advancing multiple product candidates through clinical trials, including UltraCAR-T therapies PRGN-3005, which targets the Mucin 16 antigen, or MUC16, on the cell surface of ovarian and other peritoneal cancers, and PRGN-3006, which targets the CD33 antigen on the cell surface of acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, blasts, as well as AG013 and AG019, which are based on our ActoBiotics platform and are being investigated for the treatment of oral mucositis, or OM, and recent-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus, or T1D, respectively. In addition, we continue to rapidly advance earlier-stage preclinical programs across our core therapeutic areas.
To guide our decision-making and operations, we have adopted the following tenets, which form the core of our operating ideology:
• | Financial Discipline. Responsibly allocate capital in an effort to ensure maximum value creation. |
• | Active Portfolio Management. Continuously evaluate our portfolio and strictly adhere to data-driven "go" and "no go" decisions to advance programs with the highest probability of success. |
• | Rapid Execution. Advance selected programs quickly to "go" and "no go" decisions and value inflection points. |
• | Strategic Partnerships. Seek strategic partnerships to maximize value generation. |
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Our Strategy
Our strategy is to use our discovery and clinical development infrastructure to continue advancement of our healthcare business with the goal of improving outcomes for patients with significant unmet medical needs. The key elements of our strategy include:
• | Advancing our lead programs and seeking opportunities to maximize their value. We are actively advancing our lead programs, including: PRGN-3005 and PRGN-3006, which are built on our UltraCAR-T platform; AG019, which is built on our ActoBiotics platform; and INXN-4001 non-viral triple effector plasmid DNA, which is built on our UltraVector platform. PRGN-3005 is in a Phase 1 clinical trial for advanced ovarian cancer patients and PRGN-3006 is in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial for patients with relapsed or refractory AML or high-risk MDS. The primary objective of the ongoing clinical studies is to determine the safety and maximum tolerated dose, or MTD, of PRGN-3005 and PRGN-3006. AG019 is currently being studied in a Phase 1b/2a multi-center study conducted in participants with clinical recent-onset T1D. INXN-4001 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 study to evaluate the safety of retrograde coronary sinus infusion of INXN-4001 in outpatient left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, recipients. We intend to efficiently pursue these programs toward clinical proof-of-concept and commercialization, whether independently or with collaborators. |
• | Strategically pursuing our preclinical programs. We have a robust pipeline of preclinical programs that we are pursuing in order to drive long-term value creation. We exercise discipline in our portfolio management by systematically evaluating data from our preclinical programs in order to make rapid "go" and "no go" decisions. Through this process, we can more effectively allocate resources to programs that we believe show the most promise and advance such programs to clinical trials. |
• | Leveraging our technology and therapeutic platforms across indications. Through the application of our suite of proprietary and complementary synthetic biology technologies, we believe we can create optimized biological processes and overcome the limitations of traditional techniques, leading to precision medicines that are manufactured more efficiently and cost-effectively with superior performance. We continually assess the application of these technologies across therapeutic areas to determine where we can develop and provide unique solutions to challenges facing existing therapies. |
In order to sharpen our focus on healthcare, solidify our capital position, and place our healthcare assets in the optimal position to succeed, in January 2020, we divested a number of our non-healthcare assets in two transactions to TS Biotechnology Holdings, LLC, or TS Biotechnology, a limited liability company managed by Third Security, LLC, or Third Security, which is a related party, and to Darling Ingredients, Inc., or Darling. These sales are referred to collectively herein as the Transactions. We also changed our company name to Precigen, Inc. See "Non-Healthcare Assets and Transition to our Core Healthcare Business Model" below.
Our Healthcare Subsidiaries
Our healthcare business is operated by our wholly owned subsidiaries PGEN Therapeutics, Inc., or PGEN or PGEN Therapeutics, Precigen ActoBio, Inc., or ActoBio, and Exemplar Genetics, Inc., or Exemplar, and also includes our majority ownership interest in Triple-Gene LLC, or Triple-Gene, as well as equity and royalty interests in therapeutics and therapeutic platforms from companies not controlled by us.
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PGEN Therapeutics, Inc.
PGEN (formerly Precigen, Inc.) is a dedicated discovery and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing the next generation of gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target urgent and intractable diseases in immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. PGEN operates as an innovation engine, progressing a preclinical and clinical pipeline of well-differentiated therapies toward clinical proof-of-concept and commercialization. Our most advanced programs within PGEN include two therapies built on our UltraCAR-T platform, PRGN-3005, which is in a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, and PRGN-3006, which is in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory AML and higher-risk MDS. In addition to our clinical programs, PGEN has a robust preclinical pipeline that includes PRGN-2009, an "off-the-shelf" therapy for human papillomavirus-positive, or HPV+, cancers developed using our AdenoVerse Immunotherapy platform, additional UltraCAR-T therapeutics for various cancers, additional "off-the-shelf" AdenoVerse Immunotherapeutics for infectious diseases, an AdenoVerse cytokine therapy for solid tumors, and PRGN-5001, a multifunctional therapeutic for solid tumors.
Precigen ActoBio, Inc.
ActoBio is pioneering a proprietary class of microbe-based biopharmaceuticals that enable expression and local delivery of disease-modifying therapeutics. We refer to these microbe-based biopharmaceuticals as ActoBiotics. Our ActoBiotics platform is a unique delivery platform precisely tailored for specific disease modification via local delivery directly to the relevant tissue. ActoBiotics combine the advantages of highly selective protein-based therapeutic agents with local delivery by the well-characterized and food-grade bacterium Lactococcus lactis, or L. lactis. ActoBiotics can be delivered orally in a capsule, through an oral rinse or in a topical solution. We believe ActoBiotics have the potential to provide superior safety and efficacy via the sustained release of appropriate quantities of select therapeutic agents as compared to injectable biologics, while reducing the side effects commonly attributed to systemic delivery and corresponding peaks in concentration. ActoBio, both independently and through a collaboration, has a clinical pipeline and a portfolio of candidates available for clinical development across a number of potential indications. ActoBio's most advanced internal pipeline candidate, AG019, is currently in a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial for the treatment of recent onset T1D. Another clinical candidate from ActoBio's platform, AG013, is being developed by our partner Oragenics, Inc., or Oragenics, a Florida corporation, and is in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of OM.
Triple-Gene LLC
Triple-Gene is a clinical stage gene therapy company focused on developing advanced treatments for complex cardiovascular diseases. Triple-Gene's approach is to develop a holistic treatment for heart failure through improvements in angiogenesis, calcium homeostasis-associated cellular energetics, reductions in inflammatory signals, and the activation/recruitment of stem cells to support heart remodeling. Triple-Gene's most advanced candidate, INXN-4001, a non-viral triple-effector plasmid designed for constitutive expression of human S100A1, SDF-1a, and VEGF-165 genes to address multiple pathways of heart failure, is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Exemplar Genetics, LLC
Exemplar is committed to enabling the study of life-threatening human diseases through the development of MiniSwine Yucatan miniature pig research models and services, as well as enabling the production of cells and organs in its genetically engineered swine for regenerative medicine applications. Historically, researchers have lacked animal models that faithfully represent human diseases. As a result, a sizeable barrier has blocked progress in the discovery of human disease mechanisms; novel diagnostics, procedures, devices, prevention strategies and therapeutics; and the ability to predict in humans the efficacy of those next-generation procedures, devices, and therapeutics. Exemplar's MiniSwine models are genetically engineered to exhibit a wide variety of human disease states, which provides a more accurate platform to test the efficacy of new medications and devices.
Our Technology and Therapeutic Platforms
Our Technology Platforms
We leverage a diverse portfolio of proprietary technology platforms to accelerate research and development efforts to deliver the promise of precision medicine. Precigen's innovative technology platforms enable us to construct powerful, multigenic programs that we believe will drive efficacy, deliver multigenic constructs using viral, non-viral and microbe-based approaches that we believe will drive lower costs, and control expression of genes and performance of therapeutics in vivo for precise targeting of complex malignancies. The following discussion describes the technology platforms that we use for our approach to precision medicine.
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We believe that the development of innovative biological products requires a deep understanding of the complexity of cellular processes and the construction of improved gene programs developed in conditions reflective of the natural environment. We accomplish the design of optimized gene programs for our therapeutic approaches via our UltraVector® platform that incorporates advanced DNA construction technologies and computational models to design and assemble genetic components into complex gene expression programs. UltraVector-enabled matrices facilitate rapid identification of components that yield desired gene expression. Our library of characterized genetic components and associated functional characterization data enable construction of gene programs for optimized expression of multiple effector genes. Expression of our membrane-bound interleukin-15, or mbIL15, gene improves functional characteristics of certain immune cells, including T cells, by enhancing their potential for expansion and persistence.
We deliver gene programs via viral, non-viral, and microbe-based approaches, including Sleeping Beauty, AttSite recombinases, gorilla adenoviral vectors, from our AdenoVerse library, and L. lactis. Sleeping Beauty is a non-viral transposon/transposase system licensed from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that stably reprograms immune cells by inserting specific DNA sequences into the genome. The Sleeping Beauty system has been shown to promote random integration in the genome without insertion bias, which contrasts with the predilection of lentiviral vectors for integration at transcriptionally active sites. We believe that this non-viral system may confer benefits including a reduction of the risk of genotoxicity. Precigen has made significant improvements to the Sleeping Beauty system by optimizing gene elements, genetic payload capacity, and efficiency of delivery, which provides a system tailored to our multigenic UltraCAR-T platform. Our AttSite recombinases, which break and rejoin DNA at specific sequences in a unidirectional, irreversible fashion to direct integration of a transgene into the host cell genome, allow for stable, site-specific gene integration. Genetically engineered adenoviruses (a common group of viruses) called adenovectors that are designed to insert genes into cells are an important part of our technology platforms. Our AdenoVerse technology platform is composed of a library of engineered adenovector serotypes that yield greater tissue specificity and target selection as compared to known human Ad5 adenovectors. This includes our gorilla adenovectors, which provide a potential competitive advantage in their large payload capacity, ability for repeat administrations and generation of robust antigen-specific immune responses. L. lactis is a food-grade bacterium with a long history of safe use that we modify to deliver biologics at mucosal sites via oral administration.
The final component of our approach to precision medicine is our ability to control gene expression and regulation using the RheoSwitch, kill switches, and tissue-specific promoters. The RheoSwitch Therapeutic System, our inducible gene switch system, is the most clinically advanced gene switch system and provides quantitative dose-proportionate regulation of the amount and timing of target protein expression in response to an orally available activator ligand, veledimex. In addition, we have developed a suite of kill switches, which allow us to selectively eliminate cell therapies in vivo after their administration, to improve the safety profile of our cell therapies. We are developing tissue-specific promoters to only induce gene expression locally in cells or tissues of therapeutic interest.
We have leveraged our proprietary and complementary technology platforms discussed above and our expertise in immunology to develop key therapeutic platforms, including UltraCAR-T, AdenoVerse, and ActoBiotics, to address multiple pathways of complex disorders with significant unmet medical needs and to realize our core promise of precision medicine.
Our Therapeutic Platforms
UltraCAR-T®
Recent technological advances have revolutionized the field of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Of the many
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immunotherapy approaches, chimeric antigen receptor T, or CAR-T, cell therapies in particular have shown remarkable responses in cancer patients with hematological malignancies. These therapies rely on the modification of T cells with chimeric antigen receptors to enable those T cells to bind to specific antigens on the patient's tumor cells and kill the tumor cells. Concerns remain, however, regarding complex and lengthy manufacturing processes and the safety profile of CAR-T cell therapies. Furthermore, conventional CAR-T cell therapies have faced a number of challenges in the treatment of solid tumors due to antigen heterogeneity, the suppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment and the limited persistence of CAR-T cells. Current approaches to CAR-T manufacturing require extensive ex vivo expansion following viral vector transduction to achieve clinically relevant cell numbers. We believe such an ex vivo expansion process can result in the exhaustion of CAR-T cells prior to their administration, limiting their potential for persistence in patients after administration. Furthermore, lengthy and complex manufacturing of current CAR-T approaches results in high manufacturing costs and long delays in providing the CAR-T treatment to cancer patients. Time is of the essence for advanced cancer patients and even modest delays in treatment can adversely affect outcomes.
Our UltraCAR-T platform is fundamentally differentiated from the competition and we believe it has the potential to address the shortcomings of current technologies and disrupt the CAR-T treatment landscape by increasing patient access through shortening manufacturing time from weeks to days, decreasing manufacturing-related costs, and improving outcomes.
The key advantages of UltraCAR-T versus the traditional CAR-T approaches include:
Advanced non-viral multigenic delivery system
We have optimized and advanced the Sleeping Beauty system using our UltraVector® DNA construction platform to produce multigenic UltraCAR-T cells. As a result of this optimization, our UltraCAR-T cells are precision-engineered to produce a homogeneous cell product that simultaneously co-expresses antigen-specific CAR, kill switch, and mbIL15 genes in any genetically modified UltraCAR-T cell. This design differentiates our UltraCAR-T platform from our competition and reduces the developmental risk because product homogeneity is a critical consideration for later stages of clinical development and subsequent commercialization. We utilize our protein engineering and immunology expertise to optimize antigen binding and signaling domains of each CAR based on the target antigen expression profile and cancer indication. We have also included our proprietary kill switch technology in our UltraCAR-T cells to improve the safety profile.
Enhanced persistence and elimination of ex vivo expansion step due to expression of mbIL15
The key driver of improved UltraCAR-T cell performance is our proprietary cytokine mbIL15. The expression of mbIL15 enhances in vivo expansion in the presence of tumor antigens and prevents T cell exhaustion to maintain a less differentiated, stem-cell like memory phenotype leading to longer persistence of UltraCAR-T cells. This yields an enduring anti-tumor response that outlasts conventional CAR-T cells, which we believe is essential to successfully targeting solid tumors. This design allows us to eliminate the need for any ex vivo expansion prior to administration, a requirement that is a major limitation of current CAR-T treatments.
Scalable, rapid, decentralized manufacturing process
Another key differentiator with the UltraCAR-T therapeutic platform is our decentralized and rapid proprietary manufacturing process, which allows us to manufacture overnight at a medical center's current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, facility and reinfuse the patient the following day after gene transfer. The decentralized nature of this process allows us to scale beyond the confines of a dedicated facility. We are the first company to implement non-viral, decentralized, rapid manufacturing of CAR-T cells in the clinic and have validated our proprietary UltraCAR-T manufacturing process in practice by infusing patients one day after gene transfer at two different sites in our ongoing clinical trials. Our UltraCAR-T manufacturing process provides a
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significant potential competitive advantage in the timeline and cost required to manufacture and deliver CAR-T therapies to patients as compared to current treatment approaches that require large, centralized facilities to support manufacturing of a relatively small number of treatments.
"Off-the-shelf" AdenoVerse™ Immunotherapy
Our AdenoVerse Immunotherapy platform utilizes a library of proprietary adenovectors for the efficient gene delivery of therapeutic effectors, immunomodulators, and vaccine antigens. We have established proprietary manufacturing cell lines and production methodologies for AdenoVerse Immunotherapies, which we believe is easily scalable for commercial supply. We believe that our proprietary gorilla adenovectors, part of the AdenoVerse technology, have superior performance characteristics as compared to current competition, including standard human adenovirus serotype 5,or Ad5, rare human adenovirus types and other non-human primate adenovirus types.
The key advantages of AdenoVerse Immunotherapy platform include:
Large genetic payload capacity
Our gorilla adenovectors have a larger genetic payload capacity than other viral vectors that currently dominate the gene therapy field, allowing us to engineer multigenic therapeutic candidates to treat complex diseases. Currently, we are able to engineer up to a 12kb genetic payload using our gorilla adenovectors, providing us with a significant advantage to express multiple genes in a controlled manner.
Repeat administration
Unlike most competing approaches, our gorilla adenovectors are suitable for repeat administration, which can lead to boosted antibody and T cell responses. This suitability for repeat administration stems from the very low to non-existent seroprevalence of and limited immunity to gorilla adenoviruses in the human population. For example, our gorilla adenovector variant GC46 has been shown to have a seroprevalence of less than 6% in the United States, with low seropositive titers. In comparison, the seroprevalence of Ad5 in the United States is estimated to be 58%, with most of seropositive individuals having high titers. This high Ad5 seroprevalence limits the effectiveness of Ad5-based adenovectors in clinical studies. The rare and weak pre-existing immunity against gorilla adenovectors may therefore provide an advantage in clinical applications as compared to existing competition.
Inability to replicate
Our gorilla adenovectors are engineered and manufactured using a process that ensures the production of replication incompetent adenoviral therapeutic candidates with no cytopathic or cytotoxic effect in normal human cells. This has been achieved by engineering deletions of two regions essential for replication of the adenoviral genome. The use of a proprietary complementing cell line provides the necessary genetic elements for manufacture of AdenoVerse Immunotherapy candidates. We believe our AdenoVerse Immunotherapy candidates have reduced regulatory and commercialization risk due to their design which renders
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them incapable of replicating and therefore less susceptible to manufacturing failures. Furthermore, our gorilla adenovector manufacturing process has yielded therapeutic candidates at a very high titer and has reduced the complexity of manufacturing.
Durable antigen-specific immune response
Gorilla adenovectors have been shown to generate high-level and durable antigen-specific neutralizing antibodies and effector T cell immune responses as well as an ability to boost these antibody and T cell responses via repeat administration.
ActoBiotics®
Our ActoBiotics platform is a unique therapeutic platform precisely tailored for specific disease modification with the potential for superior efficacy and safety via oral or topical delivery of disease-modifying therapeutics directly to the relevant local mucosal sites. ActoBiotics work via genetically modified bacteria that deliver proteins and peptides at mucosal sites, rather than the insertion of one or more genes into a human cell by means of a virus or other delivery mechanism. By foregoing this insertion, Actobiotics allow "gene therapy" without the need for cell transformation.
The key advantages of ActoBiotics include:
Food-grade bacterium with easy genetic manipulation
ActoBiotics combine the advantages of highly selective protein-based therapeutic agents with local delivery by the well-characterized and food-grade bacterium with L. lactis, which has a long history of safe use. ActoBiotics are generated by genetically modifying L. lactis via chromosomal integration through targeted double homologous recombination to express and release a variety of highly versatile biological moieties. Multiple therapeutic agents, such as proteins, peptides, and antibodies, can be incorporated into a single ActoBiotics therapeutic, enabling the simultaneous targeting of multiple pathways in one disease. The L. lactis host is also engineered for environmental containment, thus preventing the spread of bacteria outside the human body.
Cost-effective and scalable manufacturing
We have established an efficient and reliable cGMP manufacturing process for the production of ActoBiotics that we believe is easily scalable for commercial supply. The manufacturing process involves fermentation of genetically modified L. lactis to generate active ingredient, followed by concentration and freeze-drying. The process does not require the costly purification required to produce conventional biologics.
Convenient delivery method
ActoBiotics can be delivered to the oral cavity through a mouthwash, intestinally via a capsule, or through a topical formula. Physiological dosing is low, and our ActoBiotics product candidates have been well-tolerated in pre-clinical and clinical studies. As compared to conventional biologics, we believe ActoBiotics have the potential to provide superior safety and efficacy via the sustained release of appropriate quantities of select therapeutic agents while reducing the side-effects commonly attributed to systemic delivery and corresponding peaks in concentration of conventional biologics.
Our Product Pipeline
We are leveraging our suite of technologies along with our internal research and development expertise to develop several preclinical and clinical stage programs.
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PRGN-3005
PRGN-3005 is a first-in-class, autologous CAR-T therapy that utilizes our UltraCAR-T platform to simultaneously co-express a CAR targeting MUC16, mbIL15, and kill switch genes. We have designed our CAR to improve signaling, and selected a specific anti-MUC16 binding domain and optimized its affinity to preferentially target PRGN-3005 to tumor cells.
MUC16 is an extremely large, type I transmembrane cell surface glycoprotein that plays a key role in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer by promoting an increase in cell proliferation, metastasis, resistance to chemotherapy and immune system evasion by cancer cells. MUC16 is overexpressed on more than 80% of ovarian tumors, but has limited expression in healthy tissues, making it an attractive CAR-T target for ovarian cancer. Other cancers with known overexpression of MUC16 include pancreatic, breast, lung, and bladder cancer.
PRGN-3005 is in a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Advanced ovarian cancer is often fatal, with Stage IV survival rates as low as 20%, and has limited treatment options. Patients with ovarian cancer represent a large population, with approximately 300,000 patients diagnosed worldwide annually, including 22,000 in the US alone.
In preclinical in vitro studies, PRGN-3005 UltraCAR-T cells have shown robust MUC16-specific cytotoxicity of ovarian cancer cell lines, a stem-cell like memory phenotype and significant improvement in their longevity even in the absence of exogenous cytokines as compared to conventional CAR-T cells. PRGN-3005 UltraCAR-T cells have shown significantly superior anti-tumor response in mouse models of ovarian cancer compared to mice treated with a saline solution or conventional MUC16 CAR-T cells lacking mbIL15 expression. Administration of PRGN-3005 UltraCAR-T cells one day after non-viral gene transfer eliminated ovarian tumors in all treated mice. Furthermore, PRGN-3005 UltraCAR-T cells showed significantly superior expansion and persistence in ovarian tumor-bearing mice compared to conventional CAR-T cells.
We initiated a dual-arm, non-randomized, open-label Phase 1 clinical trial of PRGN-3005 in the second half of 2019 in patients with advanced, recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer. We are conducting this trial in collaboration with The University of Washington and The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, leaders in immunotherapy and CAR-T treatments. Patients in this investigator-initiated dose escalation trial receive either intraperitoneal, or IP (Arm A), or intravenous, or IV (Arm B), administration of PRGN-3005. The primary objectives of this trial are to assess the safety and MTD of PRGN-3005. For both routes of administration, PRGN-3005 will follow a 3x3 dose escalation pattern. We expect to enroll up to 41 patients total in this study.
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In November 2019, we announced that we have successfully completed dosing of patients in the first dose level of the IP arm. Our consistent ability to successfully manufacture UltraCAR-T cells at a medical center confirms the validity of our rapid, decentralized approach to manufacturing. Moreover, we have observed encouraging preliminary findings of PRGN-3005 UltraCAR-T kinetics in patients. We expect to announce initial data from the IP arm in the second half of 2020.
PRGN-3006
PRGN-3006 is a first-in-class autologous CAR-T therapy that utilizes our UltraCAR-T platform to co-express a CAR to target CD33, mbIL15 and a kill switch for better precision and control.
CD33, also known as Siglec-3, is a single pass transmembrane glycoprotein and a member of the sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin super-family. CD33 is an attractive target for immunotherapy because it is over-expressed on AML blasts and leukemic stem cells, or LSCs, but is not expressed on normal blood stem cells, also known as hematopoietic stem cells. Approximately 85-90% of AML patients express CD33 on their tumor cells. In addition to broad expression on AML blasts, CD33 is expressed on LSCs underlying AML. LSCs are thought to be more resistant to chemotherapy treatment and to be capable of reinitiating the disease resulting in high relapse rates for AML. In healthy subjects, CD33 is primarily expressed on normal myeloid precursors, colony-forming cells, monocytes, and maturing granulocytes. Since CD33 is not expressed outside the hematopoietic system or on normal hematopoietic stem cells, it is an attractive target for treatment of AML.
AML is among the most common types of leukemia in adults with approximately 20,000 AML patients diagnosed in the US annually. AML is a heterogeneous disease with 50-70% relapse rates and rapid progression. The prognosis for patients with AML is poor, with an average five-year survival rate of approximately 25%. More than 10,000 cases of higher-risk MDS are diagnosed annually in the United States. Due to the aggressive nature of AML progression, rapid availability of treatment is of even greater importance in this patient population, and our non-viral UltraCAR-T manufacturing process represents a significant advantage over current approaches that require long lead times for manufacturing.
In preclinical studies, PRGN-3006 demonstrated robust expansion in the presence of CD33 antigen, lack of autonomous expansion in the absence of CD33 and prolonged persistence in the absence of exogenous cytokines. PRGN-3006 exhibited target-specific killing of CD33+ tumor cells as well as a significant release of inflammatory cytokines such as IFNγ, upon co-culture with AML tumor cells. PRGN-3006 cells were specifically eliminated by kill switch activator treatment, displaying functionality of the kill switch, which is intended to improve the safety profile of PRGN-3006. In vivo, a single administration of PRGN-3006 UltraCAR-T™ cells only one day after gene transfer effectively eliminated the tumor burden and significantly improved overall survival of tumor bearing mice compared to CAR-T cells lacking mbIL15 expression (conventional CAR-T) in an aggressive xenograft model of AML. PRGN-3006 demonstrated engraftment and significantly higher expansion and persistence in mice compared to conventional CAR-T cells, which lack mbIL15 expression.
In 2019, we initiated a dual-arm, non-randomized, investigator-initiated Phase 1/1b clinical trial of PRGN-3006 delivered via intravenous infusion in patients with relapsed or refractory AML and higher-risk MDS. We are conducting this trial in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, a pioneer in CAR-T clinical development. In the 3x3 dose escalation phase, patients will be treated in one of the two arms: Arm 1 will receive CAR-T cell infusion without prior lymphodepletion, and Arm 2 will receive lymphodepleting chemotherapy. The dose escalation phase of each arm will be followed by a dose expansion phase at the MTD. Because our UltraCAR-T cells have the potential for enhanced in vivo expansion and persistence due to expression of mbIL15, we are evaluating administration of PRGN-3006 in patients without prior lymphodepletion. The primary objective of this trial is to assess the safety of PRGN-3006 and determine the MTD.
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In November 2019, we announced that we have successfully completed dosing of patients in the first dose level of the "no lymphodepletion" arm (Arm 1). Our ability to successfully manufacture UltraCAR-T cells for patients at a second medical center in this trial has further validated our rapid, decentralized approach to manufacturing. PRGN-3006 was granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of AML in December 2019 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA.
We have observed encouraging preliminary findings of PRGN-3006 UltraCAR-T kinetics in patients. We are currently enrolling patients in the second cohort of the "no lymphodepletion" arm (Arm 1) and the first cohort of the "lymphodepletion" arm (Arm 2) of the trial, and expect to announce initial data from the trial in the second half of 2020.
AG019
AG019 is a first-in-class disease modifying antigen-specific immunotherapy for the prevention, delay, or reversal of T1D. AG019 is an easy-to-take capsule formulation of ActoBiotics engineered to deliver the autoantigen human proinsulin, or PINS, and the tolerance-enhancing cytokine human interleukin-10 to the mucosal lining of gastro-intestinal tissues in patients with T1D. We believe this design can reduce T1D pathology by reestablishing immunological tolerance to islet antigens via the production of regulatory T, or Treg, cells.
T1D represents a highly unmet medical need, with approximately 132,000 patients, most commonly children and young adults, diagnosed each year. In T1D, the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, creating a blood glucose imbalance and numerous symptoms, including polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, weight loss, lassitude, nausea and blurred vision. The current treatment standard for T1D consists of exogenous insulin along with diet and lifestyle modification, but no disease-modifying treatment is available. We believe that AG019 has the potential to address the unmet medical need for disease modifying treatment in T1D.
Preclinical studies in mice have shown that AG019, in association with a short-term treatment with a low-dose anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, induced stable reversion to normal blood sugar levels and reversed the disease in diabetic mice treated at an early stage. Furthermore, AG019 treatment induced accumulation and proliferation of PINS-specific FoxP3+ Treg cells in the pancreas and peripheral lymph nodes.
AG019 is currently being studied in a Phase 1b/2a multi-center trial in participants with clinical recent-onset T1D with a residual functional mass of insulin-producing beta cells. The primary objective of this study, which we initiated in October 2018, is to assess the safety and tolerability of different doses of AG019 alone as well as AG019 in association with teplizumab, an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody in development by Provention Bio, Inc. for the interception and prevention of clinical T1D, in both adolescent and adult patient groups. We have completed treatment in the open-label Phase 1b monotherapy portion of the trial, in which four cohorts consisting of adolescent or adult patients were treated with two or six AG019 capsules daily for eight weeks. Enrollment is ongoing in the randomized, double-blind Phase 2a combination portion. In this portion of the trial, patients will receive daily IV infusions of teplizumab during the first 12 days of AG019 treatment and two or six AG019 capsules daily for eight weeks. We expect to announce interim data from this trial in the third quarter of 2020.
INXN-4001
INXN-4001, a non-viral triple effector plasmid based on our UltraVector platform designed for the constitutive expression of human S100A1, SDF-1a, and VEGF-165, is engineered to address multiple pathways of heart failure. Utilizing a single plasmid comprising all three genes, instead of each individual gene on separately delivered plasmids, INXN-4001 can control for delivery
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and ensure expression of three genes in all transfected cells.
Heart failure represents a significant unmet medical need and a major economic burden worldwide. There are approximately 25 million heart failure patients worldwide, of whom 6 million are in the United States. Heart failure is the number one cause of hospitalization in patients aged 65 years and older, and 50% of heart failure patients die within five years after diagnosis. Heart failure is a complex and multifaceted disease most often resulting from the intersection of multiple genetic predispositions with negative environmental factors. Existing treatments improve quality of life in the short-term and offer some improvement in long-term survival at high cost and with associated complications. We believe that developing a holistic and clinically relevant treatment for heart failure will require improvements in numerous areas, including angiogenesis, calcium homeostasis-associated cellular energetics, reductions in inflammatory signals, and the activation or recruitment of stem cells to support heart remodeling.
Preclinical studies of INXN-4001 showed significant improvement in beat rate, contractile duration and contraction rate of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in a dilated cardiomyopathy model to the levels demonstrated by control cells and did not result in increased cell death compared to controls. Coronary sinus delivery of INXN-4001 in a large animal ischemic heart failure model showed decreased left ventricular end systolic volume and increased absolute mean ejection fraction, which are indicators of myocardial function, as well as no increase in arrhythmias compared to controls.
INXN-4001 is in a Phase 1 clinical trial, which is a first-in-human, open label study designed to evaluate the safety of retrograde coronary sinus infusion of INXN-4001 in outpatient LVAD recipients. Twelve stable patients with implanted LVAD for mechanical support of end stage heart failure were allocated into two cohorts of six subjects each to evaluate the safety of infusing the same amount of INXN-4001 (80mg) in two volumes (40mL and 80mL) at a rate of 20mL per minute. We have completed dosing of patients in this trial.
The initial data shows evidence of improvement in cardiac function. We have observed beneficial trends in the distance walked during the Six Minute Walk Test and in the Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction heart function measure after six months post INXN-4001 treatment. There have been no treatment-related adverse events reported to date. We expect to have complete data for this Phase 1 study in 2020.
Preclinical Programs
We have a robust pipeline of preclinical programs that we are pursuing in order to drive long-term value creation. Our pipeline includes a number of product candidates utilizing our "off-the-shelf" AdenoVerse immunotherapy, UltraCAR-T and ActoBiotics platforms that we expect to be in studies enabling Investigational New Drug applications, or INDs, or to have moved into Phase 1 clinical trials in 2020.
We are developing three product candidates utilizing our AdenoVerse Immunotherapy platform. Of these, PRGN-2009, an "off-the-shelf" immunotherapy for which we expect to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in 2020, is being developed for the treatment of
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HPV+ cancers. HPV+ cancers represent a significant health burden in indications such as head and neck, cervical, vaginal and anal cancer. Our AdenoVerse platform allows us to optimize the HPV antigen design for improved immune response, which differentiates our therapy from the competition. Our preclinical research has shown that PRGN-2009 immunotherapy effectively controlled solid tumors in a murine model of HPV+ head and neck cancer. PRGN-2009 is designed to activate the immune system to recognize and target HPV+ solid tumors using a gorilla adenovector with a large payload capacity and the ability for repeat injections. PRGN-2009 is currently under development through a cooperative research and development arrangement, or CRADA, with Dr. Jeffrey Schlom, a world-renowned investigator in immuno-oncology, at the National Cancer Institute. This CRADA has allowed us to rapidly and cost-effectively complete preclinical work, and we expect it to have similar benefits for our forthcoming Phase 1 clinical trial. It also provides for potential expansion to other targets and combinations.
We are also developing immuno-oncology product candidates based on our Multifunctional Therapeutic platform. This platform allows us to simultaneously target multiple pathways to address senescence and trafficking of T lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment. PRGN-5001 Multifunctional Therapeutic has exhibited the ability to enhance T cell activation and superior anti-tumor effects compared to anti-PD1 treatment in different humanized mouse models, including colorectal, lung, and cervical cancers, that do not respond well to anti-PD1 treatments. The preclinical data supports the potential for expansion to multiple targets. We plan to initiate IND-enabling studies for PRGN-5001 in 2020 and we are evaluating the optimal path forward for our Multifunctional Therapeutic platform, including ongoing partnership discussions.
We also have a number of other potential product candidates in our preclinical pipeline and, consistent with our commitment to actively manage our portfolio programs, we plan to systematically evaluate data from our preclinical programs in order to make rapid "go" and "no go" decisions with respect to those candidates. Through this process, we will allocate resources to programs that we believe show the most promise and advance such programs to the clinic.
Partnered Programs
We also are engaged in a number of collaborations, pursuant to which our platforms are being used to advance additional product candidates.
AG013 (Oragenics, Inc.)
ActoBio is in collaboration with Oragenics for the continued development and commercialization of AG013 for use in the treatment of OM in humans through the administration of an effector via genetically modified bacteria. AG013 has been granted fast track designation by the FDA. AG013, built on the ActoBiotics platform, is a convenient and well-tolerated oral rinsing solution to deliver human Trefoil Factor 1, or hTFF1, via genetically modified L. lactis. The L. lactis is freeze dried and then mixed with a raspberry-flavored solution that the patient swishes after every meal. The swishing causes the delivery of hTFF1 to buccal mucosa, which is intended to prevent mucosal tissue damage and induce subsequent repair.
OM is a side effect of chemo- or radio-therapy in cancer patients caused by the breakdown of the mucosal lining and results in the formation of painful oral ulcers. This condition leads to nutritional deficits due to an inability to eat and drink. There are highly unmet medical needs for the prevention and treatment of OM, with no drug approved to prevent the condition in the broad cancer population and few treatments with confirmed efficacy available to manage OM. There are approximately 770,000 cancer patients annually in the United States that are at increased risk of developing OM.
AG013 was shown to be well-tolerated by head and neck cancer patients that were receiving induction chemotherapy in a completed Phase 1b single blind, placebo-controlled study in head and neck cancer patients receiving induction chemotherapy. The Phase 1b data showed that patients receiving AG013 experienced fewer days with ulcerative OM, or UOM, and fewer unscheduled office and emergency room visits as a result of UOM, as compared to patients that received the placebo. A total of 29% of patients treated with AG013 reported fewer than two days of UOM while all placebo-treated patients experienced more than two days of UOM. In addition, a 40% reduction in unscheduled office and emergency room visits compared to placebo was observed, as well as a 35% reduction in percentage of days with UOM compared to placebo.
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AG013 is now in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer. We expect interim data from this Phase 2 study in the first half of 2020. AG013 has been granted fast track designation by the FDA and orphan drug designation by the European Union. Pursuant to the collaboration with Oragenics, ActoBio is entitled to certain milestone payments and royalties related to the development and commercialization of AG013.
FCX-007 and FCX-013 (Castle Creek Pharma)
We have a collaboration with Fibrocell Sciences, Inc., which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Castle Creek Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc., to advance product candidates FCX-007, which initiated a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) in July 2019, and FCX-013, which is currently enrolling the Phase 1 portion of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of localized scleroderma. FCX-007 and FCX-013 each have been granted Orphan Drug designation, Rare Pediatric Disease designation and Fast Track designation by the FDA. The FDA has also granted FCX-007 Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation. Pursuant to the collaboration, we license our technology platforms to Fibrocell for use in certain specified fields and in exchange we have received and are entitled to certain access fees, milestone payments, royalties, and sublicensing fees related to the development and commercialization FCX-007 and FCX-013.
CGF166 (Novartis AG)
We are party to a research collaboration and license agreement through a wholly owned subsidiary with Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc., or Novartis, for the discovery and development of novel treatments for hearing loss and balance disorders. Under the terms of the agreement, our wholly owned subsidiary licensed world-wide rights to our preclinical hearing loss and balance disorders program to Novartis in exchange for an upfront payment and certain milestone payments related to the development and commercialization of certain licensed products. We are also entitled to tiered royalties on the annual net sales of the licensed products should any achieve commercialization. Currently, one of our product candidates, CGF166, is in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of hearing loss and balance disorders in collaboration with Novartis under this agreement.
Our Manufacturing Strategy
A core focus of our research and development program to date has been reducing risk, minimizing cost, and addressing drawbacks associated with conventional manufacturing approaches with the goal of improving safety and efficacy. As such, we have both developed therapeutic candidates that reduce manufacturing risk by eliminating the need for centralized manufacturing, and
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strategically invested in internal manufacturing capabilities to de-risk our clinical production.
UltraCAR-T Manufacturing
Our development of rapid and successful overnight manufacturing of UltraCAR-T therapies at medical centers signifies a paradigm shift in CAR-T therapy by eliminating a multitude of manufacturing and timing risks associated with conventional CAR-T therapies. Our proprietary technologies and unique manufacturing approach rely on non-viral plasmid DNA and the elimination of ex vivo expansion, leading to reduced manufacturing time and cost. This manufacturing process has significant competitive advantages over conventional approaches, and our intent is for it to take place directly in numerous treatment centers, which can improve the accessibility of our therapies for patients. See "Our Therapeutic Platforms - UltraCAR-T" for more information.
cGMP Manufacturing Facility
One of our central differentiating factors and competitive gene therapy advantages is our investment in internal cGMP manufacturing capabilities in Germantown, Maryland, with the aim to reduce a myriad of risks that can impact manufacturing of viral vectors. These include technology transfer risks when outsourcing to contract manufacturing organizations as well as process and timing risks. This modular cGMP facility with a small footprint was designed with agility and control in mind, focusing on rapid manufacturing and the ability to scale production appropriately to meet early-stage clinical trial needs of gene therapy vectors; especially our AdenoVerse based therapeutics. We are able to generate greater than 1,000 doses of early phase clinical trial material at this facility at an expedited timeline and reduced cost compared to contract manufacturing organizations. As a result, we feel we are in a position to be in control of meeting our gene therapy manufacturing needs for our early-phase clinical trials.
ActoBiotics Manufacturing
Our microbe-based therapeutic platform, ActoBiotics, can deliver protein-based therapeutic agents locally using well-characterized and safe food-grade bacterium L. lactis. We have established an efficient and reliable cGMP manufacturing process for the production of ActoBiotics that we believe is easily scalable for commercial supply. The manufacturing process involves fermentation of genetically modified L. lactis to generate the active ingredient, followed by concentration and freeze-drying. This process provides a competitive advantage, we believe, because there is no need for the costly purification process required to produce conventional biologics.
See "Our Therapeutic Platforms - ActoBiotics" for more information.
Competition
While we believe that our novel approach to developing the next generation of gene and cell therapies to target the most urgent and intractable challenges in immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases provides us with competitive advantages, our industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resource capabilities than we do, and certain of our competitors may also benefit from local government subsidies and other incentives that are not available to us. In addition, mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. As a result of the resources available to our competitors, our competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes, and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time than we can.
Product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with a range of therapies that are currently approved and any new therapies that may become available in the future. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies that can be used to produce products that reach the market in a timely manner and are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than other products on the market. The availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payors will also significantly affect the pricing and competitiveness of our products. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Key product features that would affect our ability to effectively compete with other therapeutics include the efficacy, safety and convenience of our products, as well as the availability of intellectual property protection.
Immuno-oncology
Our lead product candidates include PRGN-3005 for the treatment of ovarian cancer and PRGN-3006 for the treatment of AML, which are built on our UltraCAR-T platform. While we are employing a novel approach, there are a number of competitors pursuing
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CAR-T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. We believe that Bristol-Myers Squibb and MaxCyte are developing CAR-T based treatments for ovarian cancer and Celyad, Mustang Bio, MolMed, Amgen (Gilead / Kite partnership), Cellectis S.A., and Allogene Therapeutics are also using CAR-T technology to develop product candidates for the treatment of AML.
Bristol-Myers Squibb's product candidate, JCAR020, is a MUC16-IL-12 armored T-cell therapy being developed to treat ovarian cancer. Similar to our UltraCAR-T platform, this product candidate targets MUC16 on ovarian tumors. JCAR020 is engineered with "armored CAR" technology to co-express CAR and IL-12, a cytokine that can help overcome the inhibitory effects that the tumor micro-environment can have on T cell activity. MaxCyte's MCY-M11 is a mesothelin-specific human mRNA CAR-T cell therapy being developed to treat ovarian cancer. MCY-M11 is a non-viral approach that uses repeated infusions of mesothelin-specific messenger RNA (mRNA) transfected T cells transiently expressing CAR to permit prospective control of 'on-target/off-tumor' toxicity.
For the treatment of AML using CAR-T therapies, we believe that Celyad, Mustang Bio, and MolMed have product candidates in the most advanced clinical trials. Celyad's product candidate is an NKG2D-based CAR-T approach that uses the OptimAb manufacturing process, which generates a higher frequency of less differentiated CAR-T cells. Celyad's product candidate exhibited enhanced anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies and is now being studied with and without lymphodepletion. Mustang Bio's product candidate is an anti-CD123 CAR-T cell therapy. CD123 is widely expressed on bone marrow cells of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, as well as in hematologic malignancies, including AML, and Mustang Bio's MB-102 (CD123 CAR T) is a CAR-T cell therapy that is produced by engineering patient T cells to recognize and eliminate CD123-expressing tumors. MolMed is developing an anti-CD44v6 CAR-T cell therapy that involves isolating the patient's T cells and modifying them ex vivo with a viral vector. The T cells are engineered to express the CAR and the HSV-TK suicide gene already used in Zalmoxis®. The CAR facilitates the lymphocytes ability to recognize and kill the tumor cells, while the suicide gene allows for the elimination of the T lymphocytes in the case of a toxic reaction against the patient's healthy tissue. We believe that Amgen and Cellectis S.A.'s products are in Phase 1 clinical trials. Amgen is developing an FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3, or FLT3, CAR-T cell therapy utilizing autologous T cells genetically modified ex vivo to express a transmembrane CAR to target FLT3 protein on the surface of AML cells irrespective of FLT3 mutational status. Cellectis S.A. is also developing an anti-CD123 CAR-T cell therapy, which utilizes gene editing, lentivector transduction and "Pulse Agile" electroporation technology. Finally, Allogene Therapeutics' anti-FLT3 CAR-T cell therapy, which we believe is in preclinical development for AML, is manufactured using healthy donor T-cells that are engineered to express a gene-edited CAR directed against FLT3, a receptor tyrosine kinase with high expression in AML stem cells and utilizes an off-switch activated by rituximab to enable CAR-T cell depletion via CDC and ADCC.
In addition to our direct competitors that are using CAR-T therapies specifically for the treatment of ovarian cancer and AML, the CAR-T technology space has significant other competition including from multiple companies and their collaborators, such as Novartis and University of Pennsylvania, Gilead, Adaptimmune and GSK, Autolus Therapeutics, and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. We also face competition from non-cell based cancer treatments offered by other companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Incyte, Merck, and Roche.
See "Our Therapeutic Platforms - UltraCAR-T," "Our Product Pipeline - PRGN-3005" and "Our Product Pipeline - PRGN-3006" for a discussion of the features that we believe differentiate UlltraCAR-T treatments in general and PRGN-3005 and PRGN-3006 specifically from our competitors.
Autoimmune Disorders
We are also using our suite of proprietary and complementary synthetic biology technologies for the preclinical and clinical development of product candidates for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, including T1D. While we believe AG019 is the first disease-modifying treatment for T1D, there are a number of competitors pursuing immunotherapy product candidates to treat T1D. We believe that our primary competitors with respect to the development of immunotherapies for T1D are Caladrius BioSciences, Midatech Pharma, and MerciaPharma.
Intellectual Property
As we advance technologies, correspondingly, we apply a multilayered approach for protecting intellectual property relating to the inventions we have developed internally as well as those we have acquired from third parties, such as by assignment or by in-license. We seek patent protection in the United States and in other countries for our inventions and discoveries, and we develop and protect our key know-how and trade secrets relating to our platform technologies as well as to the product candidates we are developing with our subsidiaries and through our collaborations.
We seek patent protection for our platform technologies with a focus on our product pipeline, including but not limited to our (i) various switch technologies; (ii) gene delivery technologies; and (iii) our portfolio around various genetic componentry such
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as specialized vectors containing these genetic componentry. In addition, we seek patents covering specific collaborator's products.
We focus our intellectual property on aspects of our platforms and technologies that provide for the design and creation of cells, vectors and components for our pipeline and the pipelines of our collaborators.
Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection for our intellectual property relating to our technologies and product pipeline candidates. We have adopted a strategy of seeking patent protection in the United States and in other jurisdictions globally as we deem appropriate under the circumstances, with respect to certain of the technologies used in or relating to our technologies and product pipeline candidates. For instance, where we believe appropriate, we have also filed counterpart patents and patent applications in other jurisdictions, including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. In the future, we may file in these or additional jurisdictions as deemed appropriate for the protection of our technologies.
As of December 31, 2019, we owned at least 55 issued United States patents and 55 pending United States patent applications relating to certain aspects of our platforms and technologies, and we have pursued counterpart patents and patent applications in other jurisdictions around the world, as we have deemed appropriate. We continue to actively develop our portfolio through the filing of new patent applications, provisional and continuations or divisionals relating to our technologies, methods and products as we and our collaborators deem appropriate. We divested of 20 issued United States patents and 23 pending United States patent applications as part of the Transactions.
We have strategic positioning with respect to our key technologies directed to: our various switch technologies, with a last to expire patent currently in 2038; our portfolio around various gene delivery technologies and their use, with a last to expire patent in 2040; our portfolio around various genetic componentry such as specialized vectors containing these genetic componentry and their use, with a last to expire patent in 2039. Although we have no certainty that these patents will not be subject to challenge in the future, as of this filing, there are currently no material contested proceedings and/or third party claims with respect to any of these patent portfolios.
Additionally, we complement our intellectual property portfolio with exclusive and non-exclusive patent licenses and options for licenses to third-party technologies.
We further solidify our intellectual property protection through a combination of trade secrets, know-how, confidentiality, nondisclosure and other contractual provisions, and security measures to protect our confidential and proprietary information related to each platform and collaborator program. We regularly assess and review the risks and benefits of protecting our developments through each aspect of intellectual property available to us.
Because we rely on trade secrets, know-how, and continuing technological advances to protect various aspects of our technology, we require our employees, consultants and scientific collaborators to execute confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with us to maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets and proprietary information. Our confidentiality agreements generally provide that the employee, consultant or scientific collaborator will not disclose our confidential information to third parties. These agreements also provide that inventions conceived by the employee, consultant or scientific collaborator in the course of working for us will be our exclusive property. Additionally, our employees agree to take certain steps to facilitate our assertion of ownership over such intellectual property. These measures may not adequately protect our trade secrets or other proprietary information. If they do not adequately protect our rights, third parties could use our technologies, and we could lose any competitive advantage we may have. In addition, others may independently develop similar proprietary information or techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets, which could impair any competitive advantage we may have.
Regulatory Environment
With our diverse portfolio of proprietary technologies and novel therapeutic candidates, we are subject to significant and diverse regulations governing research, operations and product approval. Regulatory compliance is critical to our ability to operate, our management of potential liabilities and ultimately, our freedom to sell our products. Moreover, and as discussed below and in "Risk factors - Risks associated with our business strategy," the products we are pursuing or are produced by us are subject to extensive regulation. We also rely on our collaborators' compliance with laws and regulations applicable to the products they produce. We do not independently monitor whether our collaborators comply with applicable laws and regulations. Please see the risk factor entitled "Markets in which we and our collaborators are developing products using our technologies are subject to extensive regulation, and we rely on our collaborators to comply with all applicable laws and
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regulations."
Environmental regulations affecting us and our collaborators
We and our collaborators are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws, rules and regulations, including those relating to the discharge of materials into the air, water and ground, the generation, storage, handling, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials and the health and safety of employees with respect to laboratory activities required for the development of products and technologies. These laws and regulations require us and our collaborators to obtain environmental permits and comply with numerous environmental restrictions. These laws and regulations also may require expensive pollution control equipment or operational changes to limit actual or potential impacts to the environment.
Our laboratory activities and those of our collaborators inherently involve the use of potentially hazardous materials, which are subject to health, safety and environmental regulations. We design our infrastructure, procedures and equipment to meet our obligations under these regulations. We perform recurring internal and third-party audits and provide employees ongoing training and support, as required. All of our employees must comply with safety instructions and procedures, which are codified in our employment policies. Federal and state laws and regulations impose requirements on the production, importation, use and disposal of chemicals and genetically-modified microorganisms, or GMMs, which impact us and our collaborators. Our and our collaborators' processes may contain GE organisms which, when used in industrial processes, are considered new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, program of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. These laws and regulations would require us and our collaborators to obtain and comply with the EPA's Microbial Commercial Activity Notice process to operate. In the European Union, we and our collaborators may be subject to a chemical regulatory program known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances). Under REACH, companies are required to register their products with the European Commission, and the registration process could result in significant costs or delay the manufacture or sale of products in the European Union.
Regulations affecting us and our collaborators
Human therapeutics regulation
Government authorities in the United States, at the federal, state and local level, and in other countries extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, including any manufacturing changes, packaging, storage, recordkeeping, labeling, advertising, promotion, distribution, marketing, import and export of pharmaceutical products such as those being developed by our collaborators. The processes for obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and in foreign countries, along with subsequent compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, and requirements imposed by regulatory agencies, require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
In the United States, pharmaceuticals must receive approval from the FDA before being marketed. The FDA approves drug products other than biological products through its authority under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and implementing regulations. The FDA licenses biological drug products, or biologics, through its authority under the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and implementing regulations. The development processes for obtaining FDA approval for a non-biological drug product under the FDCA and for biologic licensure under the PHSA are generally similar, but have product-related differences reflected in regulations and in FDA guidance documents.
United States pharmaceutical development process
The process required by the FDA before a pharmaceutical product candidate may be marketed generally involves the following:
• | completion of preclinical laboratory tests and in vivo studies in accordance with the FDA's current Good Laboratory Practice regulations and standards, and other applicable requirements; |
• | submission to the FDA of an IND for human clinical testing, which must become effective before human clinical trials commence; |
• | performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials according to the FDA's Good Clinical Practices, or GCP, regulations, and any additional requirements for the protection of human research subjects and their health information, to establish the safety and efficacy of the proposed product candidate for each intended use; |
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• | preparation and submission to the FDA of an application for marketing approval that includes substantial evidence of safety, purity and potency for a biologic, or of safety and efficacy for a non-biologic drug, including from results of nonclinical testing and clinical trials; |
• | satisfactory completion of an FDA inspection of the manufacturing facility or facilities where the product candidate is produced to assess compliance with cGMP and to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the product candidate's identity, safety, strength, quality, potency and purity; |
• | potential FDA inspection of the nonclinical and clinical trial sites that generated the data in support of the application; and |
• | FDA review and approval of the application. |
Human clinical trials under an IND
Clinical trials involve administering the product candidate to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators. Clinical trials must be conducted and monitored in accordance with the FDA's regulations. Further, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board, or IRB, at or servicing each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted. An IRB is charged with protecting the welfare and rights of trial participants and considers, among other things, whether the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. Clinical trials involving recombinant DNA at institutions that receive any funding from the National Institutes of Health also must be reviewed by an institutional biosafety committee, an institutional committee that reviews and oversees basic and clinical research that utilizes recombinant DNA at that institution.
Human clinical trials typically are conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap or be combined:
• | Phase 1. The product candidate is introduced into healthy human subjects and tested for safety, dosage tolerance, absorption, metabolism, distribution, excretion and, if possible, to gain early understanding of its effectiveness. For some product candidates for severe or life-threatening diseases, especially when the product candidate may be too inherently toxic to ethically administer to healthy volunteers, the initial human testing is often conducted in patients with the targeted disease. |
• | Phase 2. The product candidate is administered and evaluated in a limited patient population to identify possible adverse effects and safety risks, to evaluate preliminary efficacy evidence for specific targeted diseases and to determine dosage tolerance, optimal dosage and dosing schedule. |
• | Phase 3. The product candidate is administered to an expanded patient population, often at geographically dispersed clinical trial sites, in adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to generate sufficient data to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the non-biologic drug, or the safety, purity, and potency of the biologic. These clinical trials are intended to establish the overall risk/benefit ratio of the product candidate and provide an adequate basis for product labeling. |
Post-approval clinical trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted, or may be required to be conducted, after initial approval to further assess the risk/benefit profile of the product and to gain additional experience from treatment of patients in the intended indication, including for long-term safety follow-up.
Additional regulation for gene therapy clinical trials
Additional standards apply to clinical trials involving gene therapy. The FDA has issued guidance documents regarding gene therapies, which relate to, among other things: preclinical assessments; chemistry, manufacturing and controls, or CMC, information that should be included in an IND application; the proper design of tests to measure product potency in support of an application; and long-term follow-up measures to observe delayed adverse effects in subjects exposed to investigational gene therapies when the risk of such effects is not low or when the gene therapy utilizes genome-editing technology, shows signs of persistence, has the potential for latency and reactivation, or genetically alters the human genome.
Compliance with cGMP requirements
Drug and biologics manufacturers must comply with applicable cGMP regulations. Manufacturers and others involved in the manufacture and distribution of such products also must register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies. Both domestic and foreign manufacturing establishments must register and provide additional information to the FDA upon
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their initial participation in the manufacturing of drugs. Establishments may be subject to periodic, unannounced inspections by the FDA and other government authorities to ensure compliance with cGMP requirements and other laws. Discovery of problems may result in a government entity placing restrictions on a product, manufacturer or holder of an approved product, and may extend to requiring withdrawal of the product from the market.
United States review and approval processes
The results of the preclinical tests and clinical trials, together with detailed information relating to the product's CMC and proposed labeling, among other things, are submitted to the FDA as part of an application requesting approval to market the product for one or more uses, or indications. For gene therapies, selecting patients with applicable genetic defects is often a necessary condition to effective treatment and may require diagnostic devices that the FDA has cleared or approved prior to or contemporaneously with approval of the gene therapy.
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, marketing applications generally must contain data to assess the safety and effectiveness of the biologic product candidate for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product candidate is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of data or full or partial waivers. Unless otherwise required by regulation, PREA does not apply to any product candidate for an indication for which orphan designation has been granted.
On the basis of the marketing application and accompanying information, including the results of the inspection of the manufacturing facilities, the FDA may issue an approval letter or a complete response letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing or information for the FDA to reconsider the application. If those deficiencies have been addressed to the FDA's satisfaction in a resubmission of the application, the FDA may issue an approval letter.
If a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the approval may be significantly limited to specific diseases and dosages or the indications for use may otherwise be limited. Further, the FDA may require that certain contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling. The FDA may impose restrictions and conditions on product distribution, prescribing or dispensing in the form of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, or otherwise limit the scope of any approval. In addition, the FDA may require post-marketing clinical trials designed to further assess a non-biologic drug's safety and effectiveness, or a biologic's safety, purity, and potency, and testing and surveillance programs to monitor the safety of approved products that have been commercialized.
Orphan Drug Designation in the United States
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to drugs and biological products intended to treat a "rare disease or condition," which generally is a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting a marketing application or supplement seeking approval for the orphan indication. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the common identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are publicly disclosed by the FDA.
Orphan drug designation does not—by itself—convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process. If a product that has an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for that drug or biologic for the indication for which it has been designated, the product is entitled to an orphan exclusivity period in which the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug or biologic for the same indication for seven years.
Exceptions to the seven-year exclusivity period may apply in limited circumstances, such as where the sponsor of a different version of the product is able to demonstrate that its product is clinically superior to the approved orphan drug product. This exclusivity does not prevent a competitor from obtaining approval to market a different product that treats the same disease or condition, or the same product to treat a different disease or condition. The FDA can revoke a product's orphan drug exclusivity under certain circumstances, including when the holder of the approved orphan drug application is unable to assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the drug to meet patient needs. Orphan exclusivity operates independently from other regulatory exclusivities and other protections against generic or biosimilar competition.
A sponsor of a product application that has received an orphan drug designation is also granted tax incentives for clinical research undertaken to support the application. In addition, the FDA will typically coordinate with the sponsor on research study design for an orphan drug and may exercise its discretion to grant marketing approval on the basis of more limited
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product safety and efficacy data than would ordinarily be required, based on the limited size of the applicable patient population.
Fast Track Designation
The FDA has a number of expedited review programs for drugs that are intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition. As one example, under the agency's Fast Track program, the sponsor of a new drug candidate may request the FDA to designate the product for a specific indication as a Fast Track product concurrent with or after the filing of the IND for the product candidate. The FDA must determine if the product candidate qualifies for Fast Track designation within 60 days after receipt of the sponsor's request.
In addition to other benefits, such as the ability to have more frequent interactions with the FDA, the agency may initiate review of sections of a Fast Track product's marketing application before the application is complete. This rolling review is available if the applicant provides and the FDA approves a schedule for the submission of the remaining information and the applicant pays applicable user fees. However, the FDA's review period for a Fast Track application does not begin until the last section of the marketing application is submitted. In addition, the Fast Track designation may be withdrawn by the FDA if the agency believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process.
Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation
The FDA may grant regenerative medicine advanced therapy, or RMAT, designation to regenerative medicine therapies, which may include cell therapies, human gene therapies, therapeutic tissue engineering products, and human cell and tissue products, if certain criteria are met. In particular, a drug may be eligible for RMAT designation if the drug is a regenerative medicine therapy as defined in Section 506(g)(8) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; the drug is intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition; and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug has the potential to address unmet medical needs for such disease and condition. The FDA must determine if the product candidate qualifies for RMAT designation within 60 days after receipt of the sponsor's request.
A grant of RMAT designation includes all of the benefits of Fast Track designation, intensive guidance on efficient drug development beginning as early as Phase 1, and organizational commitment involving senior managers. The RMAT designation may be withdrawn by the FDA if the agency believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process.
Post-approval requirements
Rigorous and extensive FDA regulation of drugs and biologics continues after approval, including requirements relating to recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, adverse experiences with the product, cGMP, and advertising and promotion. Changes to the product, manufacturing process, or facility often require prior FDA approval before being implemented and other types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications and additional labeling claims, are also subject to further FDA review and approval. Failure to comply with the applicable requirements may result in administrative, judicial, civil or criminal actions and adverse publicity. These actions may include FDA's refusal to approve or delay in approving pending applications or supplemental applications, withdrawal of approval, clinical hold, suspension or termination of clinical trial, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines or other monetary penalties, refusals of government contracts, mandated corrective advertising or communications with healthcare providers, debarment, restitution, disgorgement of profits or other civil or criminal penalties.
Regulatory Exclusivity and Biosimilar Competition in the United States
In 2010, the federal Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, or BPCIA, was enacted, creating a statutory pathway for licensure, or approval, of biological products that are biosimilar to, and possibly interchangeable with, reference biological products licensed under the Public Health Service Act.
Under the BPCIA, innovator manufacturers of original biological products are granted 12 years of exclusive use after first licensure before biosimilar versions of such products can be licensed for marketing in the United States. This means that the FDA may not approve an application for a biosimilar product that references data in an innovator's Biologics License Application, or BLA, until 12 years after the date of approval of the reference biological product, with a potential six-month extension of exclusivity if certain pediatric studies are conducted and the results are reported to the FDA. A biosimilar application may be submitted four years after the date of licensure of the reference biological product, but the FDA cannot
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approve the application until the full exclusivity period has expired. This 12-year exclusivity period operates independently from other protections that may apply to biosimilar competitors, including patents that are held for those products. Additionally, the BPCIA establishes procedures by which the biosimilar applicant must provide information about its application and product to the reference product sponsor, and by which information about potentially relevant patents is shared and litigation over patents may proceed in advance of approval. The BPCIA also provides a period of exclusivity for the first biosimilar to be determined by the FDA to be interchangeable with the reference product.
Under the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, which was subsequently made applicable to biological products by the BPCIA, the FDA may also issue a Written Request asking a sponsor to conduct pediatric studies related to a particular active moiety; if the sponsor agrees and meets certain requirements, the sponsor may be eligible to receive an additional six months of marketing exclusivity for its drug product containing such active moiety.
Other regulatory exclusivity may be granted to drugs, including, but not limited to, three-year and five-year exclusivity granted to non-biologic drugs under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, also referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments.
Depending upon the timing, duration, and specifics of FDA approval of product candidates, some of a sponsor's United States patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, patent term restoration cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product's approval date. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug product is eligible for the extension and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent.
Foreign regulation of human therapeutics
In addition to regulations in the United States, our subsidiaries, such as PGEN and ActoBio, and our collaborators that are focused on the development of human therapeutic products will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of the products enabled by our technologies. Whether or not the developer obtains FDA approval for a product, they must obtain approval by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries or economic areas, such as the European Union, before they may commence clinical trials or market products in those countries or areas. The approval process and requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from place to place, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval.
Regulation of microbes and microbial products
The use of GMMs, such as our yeast and methanotroph strains, is subject to laws and regulations in many countries. In the United States, the EPA regulates the commercial use of many GMMs as well as potential products produced from GMMs. Various states within the United States could choose to regulate products made with GMMs as well. While the strain of genetically-modified yeast that we use, S. cerevisiae, is eligible for exemption from EPA review because it is generally recognized as safe, we must satisfy certain criteria to achieve this exemption, including, but not limited to, use of compliant containment structures and safety procedures. We expect to encounter GMM regulations in most if not all of the countries in that we may seek to make our products; however, the scope and nature of these regulations will likely vary from country to country. If we cannot meet the applicable requirements in countries in which we intend to produce our products using GMMs, then our business will be adversely affected.
Non-Healthcare Assets and Transition to Our Core Healthcare Business Model
Historically, we focused on programming biological systems for application across a variety of diverse end markets, including health, food, energy, and environment, but we have also consistently evolved the way in which we apply our synthetic biology technologies and the opportunities on which we have focused. In January 2020, we announced that we are increasing our focus on certain of our healthcare opportunities, which reflect our most-advanced platforms, and in connection therewith we divested a number of our non-healthcare assets and changed our name to Precigen, Inc. However, we continue to own our methane bioconversion business and our established bovine genetics company.
Prior to refocusing our business on healthcare, we sought to apply our synthetic biology technologies to a broad universe of markets. In order to operate in such a variety of markets, we built our business around collaborations, such as ECCs and JVs. Over time, we evolved away from entering into new collaborations and considered ways to reorganize our business to best leverage our
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technology assets and focus on the opportunities that we believe are of the most immediate promise. Effective January 1, 2018, we transferred substantially all of our gene and cell therapy assets for human health to a newly-formed wholly owned subsidiary, PGEN, and we consolidated therapeutic applications of our proprietary ActoBiotics platform under ActoBio, another wholly owned subsidiary. In May 2019, we announced the alignment of our operations into two units focused on healthcare and bioengineering in order to better deploy resources, realize inherent synergies and position the company for growth with a core focus on healthcare.
In January 2020, we furthered our plans to enhance our focus on the healthcare industry when we sold a number of our bioengineering assets, or the TS Biotechnology Sale, to TS Biotechnology. Randal J. Kirk, who is the former CEO of Precigen and is currently the Executive Chairman and a member of our board of directors, serves as the Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Third Security and owns 100 percent of the equity interests of Third Security. The assets divested in the TS Biotechnology Sale included our domain name dna.com and all of our equity interests in (1) Blue Marble AgBio LLC, or Blue Marble AgBio, a Delaware limited liability company, that we formed to hold our agricultural biotechnology assets, (2) ILH Holdings, Inc., or ILH Holdings, a Delaware corporation, which housed our yeast fermentation technology platform for the biologic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and other fine chemicals, (3) Intrexon Produce Holdings, Inc., or IPHI, a Delaware corporation, which owns Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc., or Okanagan Specialty Fruits, the agricultural company developing non-browning apple without the use of any artificial additives, (4) Intrexon UK Holdings Inc., or Intrexon UK Holdings, a Delaware corporation, which owns Oxitec, Ltd., or Oxitec, the developer of an insect-based biological control system, (5) Oragenics, which is developing antibiotics against infectious disease and, in collaboration with ActoBio, treatments for oral mucositis, and (6) SH Parent, Inc., or SH Parent, a Delaware corporation, which held our ownership interests in Surterra Holdings, Inc., or Surterra, a cannabinoid-based wellness company. In addition, in January 2020, in a separate transaction, we sold our interest in EnviroFlight, LLC, or EnviroFlight, to Darling. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 3" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for a discussion of the Transactions and the discontinued operations.
Remaining Non-Healthcare Businesses
While our primary focus is in healthcare, after the Transactions we continue to have two non-healthcare businesses: our methane bioconversion business, MBP Titan, LLC, or MBP Titan, and our established bovine genetics company, Trans Ova Genetics, L.C., or Trans Ova.
MBP Titan
MBP Titan is our standalone subsidiary comprising our Methane Bioconversion Platform, or MBP, and our associated technologies, personnel, and facilities. Our MBP is designed to turn natural gas into more valuable and usable energy and chemical products through novel, highly engineered bacteria that utilize specific energy feedstocks. This technology can use pipeline grade natural gas, to synthesize commercial end products, such as isobutanol for gasoline blending, 2,3 Butanediol for conversion to synthetic rubber and 1,4 Butanediol for polyester. Traditional methods of feedstock conversion for fuel production and other materials are costly, wasteful and often come with significant environmental impact. The MBP production method has the potential to transform the generation of drop-in fuels, synthetic rubber, plastic material, and animal feed through less resource intensive and more sustainable approaches than conventional methods. In aggregate, the value of such fuel and chemical products and animal feed are significant, representing the potential of billions of dollars in estimated market opportunity.
We are currently assessing the appropriate next steps with respect to the future of our MBP platform, which could include a financing directly into MBP Titan, or other strategic alternatives. As part of this assessment, we are also considering the future of our joint ventures with Intrexon Energy Partners and Intrexon Energy Partners II.
See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 5" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for a discussion of Intrexon Energy Partners and Intrexon Energy Partners II and other significant collaborations between us and our JVs.
Trans Ova
Trans Ova is internationally recognized as a provider of industry-leading bovine reproductive technologies. Trans Ova offers bovine embryo transfer technologies, in addition to other advanced reproductive technologies, including in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, sexed-semen, genetic preservation and cloning. Through extensive research programs and applied science, Trans Ova has developed and implemented new technologies that, we believe, have helped to move the science of bovine genetic improvement forward. We and Trans Ova are evaluating the optimal means to utilize these technology assets and Trans Ova's broad customer base and deep industry knowledge to maximize the value of the business.
As of December 31, 2019, Trans Ova had 229 production employees. Trans Ova's primary domestic production facilities, including approximately 360 acres of land, are located in Sioux Center, Iowa. The land and facilities are primarily used for our embryo
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transfer and in vitro fertilization processes, as well as housing livestock used in such processes. As of December 31, 2019, Trans Ova also leased or owned regional production facilities and land in California, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington for these purposes.
Competition: Non-Healthcare Assets
Energy Markets
MBP Titan differentiates itself through its use of cellular engineering experience and suite of technologies to develop environmentally-friendly products in the chemical and animal feed industries. While we believe this proprietary platform holds the potential to modernize the existing gas-to-liquids industry by generating important fuels and chemicals at a fraction of the cost of traditional conversion methods, any products MBP Titan develops will still compete with legacy technologies and approaches to fuel production. Many of MBP Titan's competitors in the energy market are significantly larger than MBP Titan and have significantly greater financial, technical and human resource capabilities. Further, MBP Titan is still developing our products and scaling them, while its competitors, who are utilizing more traditional methods, have the benefit of developed processes that are accepted by the market. In addition, there are others, including competitors with better financial, technical, and resources, and more experience, pursuing alternatives fuels as well as companies pursuing technologies based on the conversion of methanotrophs in the energy sector. MBP Titan's ability to compete successfully will depend on its ability to develop and produce products that can be scaled to reach the market in a timely manner and are environmentally superior to and/or are less expensive to produce than other products on the market.
Animal Genetics Market
We believe Trans Ova's focus on continuous research and use of applied science allow Trans Ova to develop and implement new technologies that will help move the science of bovine genetic improvement forward rapidly and differentiate it from its competitors. However, there are a number of companies that compete with Trans Ova, including traditional breeding companies and other companies that use advanced reproductive technologies. These competitors may be larger and have better funding than Trans Ova. In addition, Trans Ova's competitors may be companies that have a predominant focus on developing the newest technologies in animal breeding whereas Trans Ova is one part of our overall strategy. Finally, Trans Ova's competitors that operate using more traditional breeding techniques may enjoy greater market acceptance over Trans Ova, and other companies, that utilize genetic manipulation, semen sorting and cloning techniques.
Energy and Chemical Regulation
The environmental regulations discussed above also govern the development, manufacture and marketing of energy and chemical products. Chemical products produced by us and our collaborators may be subject to government regulations in our target markets. In the United States, the EPA administers the requirements of the TSCA, which regulates the commercial registration, distribution and use of many chemicals. Before an entity can manufacture or distribute significant volumes of a chemical, it needs to determine whether that chemical is listed in the TSCA inventory. If the substance is listed, then manufacture or distribution can commence immediately. If not, then in most cases a "Chemical Abstracts Service" number registration and pre-manufacture notice must be filed with the EPA, which has 90 days to review the filing. A similar requirement exists in Europe under the REACH regulation. Additional regulations may apply to specific subsets of chemicals such as, for example, fuel products that are subject to regulation by various government agencies including, in the United States, the EPA and the California Air Resources Board.
Our Historic Operations
Until the closing of the Transactions, we operated under a strategy that allowed us to focus on our core expertise in synthetic biology while developing many different commercial product candidates via collaborations in a broad range of industries or end markets. We built our business primarily around the formation of ECCs, as well as certain research collaborations. Over time, our strategy has evolved away from ECC-type collaborations to relationships and structures that provided us with more control and ownership over the development process and commercialization path. In these new relationships and structures, we had more of the responsibility to fund the projects and execute on product candidate development. Eventually, we aligned our businesses into two units comprising our healthcare and bioengineering assets, a number of which we sold in early 2020. Some of the key businesses that we divested in connection with our focus on healthcare, include the following operating subsidiaries and JVs:
Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc.
Okanagan is the pioneering agricultural company behind the world's first non-browning apple without the use of any artificial
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additives. Under our control, we worked with Okanagan to scale up its commercial supplies of non-browning apples and to develop new commercial tree fruit varieties intended to provide benefits to the entire supply chain, from growers to consumers. In 2020, we sold Okanagan in the TS Biotechnology Sale.
AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.
AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., or AquaBounty, is a company focused on improving productivity in commercial aquaculture, including the development of the AquAdvantage Salmon, an Atlantic salmon that has been genetically enhanced to reach market size in less time than conventionally farmed Atlantic salmon and approved by the FDA. Until October 2019, AquaBounty was a partially owned subsidiary of ours. In October 2019, we sold our ownership interests held in AquaBounty to an affiliate of Third Security.
EnviroFlight
In February 2016, we entered into a series of transactions involving a predecessor to EnviroFlight, or Old EnviroFlight, Darling, and a newly formed venture between us and Darling, EnviroFlight. This series of integrated transactions resulted in us acquiring substantially all of the assets of Old EnviroFlight and contemporaneously contributing all of these assets, with the exception of certain developed technology, and $3 million of cash to EnviroFlight in exchange for a non-controlling, 50 percent membership interest in EnviroFlight. Our contributions to EnviroFlight included an exclusive license to the developed technology that was retained by us. Darling received the remaining 50 percent membership interest in EnviroFlight as consideration for terminating rights previously held in the developed technology with Old EnviroFlight. EnviroFlight was formed to generate high nutrition, low environmental impact animal and fish feed, as well as fertilizer products, from black soldier fly larvae. On January 2, 2020, we sold all of our interests in EnviroFlight to Darling.
Oxitec Limited
Oxitec is a pioneering company in biological insect control solutions. Oxitec is developing products that use genetic engineering to control insect pests that spread disease and damage crops. Among the applications of its platform, which uses advanced genetics and molecular biology, Oxitec has developed innovative solutions for controlling Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that is a known vector for the transmission of infectious disease including dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika virus and, in conjunction with its collaborators, is pursuing solutions that target certain agricultural crop pests. Oxitec is pursuing regulatory and commercial approvals for its insect solutions in a number of countries, including the United States. In 2020, we sold Oxitec in the TS Biotechnology Sale.
Reportable Segments
Through March 31, 2019, we operated as a single operating segment. In April 2019, in our efforts to better deploy resources and realign our business, our chief operating decision maker, or CODM, began assessing the operating performance of and allocating our resources for several operating segments using Segment Adjusted EBITDA. As of December 31, 2019, taking into account the effect of the Transactions, our reportable segments are (i) PGEN Therapeutics, (ii) ActoBio, (iii) MBP Titan, and (iv) Trans Ova. These identified reportable segments met the quantitative thresholds to be reported separately for the year ended December 31, 2019. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 20" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for a discussion of our reportable segments and Segment Adjusted EBITDA.
Research and Development
As of December 31, 2019, we had 366 research and development employees. We incurred expenses of $101.9 million, $366.2 million and $109.2 million in 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively, on research and development activities for continuing operations. We anticipate that our research and development expenditures could increase as we focus on the healthcare industry and further advance our internally developed programs, including those we reacquired from former collaborators in 2018. As of December 31, 2019, our primary domestic research and development operations were located in laboratory facilities in Germantown, Maryland; South San Francisco, California; and Davis, California; and our primary international research and development operations were located in laboratory facilities in Budapest, Hungary; Ghent, Belgium; Campinas, Brazil; and Oxford, England. In connection with the Transactions, we no longer have research and development facilities in Davis, California; Budapest, Hungary; Campinas, Brazil; and Oxford, England and have reduced our research and development employees to 227 as of February 1, 2020.
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Financial Information
Collaboration revenues, product revenues, service revenues and other revenues and operating income for each of the last three fiscal years, along with assets as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, are set forth in the consolidated financial statements, which are included in Item 8 of this Annual Report. Financial information about geographic areas is set forth in "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 20" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Employees
As of December 31, 2019, we had 770 full-time and 87 part-time employees. As of February 1, 2020, after the closing of the Transactions, we had 601 full-time employees and 79 part-time employees, of which 210 full-time and 18 part-time employees supported healthcare and 391 full-time and 61 part-time employees supported our remaining non-healthcare assets. We consider our employee relations to be good. As we continue to streamline our operations and focus on healthcare, we believe the ratio of healthcare and non-healthcare employees will continue to change, with an expected decrease in the number of employees dedicated to supporting our remaining non-healthcare assets.
Corporate information
We are a Virginia corporation formed in 1998 and our principal executive offices are located at 20374 Seneca Meadows Parkway, Germantown, MD 20876, and our telephone number is (301) 556-9900.
Additional information
Our website is www.precigen.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute part of, and is not deemed to be incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report. We post regulatory filings on this website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. These filings include annual reports on Form 10-K; quarterly reports on Form 10-Q; current reports on Form 8-K; Section 16 reports on Forms 3, 4, and 5; and any amendments to those reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. We also post our press releases on our website. Access to these filings or any of our press releases on our website is available free of charge. Copies are also available, without charge, from Precigen Investor Relations, 20374 Seneca Meadows Parkway, Germantown, Maryland 20876. Reports filed with the SEC may be viewed at www.sec.gov.
In addition, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and charters for the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee are available free of charge to shareholders and the public through the "Corporate Governance" section of our website. Printed copies of the foregoing are available to any shareholder upon written request to our Communications Department at the address set forth on the cover of this Annual Report or may be requested through our website, www.precigen.com.
Item 1A. | Risk Factors |
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this Annual Report, before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. These risks could have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
This Annual Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report. See "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" for information relating to these forward-looking statements.
Risks Related to our Financial Position and Capital Needs
We have a history of net losses, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred net losses since our inception, including net losses attributable to Precigen of $322.3 million, $509.3 million and $117.0 million in 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. As of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.7 billion. We may incur losses and negative cash flow from operating activities for the foreseeable future. Historically, we have derived a significant portion of our revenues from ECCs and license agreements, but revenues of these types will continue to
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decrease as a result of our evolving business model. We no longer expect to receive reimbursement of costs incurred by us for new research and development services other than through existing ECCs, nor will we recognize deferred revenues associated with previously terminated collaborations. In addition, certain of our collaborations and license agreements provide for milestone payments, future royalties, and other forms of contingent consideration, the payment of which are uncertain as they are dependent on our collaborators' abilities and willingness to successfully develop and commercialize product candidates.
As we focus on our healthcare business, we anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if, and as we, continue to advance the preclinical and clinical development of our existing product candidates and our research programs, and there is a significant risk that our product candidates will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, obtain regulatory approval, or become commercially viable. We expect a significant period of time could pass before commercialization of our various product candidates or before the achievement of contractual milestones and the realization of royalties on product candidates commercialized under our collaborations and revenues sufficient to achieve profitability. As a result, our expenses may exceed revenues for the foreseeable future, and we may not achieve profitability. If we fail to achieve profitability, or if the time required to achieve profitability is longer than we anticipate, we may not be able to continue our business. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
We will need substantial additional capital in the future in order to fund our business.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since our inception. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to continue the preclinical and clinical development of our current and future programs. We are and will continue to be dependent on public or private financings, new collaborations or licensing arrangements with strategic partners, or additional debt financing sources to fund continuing operations. We expect our future capital requirements will be substantial and will depend on many factors, including:
• | progress in our research and development programs, as well as the magnitude of these programs; |
• | the timing of regulatory approval of products of our collaborations and operations; |
• | the timing, receipt, and amount of any payments received in connection with strategic transactions; |
• | the timing, receipt, and amount of upfront, milestone, and other payments, if any, from present and future collaborators, if any; |
• | the timing, receipt, and amount of sales and royalties, if any, from our product candidates; |
• | the timing and capital requirements to scale up our various product candidates and service offerings and customer acceptance thereof; |
• | our ability to maintain and establish additional collaborative arrangements and/or new strategic initiatives; |
• | the resources, time, and cost required for the preparation, filing, prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement of our intellectual property portfolio; |
• | strategic mergers and acquisitions, if any, including both the upfront acquisition cost as well as the cost to integrate, maintain, and expand the strategic target; and |
• | the costs associated with legal activities, including litigation, arising in the course of our business activities and our ability to prevail in any such legal disputes. |
If future financings involve the issuance of equity securities, our existing shareholders would suffer further dilution. If we raise additional debt financing, we may be subject to restrictive covenants that limit our ability to conduct our business. We may not be able to raise sufficient additional funds on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise sufficient funds and continue to incur losses, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of strategic opportunities, develop product candidates or technologies, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited. If this happens, we may be forced to delay or terminate research or development programs or the commercialization of product candidates resulting from our technologies, curtail or cease operations or obtain funds through strategic transactions or other collaborative and licensing arrangements that may require us to relinquish commercial rights, or grant licenses on terms that are not
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favorable to us. If adequate funds are not available, we will not be able to successfully execute our business plan or continue our business.
Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flows from our business to pay our substantial debt.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, or to refinance our indebtedness, including the 3.50 percent convertible senior notes due 2023, or Convertible Notes, issued in July 2018, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flows from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flows, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.
The Convertible Notes are our exclusive obligations and are not guaranteed by any of our operating subsidiaries. We believe that a substantial portion of our intrinsic value is represented by assets that are held by our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our ability to service our debt, including the Convertible Notes, depends on the results of operations of our subsidiaries and upon the ability of such subsidiaries to provide us with cash, whether in the form of dividends, loans, or otherwise, to pay amounts due on our obligations, including the Convertible Notes. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to make payments on the Convertible Notes or to make any funds available for that purpose. In addition, dividends, loans or other distributions to us from such subsidiaries may be subject to contractual and other restrictions and are subject to other business considerations.
Despite our current debt levels, we may still incur substantially more debt or take other actions that would intensify the risks discussed above.
Despite our current consolidated debt levels, we and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional debt in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our debt instruments, some of which may be secured debt. We are not restricted under the terms of the indenture governing the Convertible Notes from incurring additional debt, securing existing or future debt, recapitalizing our debt or taking a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the indenture governing the Convertible Notes that could have the effect of diminishing our ability to make payments on the Convertible Notes when due.
Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of our Product Candidates
Our business is dependent on our ability to advance our current and future product candidates through clinical trials, obtain marketing approval, and ultimately commercialize them.
We are early in our development efforts. We initiated our first clinical trial for our lead programs, PRGN-3005 in April 2019, PRGN-3006 in May 2019, and AG019 in October 2018, and currently have a pipeline of preclinical programs. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for several years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of some or all of these product candidates, and any future product candidates we develop, which may never occur. Our current and future product candidates will require additional preclinical or clinical development, management of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, marketing approval in the United States and other jurisdictions, demonstration of effectiveness to pricing and reimbursement authorities, sufficient cGMP manufacturing supply for both preclinical and clinical development and commercial production, building of a commercial organization and substantial investment, and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales.
The clinical and commercial success of our current and future product candidates will depend on several factors, including the following:
• | sufficiency of our financial and other resources to complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
• | timely and successful completion of preclinical studies and our clinical trials; |
• | acceptance of INDs for future product candidates; |
• | successful enrollment in and completion of clinical trials; |
• | successful data from our clinical program that supports an acceptable risk-benefit profile of our product candidates in |
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the intended patient populations;
• | our ability to consistently manufacture our product candidates on a timely basis or to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers; |
• | whether we are required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies beyond those planned or anticipated to support approval of our product candidates; |
• | acceptance of our proposed indications and the primary endpoint assessments evaluated in the clinical trials of our product candidates by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities; |
• | receipt and maintenance of timely marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities; |
• | the successful launch of commercial sales of our product candidates, if approved; |
• | the prevalence, duration and severity of potential side effects or other safety issues experienced with our product candidates, if approved; |
• | entry into collaborations to further the development of our product candidates; |
• | our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection or regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates; |
• | acceptance of the benefits and uses of our product candidates, if approved, by patients, the medical community, and third-party payors; |
• | maintenance of a continued acceptable safety, tolerability and efficacy profile of the product candidates following approval; |
• | our compliance with any post-approval requirements imposed on our products, such as postmarketing studies, a REMS, or additional requirements that might limit the promotion, advertising, distribution or sales of our products or make the products cost prohibitive; |
• | our ability to compete effectively with other therapies; and |
• | our ability to obtain and maintain healthcare coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors. |
These factors, many of which are beyond our control, could cause us to experience significant delays or an inability to obtain regulatory approvals or commercialize our current or future product candidates, and could otherwise materially harm our business. Successful completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials does not mean that any of our current or future product candidates will receive regulatory approval. Even if regulatory approvals are obtained, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our current and any future product candidates, which would materially harm our business. If we are not able to generate sufficient revenue through the sale of any current or future product candidate, we may not be able to continue our business operations or achieve profitability.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time-consuming, and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be materially harmed.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. There can be no assurance that we will not experience problems or delays in developing new product candidates and that such problems or delays will not cause unanticipated costs, or that any such development problems can be solved. We also may experience unanticipated problems or delays in expanding our manufacturing capacity, which may delay or prevent the completion of clinical trials and the commercializing of product candidates on a timely or profitable basis, if at all. For example, we, a collaborator, or another group may uncover a previously unknown risk with any of our product candidates, which may prolong the period of observation required for obtaining regulatory approval, may necessitate additional clinical testing, or may otherwise result in a change in the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates.
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In addition, the clinical trial requirements of the FDA, European Medicines Agency, or EMA, and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use when evaluating product candidates vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty, and intended use and market of such product candidates. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates such as ours can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known, or more extensively studied product candidates. Even if we are successful in developing product candidates, it is difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it will cost to obtain regulatory approvals in either the United States or through foreign agencies or how long it will take to commercialize these product candidates.
Regulatory requirements governing gene and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. For example, the FDA has established the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies and the Division of Cellular and Gene Therapies within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products and has established the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee to advise CBER in its marketing application review process.
We may be unable to obtain FDA approval of our product candidates under applicable regulatory requirements. The denial or delay of any such approval would prevent or delay commercialization of our product candidates and adversely impact our potential to generate revenue, our business, and our results of operations.
To gain approval to market our product candidates in the United States, we must provide the FDA with clinical data that adequately demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency, including efficacy, of the product candidate for the proposed indication or indications in a BLA submission. Product development is a long, expensive, and uncertain process, and delay or failure can occur at any stage of any of our clinical development programs.
The field of gene therapy is still early in development and remains predominantly experimental. The FDA first approved a gene therapy for use in humans in 2017, and to date has only approved a limited number. Clinical trials with gene therapies have encountered a multitude of significant technical problems in the past, including unintended integration with host DNA leading to serious adverse events, poor levels of protein expression, transient protein expression, viral overload, immune reactions to either viral capsids utilized to deliver DNA, DNA itself, proteins expressed or cells transfected with DNA. There can be no assurance that our development efforts will be timely or successful, that we or they will receive the regulatory approvals necessary to initiate clinical trials, where applicable, or that we will ever be able to successfully commercialize a product candidate enabled by our technologies. To the extent that we utilize viral constructs or other systems to deliver gene therapies and the same or similar delivery systems demonstrate unanticipated and/or unacceptable side effects in preclinical or clinical trials conducted by ourselves or others, we may be forced to, or elect to, discontinue development of such product candidates.
Additionally, we are pursuing the development and commercialization of adoptive cell therapies based on CAR T-cell therapies targeting a variety of cancer malignancies. Because this is a newer approach to cancer immunotherapy and cancer treatment generally, developing and commercializing such product candidates subjects us to a number of challenges, including:
• | developing and deploying consistent and reliable processes for engineering a patient's T-cells ex vivo and infusing the engineered T-cells back into the patient; |
• | possibly conditioning patients with chemotherapy in conjunction with delivering each of the potential product candidates, which may increase the risk of adverse side effects of the potential products; |
• | educating medical personnel regarding the potential side effect profile of each of the potential products, such as the potential adverse side effects related to cytokine release; |
• | developing processes for the safe administration of these potential products, including long-term follow-up for all patients who receive the potential products; |
• | sourcing additional clinical and, if approved, commercial supplies for the materials used to manufacture and process the potential products; |
• | developing a manufacturing process and distribution network with a cost of goods that allows for an attractive return on investment; |
• | establishing sales and marketing capabilities after obtaining any regulatory approval required to gain market access and acceptance; |
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• | developing therapies for types of cancers beyond those addressed by the current potential products; |
• | not infringing the intellectual property rights, in particular, the patent rights, of third parties, including competitors developing alternative CAR T-cell therapies; and |
• | avoiding any applicable regulatory barriers to market, such as data and marketing exclusivities held by third parties, including competitors with approved CAR T-cell therapies. |
We cannot be sure that T-cell immunotherapy technologies that we may develop will yield satisfactory products that are safe and effective, scalable, or profitable.
Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. We may incur additional costs and experience delays in developing and commercializing or be unable to develop or commercialize our current and future product candidates.
Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. Results from preclinical studies or previous clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future clinical trial results, and interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired results in clinical development despite demonstrating positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials.
There is a high failure rate for drugs and biologics proceeding through clinical trials and failure may occur at any stage due to a multitude of factors both within and outside our control. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of product candidate development. Any such delays could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If clinical trials result in negative or inconclusive results, we may decide, or regulators may require us, to discontinue trials of the product candidates or conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies.
As an organization, we have limited experience designing and implementing clinical trials and we have never conducted pivotal clinical trials. Failure to adequately design a trial, or incorrect assumptions about the design of the trial, could adversely affect our ability to initiate the trial, enroll patients, complete the trial, or obtain regulatory approval on the basis of the trial results, as well as lead to increased or unexpected costs and delayed timelines.
The design and implementation of clinical trials is a complex process. We have limited experience designing and implementing clinical trials, and we may not successfully or cost-effectively design and implement clinical trials that achieve our desired clinical endpoints efficiently, or at all. A clinical trial that is not well designed may delay or even prevent initiation of the trial, can lead to increased difficulty in enrolling patients, may make it more difficult to obtain regulatory approval for the product candidate on the basis of the study results, or, even if a product candidate is approved, could make it more difficult to commercialize the product successfully or obtain reimbursement from third-party payors. Additionally, a trial that is not well-designed could be inefficient or more expensive than it otherwise would have been, or we may incorrectly estimate the costs to implement the clinical trial, which could lead to a shortfall in funding.
We may find it difficult to enroll patients in clinical trials, which could delay or prevent us from proceeding with clinical trials.
Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to success. The timing of clinical trials depends on the ability to recruit patients to participate as well as completion of required follow-up periods. If patients are unwilling to participate in our clinical studies for any number of reasons, such as because of negative publicity from adverse events related to the biotechnology or gene therapy fields, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval may be delayed. These delays could result in increased costs, delays in advancing product candidates, or termination of the clinical trials altogether.
We may be required to suspend, repeat, or terminate our clinical trials if they are not conducted in accordance with regulatory requirements, or the trials are not well designed.
Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the FDA's current good clinical practices requirements or analogous requirements of applicable foreign regulatory authorities. Clinical trials are subject to oversight by the FDA, other foreign
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governmental agencies and IRBs, or ethical committees at the study sites where the clinical trials are conducted. In addition, clinical trials must be conducted with product candidates manufactured in accordance with applicable cGMP. Clinical trials may be suspended by the FDA, other foreign regulatory authorities, us, or by an IRB or ethics committee with respect to a particular clinical trial site, for various reasons, including:
• | deficiencies in the conduct of the clinical trials, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or study protocols; |
• | deficiencies in the clinical trial operations or trial sites; |
• | unforeseen adverse side effects or the emergence of undue risks to study subjects; |
• | deficiencies in the trial design necessary to demonstrate efficacy; |
• | the product candidate may not appear to offer benefits over current therapies; or |
• | the quality or stability of the product candidate may fall below acceptable standards. |
Cell and gene therapies are novel, complex, and difficult to manufacture.
The manufacturing processes that we use to produce our product candidates for human therapeutics are complex, novel and have not been validated for commercial use. Several factors could cause production interruptions, including equipment malfunctions, facility contamination, raw material shortages or contamination, natural disasters, disruption in utility services, human error, or disruptions in the operations of our suppliers. Our synthetic biology product candidates require processing steps that are more complex than those required for most chemical pharmaceuticals. Moreover, unlike chemical pharmaceuticals, the physical and chemical properties of a biologic often cannot be fully characterized. As a result, assays of the finished product may not be sufficient to ensure that the product will perform in the intended manner. Accordingly, it is necessary to employ multiple steps to control our manufacturing process to assure that the product candidate is made strictly and consistently in compliance with the process. Problems with the manufacturing process, even minor deviations from the normal process, could result in product defects or manufacturing failures that result in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims, or insufficient inventory. We may encounter problems achieving adequate quantities and quality of clinical-grade materials that meet FDA, EMA, or other applicable standards or specifications with consistent and acceptable production yields and costs.
Interim and preliminary results from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit, validation, and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publish interim data, including interim top-line results or preliminary results from our clinical trials. Interim data and results from our clinical trials are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or top-line results also remain subject to audit, validation, and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim and preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data may not be predictive of final results and should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects and may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their clinical development, delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences.
There have been several significant adverse side effects in gene therapy treatments in the past, including reported cases of leukemia and death seen in other trials. While new approaches have been developed to reduce these side effects, gene therapy and synthetic biology therapy in general is still a relatively new approach to disease treatment and additional adverse side effects could develop. There also is the potential risk of delayed adverse events following exposure to these product candidates due to persistent biologic activity of the genetic material or other components of products used to carry the genetic material.
Other possible adverse side effects that could occur with treatment using cell and gene therapy products include an immunologic reaction early after administration that, while not necessarily adverse to the patient's health, could substantially limit the effectiveness of the treatment. In previous clinical trials involving adeno-associated virus, vectors for gene therapy,
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some subjects experienced the development of a T-cell response, whereby after the vector is within the target cell, the cellular immune response system triggers the removal of transduced cells by activated T-cells. If a similar effect occurs with our product candidates, we may decide or be required to halt or delay further clinical development of our product candidates.
Additionally, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, the FDA could require us to adopt a REMS to ensure that the benefits outweigh its risks, which may include, among other things, a medication guide outlining the risks of the product for distribution to patients and a communication plan to healthcare practitioners. Such requirements could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of our product candidates and could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.
Even if we complete the necessary clinical trials, we cannot predict when, or if, we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize a product candidate and the approval may be for a more narrow indication than we seek.
We cannot commercialize a product candidate until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Even where product candidates meet their endpoints in clinical trials, the regulatory authorities may approve a product candidate for more limited indications than requested or they may impose significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings or a REMS. These regulatory authorities may require precautions or contra-indications with respect to conditions of use or they may grant approval subject to the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials. In addition, regulatory authorities may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
We have chosen to prioritize development of certain of our product candidates, including PRGN-3005 and PRGN-3006. We may expend our limited resources on product candidates or indications that do not yield a successful product and fail to capitalize on other opportunities for which there may be a greater likelihood of success or may be more profitable.
Because we have limited resources, we are required to strategically prioritize our application of resources to particular development efforts. Any resources we expend on one or more of these efforts could be at the expense of other potentially profitable opportunities. If we focus our efforts and resources on one or more of these opportunities or markets and they do not lead to commercially viable products, our revenues, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Risks Related to the Commercialization of Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters
Even if a current or future product candidate receives marketing approval, it may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.
Ethical, social, and legal concerns about gene and cell therapies could result in additional regulations restricting or prohibiting our product candidates. Even with the requisite approvals from the FDA in the United States, the EMA in the European Union, and other regulatory authorities internationally, the commercial success of product candidates will depend, in part, on the acceptance of physicians, patients, and healthcare payors, as medically necessary, cost-effective, and safe. Public perception may be influenced by claims that gene and cell therapies are unsafe, and any product candidate that we commercialize may not gain acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors, and others in the medical community. In particular, our success will depend upon appropriate physicians prescribing treatments that involve the use of our product candidates in lieu of, or in addition to, existing treatments they are already familiar with and for which greater clinical data may be available. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue to make the products profitable.
Delays in obtaining regulatory approval of manufacturing processes and facilities or disruptions in manufacturing processes may delay or disrupt our commercialization efforts.
Before we can begin to commercially manufacture our product candidates for human therapeutics, we must obtain regulatory approval from the FDA for the applicable manufacturing process and facility. This likely will require the manufacturing facility to pass a pre-approval inspection by the FDA. A manufacturing authorization must also be obtained from the appropriate European Union regulatory authorities.
In order to obtain FDA approval, we will need to ensure that all of the processes, methods, and equipment are compliant with cGMP and perform extensive audits of vendors, contract laboratories, and suppliers. If any of our vendors, contract laboratories
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or suppliers is found to be out of compliance with cGMP, we may experience delays or disruptions in manufacturing while we work with these third parties to remedy the violation(s) or while we work to identify suitable replacement vendors. The cGMP requirements govern, among other things, quality control of the manufacturing process, raw materials, containers/closures, buildings and facilities, equipment, storage and shipment, labeling, laboratory activities, data integrity, documentation policies and procedures, and returns. In complying with cGMP, we will be obligated to expend time, money, and effort in production, record keeping, and quality control to assure that the product meets applicable specifications and other requirements. If we fail to comply with these requirements, we would be subject to possible regulatory action that could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows, including the inability to sell any products that we may develop.
Even if we receive marketing approval of a product candidate, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. If we fail to comply or experience unanticipated problems with our products, we may be subject to administrative and judicial enforcement, including monetary penalties, for non-compliance and our approved products, if any, could be deemed misbranded or adulterated and prohibited from continued distribution.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, these candidates will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, and submission of safety and other post-market information. Regulatory approvals also may be subject to a REMS, limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the quality, safety and efficacy of the product. For example, the holder of an approved BLA is obligated to monitor and report adverse events and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the BLA. The FDA guidance advises that patients treated with some types of gene therapy undergo follow-up observations for potential adverse events for as long as 15 years. The holder of an approved BLA also must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and are subject to FDA review, in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws.
If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements following approval of any of our product candidates, a regulatory authority may take adverse actions, which include, among other things, a range of sanctions from issuing a warning letter, monetary penalties, or causing us to withdraw the product from the market.
In addition, the FDA's policies, and those of equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature, or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain marketing approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining marketing approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the marketing approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing, and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.
We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign marketing approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets or fail to receive applicable marketing approvals,
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our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.
The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which third-party payors, including governmental authorities and private health insurers, provide coverage and adequate reimbursement levels, as well as implement pricing policies favorable for our product candidates. Failure to obtain or maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved, could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.
The availability of coverage and adequacy of reimbursement by third-party payors, including managed care plans, governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid and private health insurers is essential for most patients to be able to afford medical services and pharmaceutical products such as our product candidates that receive FDA approval. Our ability to achieve acceptable levels of coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates or procedures using our product candidates by third-party payors will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates may be particularly difficult because of the higher prices often associated with drugs administered under the supervision of a physician. Separate reimbursement for the product itself or the treatment or procedure in which our product candidate is used may not be available. A decision by a third-party payor not to cover or not to separately reimburse for our product candidates or procedures using our product candidates could reduce physician utilization of our products once approved. Assuming there is coverage for our product candidates, or procedures using our product candidates by a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement in the United States, the European Union, or elsewhere will be available for our current or future product candidates, or for any procedures using such product candidates, and any reimbursement that may become available may not be adequate or may be decreased or eliminated in the future.
There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly-approved products. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are increasingly used as models in the United States for how private third-party payors and other governmental payors develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs and biologics. Some third-party payors may require pre-approval of coverage for new or innovative devices or drug therapies before they will reimburse healthcare providers who use such therapies. We cannot predict at this time what third-party payors will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates.
No uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for products exist among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our product candidates to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. Furthermore, rules and regulations regarding reimbursement change frequently, in some cases on short notice, and we believe that changes in these rules and regulations are likely.
Moreover, increasing efforts by third-party payors in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our product candidates. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our product candidates due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and biologics and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products.
Our business may be adversely affected by current and potential future healthcare reforms.
In the U.S., federal and state legislatures, health agencies and third-party payors continue to focus on containing the cost of health care. Legislative and regulatory proposals and enactments to reform health care insurance programs could significantly influence the manner in which our product candidates, if approved, are prescribed and purchased. For example, the Affordable Care Act has changed the way health care is paid for by both governmental and private insurers, including increased rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs, the requirement that manufacturers participate in a discount program for certain outpatient drugs under Medicare Part D and the expansion of the number of hospitals eligible for discounts under Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act. In addition, there have been efforts by the Trump Administration to repeal or replace certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act and to alter the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and related laws. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted on December 22, 2017, eliminated the tax-based shared responsibility payment for individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage under section 5000A of the Code, commonly referred to as the "individual mandate,"
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effective January 1, 2019. Further, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, among other things, amended the Medicare statute to reduce the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly known as the "donut hole," by raising the required manufacturer point-of-sale discount from 50% to 70% off the negotiated price effective as of January 1, 2019. Further legislative changes, regulatory changes, and judicial challenges related to the Affordable Care Act remain possible.
There is also significant economic pressure on state budgets that may result in states increasingly seeking to achieve budget savings through mechanisms that limit coverage or payment for certain drugs. In recent years, some states have considered legislation and ballot initiatives that would control the prices of drugs, including laws to allow importation of pharmaceutical products from lower cost jurisdictions outside the U.S. and laws intended to impose price controls on state drug purchases. State Medicaid programs are increasingly requesting manufacturers to pay supplemental rebates and requiring prior authorization by the state program for use of any drug for which supplemental rebates are not being paid. Government efforts to reduce Medicaid expenses may lead to increased use of managed care organizations by Medicaid programs. This may result in managed care organizations influencing prescription decisions for a larger segment of the population and a corresponding constraint on prices and reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved. In addition, under the Affordable Care Act, as states implement their health care marketplaces or operate under the federal exchange, the impact on drug manufacturers will depend in part on the formulary and benefit design decisions made by insurance sponsors or plans participating in these programs.
We cannot predict the likelihood, nature, or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States. It is possible that we may need to provide discounts or rebates to such plans in order to maintain favorable formulary access for our future product candidates, if approved, which could have an adverse impact on our sales and results of operations. In addition, if we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our product candidates may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained.
Our relationships with customers, third-party payors, and others may be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens and diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include, but are not limited to, the following:
• | the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits persons from, among other things, knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, the referral of an individual for the furnishing or arranging for the furnishing, or the purchase, lease or order, or arranging for or recommending purchase, lease or order, or any good or service for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid; |
• | the federal civil False Claims Act, which imposes liability, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government; |
• | HIPAA's fraud provisions, which impose criminal liability for knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a health care offense, or knowingly and willfully making false statements relating to healthcare matters; |
• | HIPAA generally, which also imposes obligations on certain covered entity health care providers, health plans and health care clearinghouses as well as their business associates that perform certain services involving the use or disclosure of individually identifiable health information, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information; |
• | the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act, being implemented as the Open Payments Program, which requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, |
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Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to CMS information related to direct or indirect payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held in the company by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and transfers of value provided to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives; and
• | analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers; state and foreign laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry's voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers in those jurisdictions; state and foreign laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; some states also prohibit certain marketing-related activities including the provision of gifts, meals, or other items to certain health care providers, and others restrict the ability of manufacturers to offer co-pay support to patients for certain prescription drugs; other states and cities require identification or licensing of sales representatives; and state and foreign laws that govern the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. |
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Although compliance programs can help mitigate the risk of investigations and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be eliminated entirely. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations.
Defending against actions or investigations for violations of these laws and regulations, even if ultimately successful, will incur significant legal expenses and divert management's attention from the operation of our business.
We may incur significant costs complying with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, and failure to comply with these laws and regulations could expose us to significant liabilities.
We use hazardous chemicals and radioactive and biological materials in our business, including in MBP Titan and Trans Ova, and are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the use, generation, manufacture, transportation, storage, handling, disposal of, and human exposure to these materials both in the United States and overseas, including regulation by governmental regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the EPA. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures and other costs in the ordinary course of our business in complying with these laws and regulations. Although we maintain workers' compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological or hazardous materials.
We are subject to certain U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.
Among other matters, U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations, which are collectively referred to as Trade Laws, prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting, or receiving directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector.
Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We also expect our non-U.S. activities to increase in time. Additionally, in many other countries, the healthcare providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are
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government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or FCPA. We plan to engage third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals and we can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents, or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior knowledge of such activities. In particular, our operations will be subject to FCPA, which prohibits, among other things, U.S. companies and their employees and agents from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to foreign government officials, employees of public international organizations and foreign government-owned or affiliated entities, candidates for foreign political office, and foreign political parties or officials thereof. Recently, the SEC and Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents, suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws.
Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions, including imprisonment, against us, our officers, or our employees, the closing down of facilities, including those of our suppliers and manufacturers, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs, debarment, reputational harm, prohibitions on the conduct of our business, and other consequences. Any such violations could also result in prohibitions on our ability to offer our product candidates in one or more countries as well as difficulties in manufacturing or continuing to develop our product candidates, and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our ability to attract and retain employees and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Risks Related to our Business Operations and Strategy
Our efforts to realign our business and divest assets may not be successful and could increase our capital requirements, increase our costs, or otherwise harm our operating results and financial condition.
Our business strategy has evolved, and continues to evolve, toward relationships and structures that provide us with more control and ownership over the development process and commercialization path. This approach entails risks in implementation and operations and there is no guarantee that it will be successful. Furthermore, our focus on a healthcare-oriented business strategy will require additional capital beyond what we have available, and we may incur costs associated with the implementation and execution of our changing business strategy. In addition, as we perform our annual impairment tests, we will evaluate the impact of changes in our business strategy and, as a result, may incur impairment charges and write-offs and other related expenses, any of which, if material, could harm our operating results and financial condition. Market changes and changes in judgments, assumptions, and estimates that we have made in assessing the fair value of goodwill could cause us to consider some portion or all of certain assets to become impaired, which could adversely impact our financial condition. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we also recorded a noncash charge of $29.8 million which arose from the impairment of goodwill, primarily related to a write down of the enterprise value of Trans Ova.
In January 2020, we announced and completed a sale of the majority of our bioengineering assets to TS Biotechnology. We simultaneously announced that Intrexon EF Holdings, Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary, sold its 50 percent membership interest in EnviroFlight. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded a loss on discontinued operations of $116.2 million related to the sale of these assets. We cannot provide any assurances that these recent, or any future, divestitures will achieve the business goals we expect. In addition, any future divestiture activities may present financial and operational risks, including the (1) diversion of management attention from existing core businesses, (2) the challenges associated with separating personnel and financial and other systems, including impaired employee relations, and (3) inefficiencies or increased costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Finally, as we continue our efforts to focus our business and generate additional capital, we may be willing to enter into transactions involving one or more of our remaining operating segments and reporting units for which we record impairment charges related to the write off of goodwill and intangible assets.
We rely on third parties, including through collaborations, to develop and commercialize some of our product candidates. Markets in which our collaborators are developing product candidates using our technologies are subject to extensive regulation, and we rely on our collaborators to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
We have entered, and may in the future enter into collaboration arrangements to develop product candidates enabled by our technologies. There can be no guarantee that we can successfully manage these relationships. If our collaborators are not able to successfully develop the product candidates enabled by our technologies, none of these enabled product candidates will become commercially available, and we will receive no back-end payments under these arrangements. Some of our existing collaborators do not themselves have the resources necessary to commercialize product candidates, and they in turn will need to
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rely on additional sources of financing or third-party collaborations. We may be asked to, or choose to, invest additional funds in these collaborators so that they can execute on their business plans. If we fail to invest such additional funds, the collaborator may not have sufficient capital to continue operations. In addition, we typically have limited or no control over the amount or timing of resources that any collaborator is able or willing to devote to developing product candidates or collaborative efforts. Any of our collaborators may fail to perform its obligations. Our collaborators may breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully and in a timely manner.
Our technologies are used in product candidates that are subject to extensive regulation by governmental authorities. We depend on our collaborators to comply with these laws and regulations with respect to product candidates they produce using our technologies, and we do not independently monitor whether our collaborators comply with applicable laws and regulations. If our collaborators fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we are subject to substantial financial and operating risks because, in addition to our own compliance, we also depend on our collaborators to produce the end products enabled by our technologies for sale.
We have previously entered into strategic collaborations, which we may fail to successfully manage, or from which disputes may arise.
We have previously entered into strategic collaborations, including ECCs and JVs, to develop products enabled by our technologies. There can be no guarantee that we can successfully manage these relationships, as they involve complex interests and our interests and our collaborators' interests may diverge, including as we transition away from, or terminate, strategic collaborations. In some cases, our strategic collaborations have resulted in disagreements and disputes with our current and former collaborators regarding the relative rights, obligations, and revenues of us and our collaboration partners. In addition, we remain susceptible to future additional disagreements and disputes with any of our current or future collaborators. Disagreements and disputes may result in litigation, unfavorable settlements or concessions by us, or management distraction, that could harm our business operations.
We rely on our subsidiaries, our collaborators, and other third parties to deliver timely and accurate information in order to accurately report our financial results in the time frame and manner required by law.
We need to receive timely, accurate, and complete information from a number of third parties in order to accurately report our financial results on a timely basis. We rely on our subsidiaries and certain collaborators to provide us with complete and accurate information regarding revenues, expenses, and payments owed to or by us on a timely basis. In addition, we intend to rely on current and future collaborators under our collaboration agreements and JVs to provide us with product sales and cost saving information in connection with royalties, if any, owed to us. If the information that we receive is not accurate, our consolidated financial statements may be materially incorrect and may require restatement, and we may not receive the full amount of consideration to which we are entitled under our collaboration agreements or JVs. Although we have audit rights with these parties, performing such an audit could be expensive and time consuming and may not be adequate to reveal any discrepancies in a timeframe consistent with our reporting requirements. In the future, we may need to consolidate the financial statements of one or more other collaborators into our consolidated financial statements. Although we have contractual rights to receive information and certifications allowing us to do this, such provisions may not ensure that we receive information that is accurate or timely. As a result, we may have difficulty completing accurate and timely financial disclosures, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
A portion of our business is conducted by JVs that we cannot operate solely for our benefit.
In JVs, we share ownership and management of a company with one or more parties who may not have the same goals, strategies, priorities, or resources as we do and may compete with us outside the JV. JVs are intended to be operated for the benefit of all JV partners, rather than for our exclusive benefit. Operating a business as a JV often requires additional organizational formalities as well as time-consuming procedures for sharing information and making decisions. In JVs we are required to foster our relationships with our JV partners as well as promote the overall success of the JV, and if a JV partner changes or relationships deteriorate, our success in the JV may be materially adversely affected. The benefits from a successful JV are shared among the JV partners, so we do not receive all the benefits from our successful JVs. Moreover, as a partial owner of a JV, we are exposed to potential risks and liabilities that we do not face when we enter into collaboration with an independent third party.
We may be sued for product liability.
We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human trials and may face greater risk if we commercialize any products that we develop. Product liability claims may be brought against us by
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subjects enrolled in our trials, patients, healthcare providers or others using, administering, or selling our products.
Additionally, each of our collaborations requires the collaborator to indemnify us for liability related to products produced pursuant to the collaboration and to obtain insurance coverage related to product liability in amounts considered standard for the industry. We believe that these industry-standard coverage amounts range from $10 million to $40 million in the aggregate. Even so, we may be named in product liability suits relating to products that are produced by our collaborators using our technologies. These claims could be brought by various parties, including other companies who purchase products from us or our collaborators or by the end users of the products.
We cannot guarantee that our collaborators will not breach the indemnity and insurance coverage provisions of the collaboration. Further, insurance coverage is expensive and may be difficult to obtain, and may not be available to us or to our collaborators in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. We cannot assure you that we or our collaborators will have adequate insurance coverage against potential claims. In addition, although we currently maintain product liability insurance for our technologies in amounts we believe to be commercially reasonable. If the coverage limits of these insurance policies are not adequate, a claim brought against us, whether covered by insurance or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows or even cause us to go out of business.
Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
• | reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; |
• | decreased demand for products enabled by our technologies; |
• | injury to our or our collaborators' reputations and significant negative media attention; |
• | withdrawal of clinical trial participants; |
• | initiation of investigations by regulators; |
• | product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions; |
• | significant costs to defend resulting litigation; |
• | substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients; |
• | loss of revenue; and |
• | the inability to commercialize any products using our technologies. |
The livestock products of our operating subsidiaries are subject to disease outbreaks that can increase the cost of production and/or reduce production harvests, and the loss of existing livestock would result in the loss of commercial technology.
Several of the products of our operating subsidiaries, including Trans Ova and Exemplar, are subject to periodic outbreaks of a variety of diseases. Although these companies take measures to protect their stock, there can be no assurance that a disease will not damage or destroy existing livestock. The economic impact of disease to our subsidiaries' production systems can be significant, as farmers must incur the cost of preventive measures, such as vaccines and antibiotics, and then if infected, the cost of lost or reduced production.
The markets in which we are developing candidate products using our technologies are highly competitive. Competitors and potential competitors may develop products and technologies that make ours obsolete or garner greater market share than ours.
While we believe that our novel approach to developing the next generation of gene and cell therapies to target the most urgent and intractable challenges in immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases provides us with competitive advantages, our industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resource capabilities than we do, and certain of our competitors may also benefit from local government subsidies and other incentives that are not available to us. In addition, mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. As a result of the resources available to our competitors, our
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competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes, and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time than we can. The availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payors will also significantly affect the pricing and competitiveness of our products. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.
Our lead product candidates include PRGN-3005 for the treatment of ovarian cancer and PRGN-3006 for the treatment of AML, which are built on our UltraCAR-T platform. While we are employing a novel approach, there are a number of competitors pursuing CAR-T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. We believe that Bristol-Myers Squibb and MaxCyte are developing CAR-T based treatments for ovarian cancer and Celyad, Mustang Bio, MolMed, Amgen (Gilead/Kite partnership), Cellectis S.A., and Allogene Therapeutics are also using CAR-T technology to develop product candidates for the treatment of AML. The CAR-T technology space also has significant other competition including from multiple companies and their collaborators, such as Novartis and University of Pennsylvania, Gilead, Adaptimmune and GSK, Autolus Therapeutics, and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. We also face competition from non-cell based cancer treatments offered by other companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Incyte, Merck, and Roche.
We are also using our suite of proprietary and complementary technologies for the preclinical and clinical development of product candidates for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, including T1D. We believe that our primary competitors with respect to the development of immunotherapies for T1D are Caladrius BioSciences, Midatech Pharma, and MerciaPharma.
While we believe the proprietary platform of our MBP Titan, our subsidiary developing environmentally-friendly products in the chemical and animal feed industries, holds the potential to modernize the existing gas-to-liquids industry, any products MBP Titan develops will still compete with incumbent technologies and approaches to fuel production, many of whom have the benefit of developed products that are accepted by the market. Many of MBP Titan's competitors in the energy market are significantly larger than MBP Titan and have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resource capabilities. MBP Titan's ability to compete successfully will depend on its ability to develop and produce products that can be scaled to reach the market in a timely manner and are environmentally superior to and/or are less expensive than other products on the market.
There are a number of companies that compete with our subsidiary Trans Ova, including traditional breeding companies and other companies that use advanced reproductive technologies. These competitors may be larger and have better funding than Trans Ova. Trans Ova's competitors may also be companies that have a predominant focus on developing the newest technologies in animal breeding whereas Trans Ova is one part to our overall strategy. Trans Ova's competitors that operate using more traditional breeding techniques may enjoy greater market acceptance over Trans Ova, and other companies, that utilize genetic manipulation, semen sorting and cloning techniques.
Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies that can be used to produce products that reach the market in a timely manner and are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than other products on the market. As more companies develop new intellectual property in our markets, a competitor could acquire patent or other rights that may limit products using our technologies, which could lead to litigation. To the extent that any of our competitors are more successful with respect to any key competitive factor or we are forced to reduce, or are unable to raise, the price of any products enabled by our technologies in order to remain competitive, our operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
If we lose key personnel, including key management personnel, or are unable to attract and retain additional personnel, it could delay our product development programs, harm our research and development efforts, and we may be unable to continue to commercialize our product candidates.
Our business involves complex operations and requires a management team and employee workforce that is knowledgeable in the many areas in which we operate. The loss of any key members of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, Helen Sabzevari Ph.D., or our Executive Chairman, Randal J. Kirk, or the failure to attract or retain other key employees who possess the requisite expertise for the conduct of our business, could prevent us from developing and commercializing our product candidates for our target markets and entering into collaborations or licensing arrangements to execute on our business strategy.
In addition, the loss of any key scientific staff, or the failure to attract or retain other key scientific employees, could prevent us from developing our technologies for our target markets or from further developing and commercializing our products and services offerings to execute on our business strategy. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified employees in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, synthetic biology and other technology-based businesses, or due to the unavailability of personnel with the qualifications or experience necessary for our business. If we are
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not able to attract and retain the necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience staffing constraints that will adversely affect our ability to support our internal research and development programs or meet other demands.
We have had a number of executive officers depart from our Company over the last several years and we continually evaluate our leadership structure. For instance, effective January 1, 2020, our Board appointed Dr. Sabzevari, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kirk, our previous Chief Executive Officer, remains an employee under the new position of Executive Chairman and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board. As with any leadership changes, our past or future changes could lead to strategic and operational challenges and uncertainties, distractions of management from other key initiatives, inefficiencies or increased costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We depend on sophisticated information technology and infrastructure.
We rely on various information systems to manage our operations. These systems are complex and include software that is internally developed, software licensed from third parties, and hardware purchased from third parties. These products may contain internal errors or defects, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. Failure of these systems could have an adverse effect on our business, which in turn may materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
If we experience a significant breach of data security or disruption in our information systems, our business could be adversely affected.
We rely on various information systems to manage our operations and to store information, including sensitive data such as confidential business information and personally identifiable information. These systems have been and could continue to be vulnerable to interruption or malfunction, including due to events beyond our control, and to unauthorized access, computer hackers, ransomware, viruses, and other security problems. Failure of these systems or any significant breach of our data security could have an adverse effect on our business and may materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
Data security breaches could result in loss or misuse of information, which could, in turn, result in potential regulatory actions or litigation, including material claims for damages, compelled compliance with breach notification laws, interruption to our operations, damage to our reputation or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Companies throughout our industry have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to networks or sensitive information. While we have implemented and continue to implement cybersecurity safeguards and procedures, these safeguards have been vulnerable to attack. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to enhance our cybersecurity measures or to investigate or remediate any vulnerabilities or breaches.
Although we maintain insurance to protect ourselves in the event of a breach or disruption of our information systems, we cannot ensure that the coverage is adequate to compensate for any damages that may be incurred.
We have international operations and assets and may have additional international operations and assets in the future. Our international operations and assets may be subject to various economic, social, and governmental risks.
Our international operations and any future international operations may expose us to risks that could negatively impact our future results. Our operations may not develop in the same way or at the same rate as might be expected in a country with an economy similar to the United States. The additional risks that we may be exposed to in these cases include, but are not limited to:
• | tariffs and trade barriers; |
• | currency fluctuations, which could decrease our revenues or increase our costs in United States dollars; |
• | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
• | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws; |
• | limited access to qualified staff; |
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• | inadequate infrastructure; |
• | cultural and language differences; |
• | inadequate banking systems; |
• | different and/or more stringent environmental laws and regulations; |
• | restrictions on the repatriation of profits or payment of dividends; |
• | disease outbreaks, environmental catastrophes, crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks or wars; |
• | nationalization or expropriation of property; |
• | law enforcement authorities and courts that are weak or inexperienced in commercial matters; and |
• | deterioration of political relations among countries. |
Additionally, we are exposed to risks associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We present our consolidated financial statements in United States dollars. Our international subsidiaries have assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the United States dollar. Future expenses and revenues of our international subsidiaries are expected to be denominated in currencies other than in United States dollars. Therefore, movements in exchange rates to translate from foreign currencies may have an impact on our reported results of operations, financial position, and cash flows.
We may pursue strategic acquisitions and investments that could have an adverse impact on our business if they are unsuccessful.
We have made acquisitions in the past and, if appropriate opportunities become available, we may acquire additional businesses, assets, technologies, or products to enhance our business in the future. In connection with any future acquisitions, we could:
• | issue additional equity securities, which would dilute our current shareholders; |
• | incur substantial debt to fund the acquisitions; or |
• | assume significant liabilities. |
Although we conduct due diligence reviews of our acquisition targets, such processes may fail to reveal significant liabilities. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:
• | problems integrating the purchased operations, facilities, technologies, or products; |
• | unanticipated costs and other liabilities; |
• | the potential disruption of our ongoing business and diversion of management resources; |
• | adverse effects on existing business relationships with current and/or prospective collaborators, customers and/or suppliers; |
• | unanticipated expenses related to the acquired operations; |
• | risks associated with entering markets in which we have no or limited prior experience; |
• | potential unknown liabilities associated with the acquired business and technology; |
• | potential liabilities related to litigation involving the acquired companies; |
• | potential periodic impairment of goodwill and intangible assets acquired; and |
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• | potential loss of key employees or potential inability to retain, integrate, and motivate key personnel. |
We cannot be certain that any acquisition will be successful or that we will realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. In particular, we may not be able to realize the strategic and operational benefits and objectives we had anticipated.
Acquisitions also may require us to record goodwill and non-amortizable intangible assets that will be subject to impairment testing on a regular basis and potential periodic impairment charges, incur amortization expenses related to certain intangible assets, and incur large and immediate write-offs and restructuring and other related expenses, all of which could harm our operating results and financial condition. In addition, we may acquire companies that have insufficient internal financial controls, which could impair our ability to integrate the acquired company and adversely impact our financial reporting. If we fail in our integration efforts with respect to any of our acquisitions and are unable to efficiently operate as a combined organization, our business, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
We may encounter difficulties managing our growth, which could adversely affect our business.
Currently, we are working simultaneously on multiple projects targeting a handful of industries. We currently operate subsidiaries in the energy and animal genetics markets, and continue to increase our focus on our healthcare business. These diversified operations place increased demands on our limited resources and require us to substantially expand the capabilities of our administrative and operational resources and to attract, train, manage, and retain qualified management, technicians, scientists, and other personnel. If our operations expand domestically and internationally, we will need to continue to manage multiple locations and additional relationships with various customers, collaborators, suppliers, and other third parties. Our ability to manage our operations, growth, and various projects effectively will require us to make additional investments in our infrastructure to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, and our reporting systems and procedures and to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees, which we may be unable to do effectively. As a result, we may be unable to manage our expenses in the future, which may negatively impact our gross margins or operating margins in any particular quarter. In addition, we may not be able to successfully improve our management information and control systems, including our internal control over financial reporting, to a level necessary to manage our growth.
Certain of our subsidiaries, including MBP Titan and Trans Ova, operate in industries that are not a part of our core business, and require additional resources and capital.
We anticipate incurring significant costs associated with advancing our production opportunities through MBP Titan and Trans Ova. We may never succeed in advancing our non-healthcare assets and, even if we do, we may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Alternatively, we may choose to divert the necessary capital and resources from further developing our non-healthcare assets in order to focus on our core healthcare business. The failure of our subsidiaries, including MBP Titan and Trans Ova, to become and remain profitable may decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business, or continue our operations.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the Convertible Notes in cash or to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the Convertible Notes.
Holders of Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their Convertible Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. In addition, upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Convertible Notes being converted. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Convertible Notes surrendered therefor or Convertible Notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Convertible Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Convertible Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Convertible Notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture. A default under the indenture or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Convertible Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.
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The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert the Convertible Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Convertible Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Convertible Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
The accounting for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as the Convertible Notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.
In May 2008, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued FASB Staff Position No. APB 14-1, Accounting for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash Upon Conversion (Including Partial Cash Settlement), which has subsequently been codified as Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Subtopic 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options, or ASC 470-20. Under ASC 470-20, an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of the convertible debt instruments (such as the Convertible Notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer's economic interest cost. The effect of ASC 470-20 on the accounting for the Convertible Notes is that the equity component is required to be included in the additional paid-in capital section of shareholders' equity on our consolidated balance sheet, and the value of the equity component would be treated as original issue discount for purposes of accounting for the debt component of the Convertible Notes. As a result, we record a greater amount of noncash interest expense in current periods presented as a result of the amortization of the discounted carrying value of the Convertible Notes to their face amount over the term of the Convertible Notes. We report lower net income in our financial results because ASC 470-20 requires interest to include both the current period's amortization of the debt discount and the instrument's coupon interest, which could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our common stock and the trading price of the Convertible Notes.
In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the Convertible Notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash are currently accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of the Convertible Notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued. We cannot be sure that the accounting standards in the future will continue to permit the use of the treasury stock method. If we are unable to use the treasury stock method in accounting for the shares issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, then our diluted earnings per share would be adversely affected.
We use estimates in determining the fair value of certain assets and liabilities. If new information or changes in circumstances negatively impact our estimates, we may be required to write down the value of these assets or write up the value of these liabilities, which could adversely affect our financial position.
Our ability to measure and report our financial position and operating results is influenced by the need to estimate the impact or outcome of future events on the basis of information available at the time of the financial statements. An accounting estimate is considered critical if it requires that management make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate was made. If actual results differ from management's judgments and assumptions, then they may have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.
Fair value is estimated based on a hierarchy that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs. Observable inputs are inputs that reflect the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the reporting entity's own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. The fair value hierarchy prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques into three broad levels whereby the highest priority is given to Level 1 inputs and the lowest to Level 3 inputs.
Valuations are highly dependent upon the reasonableness of management's assumptions and the predictability of the relationships that drive the results of our valuation methodologies. Because of the inherent unpredictability in the future
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performance of the investments requiring Level 3 valuations, we may be required to adjust the value of certain assets, which could adversely affect our financial position.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of December 31, 2019, we had net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $568.8 million for United States federal income tax purposes available to offset future taxable income, including $316.1 million generated after 2017, United States capital loss carryforwards of $111.6 million, and United States federal and state research and development tax credits of $9.6 million, prior to consideration of annual limitations that may be imposed under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or Section 382. Net operating loss carryforwards generated prior to 2018 begin to expire in 2022, and capital loss carryforwards will expire if unutilized by 2024. As a result of our past issuances of stock, as well as due to prior mergers and acquisitions, certain of our net operating losses have been subject to limitations pursuant to Section 382. As of December 31, 2019, we had utilized all net operating losses subject to Section 382 limitations, other than those losses inherited via acquisitions. As of December 31, 2019, approximately $42.1 million of domestic net operating losses were acquired via acquisition and are limited based on the value of the target at the time of the transaction. Future changes in stock ownership may also trigger an ownership change and, consequently, a Section 382 limitation. As of December 31, 2019, our direct foreign subsidiaries included in continuing operations had foreign loss carryforwards of approximately $72.8 million, most of which do not expire.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or Tax Act, introduced certain limitations on utilization of losses that are generated after 2017, generally limiting utilization of those losses to 80 percent of future annual taxable income. However, net operating losses generated after 2017 will generally have an indefinite carryforward period.
Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
Our ability to compete may decline if we do not adequately protect our proprietary technologies or if we lose some of our intellectual property rights through costly litigation or administrative proceedings.
Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property in the United States and abroad for our suite of technologies and product candidates. We have adopted a strategy of seeking patent protection in the United States and abroad with respect to certain of the technologies used in or relating to our technologies and product candidates. We have also in-licensed rights to additional patents and pending patent applications in the United States and abroad. We intend to continue to apply for patents relating to our technologies, methods, and products as we deem appropriate.
We seek patent protection for our platform technologies with a focus on our product pipeline, including but not limited to our (i) various switch technologies; (ii) gene delivery technologies; and (iii) our portfolio around various genetic componentry such as specialized vectors containing these genetic componentry. In addition, we seek patents covering specific collaborator's products. We have also filed counterpart patents and patent applications in other jurisdictions, including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. In the future we may file in these or additional jurisdictions as deemed appropriate for the protection of our technologies.
The enforceability of patents, as well as the actual patent term and expiration thereof, involves complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, the extent of enforceability cannot be guaranteed. Issued patents and patents issuing from pending applications may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented. Moreover, the United States Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, brought significant changes to the United States patent system, which include a change to a "first to file" system from a "first to invent" system and changes to the procedures for challenging issued patents and disputing patent applications during the examination process, among other things. These changes could increase the costs and uncertainties surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our patent rights. Additional uncertainty may result from legal precedent handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and United States Supreme Court as they determine legal issues concerning the scope and construction of patent claims and inconsistent interpretation of patent laws by the lower courts. Accordingly, we cannot ensure that any of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents, or even if issued, predict the breadth of the claims upheld in our and other companies' patents. Given that the degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, we cannot ensure that we were the first to invent the inventions covered by our pending patent applications; we were the first to file patent applications for these inventions; the patents we have obtained, particularly certain patents claiming nucleic acids, proteins, or methods, are valid and enforceable; and the proprietary technologies we develop will be patentable.
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In addition, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our products or technology. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use of our technologies, particularly in certain foreign countries where the local laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. Moreover, third parties could practice our inventions in territories where we do not have patent protection. Such third parties may then try to import into the United States or other territories products, or information leading to potentially competing products, made using our inventions in countries where we do not have patent protection for those inventions. If competitors are able to use our technologies, our ability to compete effectively could be harmed. Moreover, others may independently develop and obtain patents for technologies that are similar to or superior to our technologies. If that happens, we may need to license these technologies, and we may not be able to obtain licenses on reasonable terms, if at all, which could harm our business.
We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technologies, especially in cases when we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. While we require our employees, academic collaborators, collaborators, consultants and other contractors to enter into confidentiality agreements, we may not be able to adequately protect our trade secrets or other proprietary or licensed information. If we cannot maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary and licensed technologies and other confidential information, our ability and that of our licensor to receive patent protection and our ability to protect valuable information owned or licensed by us may be imperiled. Enforcing a claim that a third-party entity illegally obtained and is using any of our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods, and know-how.
Litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement could require us to spend significant time and money and could prevent us from commercializing our technologies or impact our stock price.
Our commercial success also depends in part on not infringing patents and proprietary rights of third parties and not breaching any licenses or other agreements that we have entered into with regard to our technologies, products, and business. We cannot ensure that patents have not been issued to third parties that could block our or our collaborators' ability to obtain patents or to operate as we would like. There may be patents in some countries that, if valid, may block our ability to make, use or sell our products in those countries, or import our products into those countries, if we are unsuccessful in circumventing or acquiring the rights to these patents. There also may be claims in patent applications filed in some countries that, if granted and valid, also may block our ability to commercialize products or processes in these countries if we are unable to circumvent or license them.
The biotechnology industry is characterized by frequent and extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Many companies have employed intellectual property litigation as a way to gain a competitive advantage. Our involvement in litigation, interferences, opposition proceedings or other intellectual property proceedings inside and outside of the United States, to defend our intellectual property rights or as a result of alleged infringement of the rights of others, may divert management's time from focusing on business operations and could cause us to spend significant amounts of money. Some of our competitors may have significantly greater resources and, therefore, they are likely to be better able to sustain the cost of complex patent or intellectual property litigation than we could. The uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our business or to enter into additional collaborations with others. Furthermore, any potential intellectual property litigation also could force us or our collaborators to do one or more of the following:
• | stop selling, incorporating or using products that use the intellectual property at issue; |
• | obtain from the third party asserting its intellectual property rights a license to sell or use the relevant technology, which license may not be available on reasonable terms, if at all; or |
• | redesign those products or processes that use any allegedly infringing technology, or relocate the operations relating to the allegedly infringing technology to another jurisdiction, which may result in significant cost or delay to us, or that could be technically infeasible. |
The patent landscape in the field of biotechnology is particularly complex. We are aware of United States and foreign patents and pending patent applications of third parties that cover various aspects of cell and gene biology including patents that some may view as covering aspects of our technologies. In addition, there may be patents and patent applications in the field of which we are not aware. In many cases, the technologies we develop are early-stage technologies, and we are just beginning the process of designing and developing products using these technologies. Although we will seek to avoid pursuing the development of products that may infringe any patent claims that we believe to be valid and enforceable, we and our
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collaborators may fail to do so. Moreover, given the breadth and number of claims in patents and pending patent applications in the field of synthetic biology and the complexities and uncertainties associated with them, third parties may allege that we are infringing upon patent claims even if we do not believe such claims to be valid and enforceable.
Except for claims we believe will not be material to our financial results, no third party has asserted a claim of infringement against us. Others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent products using our technologies from being marketed. Any patent-related legal action against persons who license our technologies or us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin commercial activities relating to products using our technologies or our processes could subject us to potential liability for damages and require our licensee or us to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market such products or any future product candidates that use our technologies. We cannot predict whether we or our licensor would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we cannot be sure that any such products or any future product candidates or processes could be redesigned to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent us or our licensees from developing and commercializing products using our technologies, which could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results.
If any of our competitors have filed patent applications or obtained patents that claim inventions also claimed by us, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention and, thus, the right to the patents for these inventions in the United States. These proceedings could result in substantial cost to us even if the outcome is favorable. Even if successful, an interference may result in loss of certain of our important claims.
Any litigation or proceedings could divert our management's time and efforts. Even unsuccessful claims could result in significant legal fees and other expenses, diversion of management's time, and disruption in our business. Uncertainties resulting from initiation and continuation of any patent or related litigation could harm our ability to compete.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment, and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other provisions during the patent process. Given the size of our intellectual property portfolio, compliance with these provisions involves significant time and expense. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case.
If we do not obtain additional protection under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, other United States legislation, and similar foreign legislation by extending the patent terms and obtaining regulatory exclusivity for our technologies, our business may be materially harmed.
Depending upon the timing, duration, and specifics of FDA marketing approval of products using our technologies, one or more of the United States patents we own or license may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our ability to generate revenues could be materially adversely affected.
Some of our products may not have patent protection and, as a result, potential competitors face fewer barriers in introducing competing products. We may rely on trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary information to protect our commercial position with respect to such products, which we may be unable to do. In some instances, we may also rely on regulatory exclusivity, including orphan drug exclusivity, to protect our products from competition. Some of our or our collaborators' products may be subject to the BPCIA, which may provide those products exclusivity that prevents approval of a biosimilar product that references the data in one of our BLAs in the United States for 12 years after approval. However, the BPCIA and other regulatory exclusivity frameworks may evolve over time based on statutory changes, FDA issuance of new regulations, and judicial decisions. In addition, the BPCIA exclusivity period does not prevent another company from independently developing a product that is highly similar to an approved product, generating all the data necessary for a full BLA and seeking approval.
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Enforcing our intellectual property rights may be difficult and unpredictable.
If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent claiming one of our technologies, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable or assert that the patent does not cover its manufacturing processes, manufacturing components or products. Proving patent infringement may be difficult, especially where it is possible to manufacture a product by multiple processes. Furthermore, in patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging both invalidity and unenforceability are commonplace. Although we believe that we have conducted our patent prosecution in accordance with the duty of candor and in good faith, the outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. With respect to the validity of our patent rights, we cannot be certain, for example, that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would not be able to exclude others from practicing the inventions claimed therein. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. Even if our patent rights are found to be valid and enforceable, patent claims that survive litigation may not cover commercially valuable products or prevent competitors from importing or marketing products similar to our own, or using manufacturing processes or manufacturing components similar to those used to produce the products using our technologies.
Although we believe we have obtained assignments of patent rights from all inventors, if an inventor did not adequately assign their patent rights to us, a third party could obtain a license to the patent from such inventor. This could preclude us from enforcing the patent against such third party.
We may not be able 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. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to synthetic biology. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.
If our technologies or products using our technologies are stolen, misappropriated, or reverse engineered, others could use the technologies to produce competing technologies or products.
Third parties, including our collaborators, contract manufacturers, contractors and others involved in our business, often have access to our technologies. If our technologies, or products using our technologies, were stolen, misappropriated, or reverse engineered, they could be used by other parties that may be able to reproduce our technologies or products using our technologies, for their own commercial gain. If this were to occur, it would be difficult for us to challenge this type of use, especially in countries with limited intellectual property protection.
Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosures of trade secrets and other proprietary information.
We have taken measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information, but these measures may not be effective. We require our new employees and consultants to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of an employment or consulting arrangement with us. These agreements generally require that all confidential information developed by the individual or made known to the individual by us during the course of the individual's relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties. These agreements also generally provide that inventions conceived by the individual in the course of rendering services to us shall be our exclusive property. Nevertheless, our proprietary information may be disclosed, third parties could reverse engineer our technologies or products using our technologies, and others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.
Risks Related to our Common Stock
Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate in the future. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of research analysts or investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.
Our financial condition and operating results have varied significantly in the past and may continue to fluctuate from quarter to
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quarter and year to year in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Factors relating to our business that may contribute to these fluctuations include the following factors, as well as other factors described elsewhere in this Annual Report:
• | our ability to achieve or maintain profitability; |
• | the outcomes of our research programs, clinical trials, or other product development and approval processes; |
• | our ability to develop and successfully commercialize our products; |
• | the timing, receipt, and amount of any payments received in connection with upfront, milestone, and sale and royalty payments, if any; |
• | our ability to successfully scale up production of our commercial products and customer acceptance thereof; |
• | our ability to enter into strategic transactions; |
• | our ability to develop and maintain our technologies; |
• | our ability to manage our growth; |
• | risks associated with the international aspects of our business; |
• | our ability to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner; |
• | our dependence on, and the need to attract and retain, key management, and other personnel; |
• | our ability to obtain, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights; |
• | our ability to prevent the theft or misappropriation of our intellectual property, know-how or technologies; |
• | the costs associated with legal activities, including litigation, arising in the course of our business activities and our ability to prevail in any such legal disputes; |
• | potential advantages that our competitors and potential competitors may have in securing funding or developing competing technologies or products; |
• | our ability to obtain additional capital that may be necessary to expand our business; |
• | business interruptions such as power outages and other natural disasters; |
• | our ability to integrate any businesses or technologies we may acquire with our business; |
• | negative public opinion and increased regulatory scrutiny of gene and cell therapies; |
• | the impact of new accounting pronouncements on our current and future operating results; |
• | our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income; and |
• | the results of our consolidated subsidiaries. |
Due to the various factors mentioned above, and others, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future operating performance.
Our stock price is volatile and purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses.
Our stock price has been, and is likely to continue to be, volatile. The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including in response to the risks described in this "Risk Factors" section, or for reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by media or industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by our collaborators
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regarding their own performance, as well as industry conditions and general financial, economic and political instability. From January 1, 2018 through February 15, 2020, our common stock has traded as high as $20.16 per share and as low as $3.85 per share. The stock market in general, as well as the market for biopharmaceutical companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price of our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including, among others:
• | announcements of acquisitions, collaborations, financings, divestitures, or other transactions by us; |
• | public concern as to the safety of our products; |
• | termination or delay of a development program; |
• | the recruitment or departure of key personnel; and |
• | the other factors described in this "Risk Factors" section. |
Additionally, we have historically, and may from time to time in the future, own equity interests in our collaborators. Owning equity in our collaborators increases our exposure to the risks of our collaborators' businesses beyond the products of those collaborations. Any equity ownership in our collaborators exposes us to volatility and the potential for negative returns. We may have restrictions on resale and/or limited markets to sell our equity ownership. If our equity position is a minority position, we are exposed to further risk as we will not be able to exert control over the companies in which we hold securities.
We do not anticipate paying cash dividends, and accordingly, shareholders should rely on stock appreciation for return on their investment.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future and intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the operations, development, and growth of our business. As a result, appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur, will provide a return to shareholders. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock. We have on two occasions distributed equity securities to our shareholders as a special stock dividend: 17,830,305 shares of ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., or ZIOPHARM, common stock were distributed in June 2015 and 1,776,557 shares of our former subsidiary, AquaBounty's, common stock were distributed in January 2017. However, it is possible that we may never declare a special dividend again, and shareholders should not rely upon potential future special dividends as a source of return on their investment.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research or reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our shares of common stock depends, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If securities or industry analysts do not continue to cover us, the trading price for our shares of common stock may be negatively impacted. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our shares of common stock, changes their opinion of our shares or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our shares of common stock could decrease and we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price and trading volume to decline.
The issuance of our common stock pursuant to a share lending agreement, including sales of the shares that we lend, and other market activity related to the share lending agreement may lower the market price of our common stock.
In connection with our offering of the Convertible Notes in July 2018, we entered into a share lending agreement with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (that we refer to when acting in this capacity as the "share borrower"), the underwriter for our offering, pursuant to which we agreed to lend up to 7,479,431 shares of our common stock to the share borrower.
We were informed by the share borrower that it or one of its affiliates intended to use the short position created by the share loan and the concurrent short sales of the borrowed shares to facilitate transactions by which investors in the Convertible Notes, or the Convertible Notes Investors, hedge their investments through short sales or privately negotiated derivatives transactions.
The existence of the share lending agreement in connection with the offering of the borrowed shares, the short sales of our common stock effected in connection with the sale of the Convertible Notes and the related derivatives transactions, or any unwind of such short sales or derivatives transactions, could cause the market price of our common stock to be lower over the
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term of the share lending agreement than it would have been had we not entered into that agreement, due to the effect of the increase in the number of outstanding shares of our common stock or otherwise. For example, in connection with any cash settlement of any such derivative transaction, the share borrower or its affiliates may purchase shares of our common stock and the Convertible Notes Investors may sell shares of our common stock, which could temporarily increase, temporarily delay a decline in, or temporarily decrease, the market price of our common stock. The market price of our common stock could be further negatively affected by these or other short sales of our common stock, including other sales by the Convertible Notes Investors hedging their investment therein.
Adjustments by the Convertible Notes Investors of their hedging positions in our common stock and the expectation thereof may have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.
The borrowed shares are used by the Convertible Notes Investors to establish hedged positions with respect to our common stock through short sale transactions or privately negotiated derivative transactions. The number of borrowed shares may be more or less than the number of shares that will be needed in such hedging transactions. Any buying or selling of shares of our common stock by those Convertible Notes Investors to adjust their hedging positions may affect the market price of our common stock.
In addition, the existence of the Convertible Notes may also encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Convertible Notes could depress our common stock price. The price of our common stock could be affected by possible sales of our common stock by the Convertible Notes Investors who view the Convertible Notes as a more attractive means of equity participation in us and by hedging or arbitrage trading activity that we expect to occur involving our common stock. This hedging or arbitrage trading activity could, in turn, affect the market price of the Convertible Notes.
Changes in the accounting guidelines relating to the borrowed shares or our inability to classify the borrowed shares as equity could decrease our reported earnings per share and potentially our common stock price.
Because the borrowed shares (or identical shares) must be returned to us when the share lending agreement terminates pursuant to its terms (or earlier in certain circumstances), we believe that under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, as presently in effect, assuming the borrowed shares issued pursuant to the share lending agreement are classified as equity under U.S. GAAP, the borrowed shares will not be considered outstanding for the purpose of computing and reporting our earnings per share. If accounting guidelines were to change in the future or we are unable to classify the borrowed shares issued pursuant to the share lending agreement as equity, we may be required to treat the borrowed shares as outstanding for purposes of computing earnings per share, our reported earnings per share would be reduced and our common stock price could decrease, possibly significantly.
If our executive officers and directors choose to act together, they may be able to significantly influence our management and operations, acting in their own best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders.
As of December 31, 2019, our executive officers and directors owned approximately 48 percent of our voting common stock, including shares subject to outstanding options; restricted stock units, or RSUs; and warrants. As a result, these shareholders, acting together, would be able to significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions, as well as our management and affairs. The interests of this group of shareholders may not always coincide with the interests of other shareholders, and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders. This concentration of ownership control may:
• | delay, defer, or prevent a change in control; |
• | entrench our management and/or the board of directors; or |
• | impede a merger, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination involving us that other shareholders may desire. |
We have engaged in transactions with companies in which Randal J. Kirk, our Executive Chairman, and his affiliates have an interest.
We have engaged in a variety of transactions, including collaborations and our sale of our bioengineering assets to TS Biotechnology, with companies in which Mr. Kirk and affiliates of Mr. Kirk have a direct or indirect interest. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Notes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 18, and 23" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for a
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discussion of such transactions. Mr. Kirk serves as the Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Third Security and owns 100 percent of the equity interests of Third Security. We believe that each of these transactions was on terms no less favorable to us than terms we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties, and each of these transactions was approved by at least a majority of the disinterested members of the audit committee of our board of directors. Furthermore, as we execute on these transactions going forward, a conflict may arise between our interests and those of Mr. Kirk and his affiliates.
As of December 31, 2019, Randal J. Kirk controlled approximately 46 percent of our common stock and may be able to control or significantly influence shareholder votes and other corporate actions, which may result in Mr. Kirk taking actions contrary to the desires of our other shareholders.
We have historically been controlled, managed, and principally funded by Randal J. Kirk, our former Chief Executive Officer and current Executive Chairman, and affiliates of Mr. Kirk, including Third Security. As of December 31, 2019, while Mr. Kirk is no longer our Chief Executive Officer, he is our current Executive Chairman, and Mr. Kirk and shareholders affiliated with him beneficially owned approximately 46 percent of our voting stock. Mr. Kirk may be able to control or significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions, and he may be able to exert significant influence on other corporate actions as a result of his role as our Executive Chairman and status as a significant shareholder. The interests of Mr. Kirk may not always coincide with the interests of other shareholders, and he may take actions that advance his personal interests and are contrary to the desires of our other shareholders.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of common stock intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. If Mr. Kirk or any of his affiliates were to sell a substantial portion of the shares they hold, it could cause our stock price to decline.
In addition, as of December 31, 2019, there were 9,022,282 shares subject to outstanding options that will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by any applicable vesting requirements, lock-up agreements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. As of December 31, 2019, there were 1,781,982 RSUs outstanding. Shares issuable upon the exercise of such options and upon vesting of the RSUs can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and once vested. Additionally, as of December 31, 2019, we had 8,991,369 of shares available for grant under the 2013 Omnibus Incentive Plan and 4,087,444 shares available for grant under the 2019 Incentive Plan for Non-Employee Service Providers.
Our articles of incorporation authorize us to issue preferred stock with terms that are preferential to those of our common stock.
Our articles of incorporation authorize us to issue, without the approval of our shareholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock having such designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights, including preferences over our common stock respecting dividends and distributions, as our board of directors may determine. For example, in connection with the formation of a Preferred Stock Equity Facility, which was subsequently terminated in June 2018, we filed an amendment to our articles of incorporation to set the designations of our Series A Preferred Stock. Effective February 1, 2020, the Series A Preferred Stock designations was terminated. In the future, we may enter into similar facilities or issue preferred stock that has greater rights, preferences, and privileges than our common stock.
We are subject to anti-takeover provisions in our articles of incorporation and bylaws and under Virginia law that could delay or prevent an acquisition of our Company, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our shareholders.
Certain provisions of Virginia law, the commonwealth in which we are incorporated, and our articles of incorporation and bylaws could hamper a third party's acquisition of us, or discourage a third party from attempting to acquire control of us. These provisions:
• | include a provision allowing our board of directors to issue preferred stock with rights senior to those of the common stock without any vote or action by the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock could adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of the holders of common stock; |
• | establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters |
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that can be acted on at shareholder meetings;
• | provide for the inability of shareholders to convene a shareholders' meeting without the support of shareholders owning together 25 percent of our common stock; |
• | provide for the application of Virginia law prohibiting us from entering into a business combination with the beneficial owner of 10 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock for a period of three years after the 10 percent or greater owner first reached that level of stock ownership, unless we meet certain criteria; |
• | allow the authorized number of our directors to be changed only by resolution of our board of directors; |
• | limit the manner in which shareholders can remove directors from the board; |
• | require that shareholder actions must be effected at a duly called shareholder meeting and prohibit actions by our shareholders by written consent; and |
• | limit who may call a special meeting of shareholders. |
These provisions also could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. In addition, these provisions make it more difficult for our shareholders, should they choose to do so, to remove our board of directors or management.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, shareholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.
Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments |
Not applicable.
Item 2. | Properties |
We establish the geographic locations of our research and development operations based on proximity to the relevant market expertise and access to available talent pools. The following table shows information about our primary lab operations used in continuing operations as of December 31, 2019:
Location | Square Footage | ||
Germantown, Maryland (PGEN Therapeutics segment) | 61,048 | ||
South San Francisco, California (MBP Titan segment) | 55,609 | ||
Ghent, Belgium (ActoBio segment) | 14,198 | ||
Our primary domestic production facilities, for our Trans Ova segment, are located in Sioux Center, Iowa, and include approximately 281,000 square feet of production and office facilities and approximately 360 acres of land. The land and production facilities are primarily used for embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization processes, as well as housing livestock used in such processes. We also lease or own regional production facilities and land in California, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington for these purposes.
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We lease an additional 31,000 square feet of administrative offices in South San Francisco, California; West Palm Beach, Florida; Germantown, Maryland; and Blacksburg, Virginia. The terms of our leases range from one to ten years. See also "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Contractual Obligations and Commitments" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
We may become subject to other claims, assessments, and governmental investigations from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties and outcomes are not predictable with assurance. We accrue liabilities for such matters when it is probable that future expenditures will be made and such expenditures can be reasonably estimated. We do not believe that any such matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 17" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for further discussion of ongoing legal matters.
Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosures |
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. | Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities |
Market Information and Holders of Record
Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol "PGEN".
As of February 15, 2020, we had 292 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of shareholders is greater than this number of record holders and includes shareholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include shareholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.
Dividends
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business and do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Information about our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Item 12 of Part III of this Annual Report.
Stock Performance Graph
This performance graph shall not be deemed "soliciting material" or to be "filed" with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Precigen, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.
The following graph shows a comparison from December 31, 2014 through December 31, 2019 of the cumulative total return for our common stock; the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index, or the S&P 500 Index; and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. The graph assumes that $100 was invested at the market close on December 31, 2014 in the common stock of Precigen, Inc., the S&P 500 Index, and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, and data for the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index assumes reinvestments of dividends. The stock price performance of the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
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Company / Index | Base Period 12/31/2014 | 3/31/2015 | 6/30/2015 | 9/30/2015 | 12/31/2015 | |||||||||||||||
Precigen, Inc. | $ | 100.00 | $ | 164.80 | $ | 177.87 | $ | 115.91 | $ | 109.89 | ||||||||||
S&P 500 Index | 100.00 | 100.95 | 101.23 | 94.71 | 101.38 | |||||||||||||||
Nasdaq Biotechnology Index | 100.00 | 113.27 | 121.79 | 99.96 | 111.77 | |||||||||||||||
Company / Index | 3/31/2016 | 6/30/2016 | 9/30/2016 | 12/31/2016 | 3/31/2017 | 6/30/2017 | 9/30/2017 | 12/31/2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Precigen, Inc. | $ | 123.53 | $ | 89.70 | $ | 102.13 | $ | 88.57 | $ | 72.98 | $ | 88.70 | $ | 70.00 | $ | 42.42 | |||||||||||||||
S&P 500 Index | 102.75 | 105.27 | 109.33 | 113.51 | 120.40 | 124.12 | 129.69 | 138.30 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Nasdaq Biotechnology Index | 86.19 | 85.22 | 95.87 | 87.91 | 97.43 | 103.18 | 111.16 | 106.95 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Company / Index | 3/31/2018 | 6/30/2018 | 9/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 3/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 9/30/2019 | 12/31/2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Precigen, Inc. | $ | 56.45 | $ | 51.33 | $ | 63.41 | $ | 24.08 | $ | 19.37 | $ | 28.20 | $ | 21.06 | $ | 20.18 | |||||||||||||||
S&P 500 Index | 137.25 | 141.97 | 152.91 | 132.24 | 150.29 | 156.76 | 159.42 | 173.88 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Nasdaq Biotechnology Index | 107.01 | 110.31 | 122.66 | 97.47 | 112.62 | 110.09 | 100.59 | 121.94 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities and Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities
(a) Sales of Unregistered Securities
From January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, we issued 1,606,062 unregistered shares of our common stock as payment under the services agreement entered into and effective as of November 1, 2015, as amended, by and between us and Third Security as previously discussed in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 22, 2019.
We issued the above referenced shares of common stock in reliance on exemptions from registration under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
(b) Use of Proceeds
None.
(c) Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
None.
Item 6. | Selected Financial Data |
The following tables set forth our selected consolidated financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report and the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" section of this Annual Report.
The selected consolidated financial data set forth below as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The selected consolidated financial data set forth below as of December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, and for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements contained in reports previously filed with the SEC, not included herein. Our audited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in United States dollars in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The selected consolidated financial data in the below tables have been adjusted to reflect the effects of discontinued operations. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 3" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Our historical results for any prior period are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in any future period.
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Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands, except share and per share amounts) | |||||||||||||||||||
Statements of Operations Data: | |||||||||||||||||||