UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
|
REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
OR
|
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended
OR
|
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
OR
|
SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Date of event requiring this shell company report
Commission file number:
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
N/A
(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
(Address of principal executive offices)
Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: (
(Name, telephone, email and/or facsimile number and address of Company contact person)
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
|
Trading Symbol(s) |
|
Name of each exchange on which registered |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Not for trading, but only in connection with the registration of the American depositary shares.
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
(Title of Class)
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:
None
(Title of Class)
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the Annual Report:
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☒
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ☐ Yes ☒
Note-checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those sections.
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. ☒
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). ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or an emerging growth company. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
|
☒ |
|
Accelerated Filer |
☐ |
Non-Accelerated Filer |
☐ |
|
Emerging Growth Company |
|
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, 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† pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
U.S. GAAP |
☐ |
|
|
☒ |
|
Other |
☐ |
If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ☐ Item 17 ☐ Item 18
If this is an Annual Report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
LEGEND BIOTECH CORPORATION
FORM 20-F ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
|
Page |
PART I |
||
|
|
|
Item 1. |
4 |
|
Item 2. |
4 |
|
Item 3. |
4 |
|
Item 4. |
84 |
|
Item 4A. |
145 |
|
Item 5. |
146 |
|
Item 6. |
164 |
|
Item 7. |
175 |
|
Item 8. |
179 |
|
Item 9. |
180 |
|
Item 10. |
180 |
|
Item 11. |
188 |
|
Item 12. |
188 |
|
|
|
|
PART II |
||
|
|
|
Item 13. |
191 |
|
Item 14. |
Material Modifications To The Rights Of Security Holders And Use Of Proceeds |
191 |
Item 15. |
192 |
|
Item 16. |
193 |
|
Item 16A. |
193 |
|
Item 16B. |
193 |
|
Item 16C. |
194 |
|
Item 16D. |
194 |
|
Item 16E. |
Purchases Of Equity Securities By The Issuer And Affiliated Purchasers |
194 |
Item 16F. |
195 |
|
Item 16G. |
195 |
|
Item 16H. |
195 |
|
|
|
|
PART III |
||
|
|
|
Item 17. |
196 |
|
Item 18. |
196 |
|
Item 19. |
196 |
|
198 |
i
CERTAIN INFORMATION
In this Annual Report on Form 20-F, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” and “Legend Biotech” refer to Legend Biotech Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries. References to “GenScript” or “Genscript” refer to Genscript Biotech Corporation, our majority stockholder.
This Annual Report on Form 20-F contains translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this Annual Report on Form 20-F could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. Unless otherwise noted, translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars in this Annual Report are made based on an exchange rate of RMB 6.38 to $1.00, which is the exchange rate as of December 31, 2021 as published by The People’s Bank of China.
Various amounts and percentages set out in this document have been rounded and, accordingly, may account for apparent discrepancies in the tables appearing herein. Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this Annual Report to:
|
• |
“ADSs” are to the American depositary shares, each of which represents two of our ordinary shares; |
|
• |
“ADRs” are to the American depositary receipts that evidence the ADSs; |
|
• |
“China” or “PRC” refers to the People’s Republic of China, excluding, for the purpose of this Annual Report only, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macau Special Administrative Region and Taiwan; “Greater China” does not exclude Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macau Special Administrative Region and Taiwan; |
|
• |
“ordinary shares” are to ordinary shares of our company, par value $0.0001 per share; |
|
• |
“Renminbi” or “RMB” refers to the legal currency of the PRC; |
|
• |
“Series A Preference Shares” are to the Series A preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share; and |
|
• |
“US$,” “U.S. dollars,” “$,” or “dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States. |
MARKET, INDUSTRY AND OTHER DATA
This Annual Report contains estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business and the markets for our product candidates, including data regarding the estimated size of such markets and the incidence of certain medical conditions. We obtained the industry, market and similar data set forth in this Annual Report from our internal estimates and research and from academic and industry research, publications, surveys and studies conducted by third parties, including governmental agencies. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances that are assumed in this information. While we believe that the data we use from third parties are reliable, we have not separately verified this data. Further, while we believe that our internal research is reliable, such research has not been verified by any third party. You are cautioned not to give undue weight to any such information, projections and estimates.
TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
“Legend Biotech,” the Legend logo and other trademarks or service marks of Legend Biotech Corporation appearing in this Annual Report on Form 20-F are the property of Legend Biotech Corporation. Trade names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this Annual Report on Form 20-F are the property of their respective holders.
1
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of present and historical facts and conditions are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and views of future events, but are not assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, our operational results and other future conditions. The forward-looking statements appear in a number of places throughout this Annual Report on Form 20-F and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the industry in which we operate.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases, such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to:
|
• |
the ability to effectively manufacture, market and sell CARVYKTI™; |
|
• |
the market opportunity for and potential for commercial success of CARVYKTI™; |
|
• |
potential effects of treatment with CARVYKTI™; |
|
• |
the ability of our clinical trials to demonstrate acceptable safety and efficacy of our product candidates, and other positive results; |
|
• |
the timing, progress and results of preclinical studies and clinical trials for product candidates we may develop, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available, and our research and development programs; |
|
• |
the timing, scope and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, including final regulatory approval of our product candidates; |
|
• |
our ability to achieve specified milestones under our collaboration with Janssen Biotech for cilta-cel; |
|
• |
our ability to develop and advance our current product candidates and programs into, and successfully complete, clinical trials; |
|
• |
our manufacturing, commercialization, and marketing capabilities and strategy; |
|
• |
our plans relating to commercializing our product candidates, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and sales strategy; |
|
• |
the need to hire additional personnel and our ability to attract, retain and motivate such personnel; |
|
• |
the size of the market opportunity for our product candidates, including our estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases we are targeting; |
|
• |
our expectations regarding the approval and use of our product candidates as first, second or subsequent lines of therapy or in combination with other drugs; |
|
• |
our competitive position and the success of competing therapies that are or may become available; |
|
• |
our estimates of the number of patients that we will enroll in our clinical trials; |
|
• |
the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of our product candidates; |
|
• |
our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates; |
|
• |
our plans relating to the further development of our product candidates, including additional indications we may pursue; |
2
|
• |
our intellectual property position, including the scope of protection we are able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering product candidates we may develop, including the extensions of existing patent terms where available, the validity of intellectual property rights held by third parties, and our ability not to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any third-party intellectual property rights; |
|
• |
our continued reliance on third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, and for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
|
• |
our ability to obtain, and negotiate favorable terms of, any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our product candidates; |
|
• |
the pricing and reimbursement of the product candidates we may develop, if approved; |
|
• |
information about the prices and availability of labor, transportation and raw materials, including as a result of inflation, and our ability to obtain them in a timely manner; |
|
• |
our exposure to and the potential impact of risks inherent in our foreign operations, including currency fluctuations, exchange controls and pricing restrictions; |
|
• |
the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of our product candidates we may develop; |
|
• |
the effectiveness of our key information technology systems, networks, processes or related controls or those of our service providers; |
|
• |
our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; |
|
• |
our financial performance; |
|
• |
our ability to consistently maintain effective internal control over financial reporting; |
|
• |
changes in tax laws and the resolution of tax contingencies resulting in additional tax liabilities; |
|
• |
the period over which we estimate our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; |
|
• |
the impact of United States or foreign laws and regulations on the Company’s operations, including the impact of tariffs; |
|
• |
the effect of epidemics and pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or other business disruptions on our business, including, without limitation, our ability to manage the demand, supply and operational challenges associated with the actual or perceived effects of such pandemics; and |
|
• |
our anticipated use of our existing resources and the proceeds from our initial public offering. |
These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Many important factors, including those listed under “Risk Factors” as well as other known and unknown risks and uncertainties, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. Comparisons of results for current and any prior periods are not intended to express any future trends or indications of future performance, unless specifically expressed as such, and should only be viewed as historical data. You should read thoroughly this Annual Report on Form 20-F and the documents that we refer to with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from and worse than what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 20-F relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this Annual Report on Form 20-F and the documents that we refer to and have filed as exhibits completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
3
PART I
ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS
Not Applicable.
ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE
Not Applicable.
ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION
A. [Reserved]
B. Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not Applicable.
C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not Applicable.
D. Risk Factors
Our business and our industry are subject to significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this Annual Report and in our other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the following risk factors, in evaluating our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, operating results, and growth prospects would likely be materially and adversely affected. This Annual Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risk Factors Summary
The following summary description sets forth an overview of the material risks we are exposed to in the normal course of our business activities. The summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full risk factor discussion immediately following this summary description. We encourage you to read the full risk factor discussion carefully.
Our revenue and expenses are difficult to predict, have varied significantly in the past and will continue to fluctuate significantly in the future due to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, we may not be profitable on a quarterly or annual basis. Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected by any of the following material risks:
Risks Related to the Commercialization of CARVYKTI™ and Our Other Product Candidates
|
• |
We have limited experience as a commercial company and the marketing and sale of CARVYKTI™ or future products may be unsuccessful or have less success than anticipated. |
|
• |
The commercial success of CARVYKTI™, and of any future products, will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, third-party payors and others in the medical community. |
|
• |
If the market opportunities for our product or any future products are smaller than we believe they are, and if we are not able to successfully identify patients and achieve significant market share, our revenues may be adversely affected and our business may suffer. |
|
• |
We may not be able to successfully create our own manufacturing infrastructure for supply of our requirements of products for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale. |
4
|
• |
We have no prior sales experience and limited capabilities for marketing and market access. We expect to continue to invest significant financial and management resources to establish necessary capabilities and infrastructure to support our commercial needs. If we are unable to establish these commercial capabilities, we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our business. |
|
• |
We operate in a rapidly changing industry and face significant competition. |
|
• |
Potential product liability risks. |
Risks Related to Our Business
|
• |
Our ability to become and remain profitable may never be achieved due to the uncertainty of developing and commercializing complex therapies, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability. |
|
• |
Our limited operating history, which has focused on research and development, makes it difficult to assess our future prospects. |
|
• |
Our need for additional funding to complete the development of our product candidates, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. |
|
• |
Our inability to obtain raw materials or key starting materials necessary for product manufacture, such as lentiviral vectors, would adversely affect the clinical development and commercialization of these products, which could, in turn, adversely affect our sales and profitability. |
Risks Related to the Development of Our Product Candidates
|
• |
The uncertainties of the biopharmaceutical development process for novel and emergent treatment, including the uncertainty of outcomes of clinical trials, and the potential failure of product candidates to show safety or efficacy. |
|
• |
Potential failure to obtain or maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates. |
|
• |
Our primary research and development efforts are focused on CAR-T cell therapies, which are emerging treatments that face significant challenges and hurdles. |
|
• |
Our product candidates require significant preclinical study and clinical trials, which can be difficult to design and implement. |
|
• |
Our dependence on enrollment of patients in clinical trials for development of our product candidates. |
|
• |
Risks associated with investigator-initiated clinical trials , studies that we do not fully control. |
|
• |
Certain product opportunities may face limited market opportunities. |
|
• |
Adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with our product candidates. |
|
• |
Costs and difficulties in the manufacture of complex biologics. |
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
|
• |
Economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations. |
|
• |
Potential difficulties in growing operations and attracting and retaining key personnel. |
|
• |
Risks associated with potential acquisitions or strategic collaborations. |
|
• |
Any failure to comply with various governmental laws and regulations may adversely affect our business. |
|
• |
Risks associated with any failure to implement and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting. |
Risks Related to our Dependence on Third Parties
|
• |
Our dependence on third parties, such as Janssen, for development, manufacturing and commercialization of our product candidates. |
|
• |
Our reliance on third parties to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials and the potential that such third parties may not perform satisfactorily. |
5
|
• |
The availability of reagents, specialized equipment and other specialty materials. |
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters
|
• |
The risks and costs associated with complying with a rigorous, complex and evolving regulatory framework, including clinical trial regulations, pre-marketing regulatory requirements, pricing, reimbursement and cost-containment regulations, and ongoing regulation of approved products. |
|
• |
The effect of price controls in certain jurisdictions on our revenue and commercialization. |
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
|
• |
Our ability to obtain, maintain, defend and enforce intellectual property rights in our products and disparities in intellectual property rights throughout the world. |
|
• |
The significant cost and complexity associated with intellectual property proceedings. |
Risks Related to Doing Business in China
|
• |
Risks related to doing business in China, including the impact of extensive Chinese regulation on the pharmaceutical industry. |
|
• |
The heightened level of government involvement in the Chinese economy and uncertainties regarding legal protections. |
|
• |
The adverse effect of an ongoing investigation involving our majority shareholder and former CEO and chairman. |
|
• |
Monetary, economic, political, environmental, social, and trade disputes between the U.S. and China. |
|
• |
The heightened level of actions by the U.S. Department of Commerce targeting Chinese companies. |
Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure
|
• |
Our organizational structure may create significant conflicts of interest. |
|
• |
The impact of GenScript’s significant control over us as our majority shareholder. |
|
• |
The more limited protections afforded to shareholders as a result of our status as a controlled company and a foreign private issuer. |
Risks Related to Our Securities
|
• |
The risk that our ADSs will be prohibited from trading on a U.S. national securities exchange, such as The Nasdaq Global Select Market, or in U.S. over-the-counter markets because the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is unable to inspect or investigate our outside independent auditors due to restrictions imposed by the PRC, where our auditors are located. |
|
• |
Risks associated with owning our ADSs, including volatility in our trading price due to our business and financial performance, and risks from dilution of our ADSs and ordinary shares if we issue additional ADSs or other securities. |
6
Risks Related to Commercialization of CARVYKTI™ and Our Other Product Candidates
We have limited experience as a commercial company and the marketing and sale of CARVYKTI™ or future products may be unsuccessful or have less success than anticipated.
Having received FDA approval for CARVYKTI™ on February 28, 2022, we are beginning to commercialize CARVYKTI™ for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody. As CARVYKTI™ is our first approved product and the remainder of our product candidates are in clinical development, we have limited experience as a commercial company and there is limited information about our ability to overcome many of the challenges encountered by companies commercializing products in the biopharmaceutical industry. To execute our business plan, in addition to successfully marketing and selling of CARVYKTI™, we, either individually or with a collaboration partner, will need to successfully:
|
• |
establish and maintain relationships with qualified treatment centers who will be treating the patients who receive our product and any future products; |
|
• |
obtain adequate pricing and reimbursement for CARVYKTI™ and any future products in each of the jurisdictions in which we plan to commercialize approved products; |
|
• |
gain regulatory acceptance for the development and commercialization of the other product candidates in our pipeline; and |
|
• |
manage spending as costs and expenses increase due to clinical trials, marketing approvals, and commercialization for any additional indications of CARVYKTI™, and for any future products. |
If we are not successful in accomplishing these objectives, we may not be able to develop product candidates, successfully commercialize CARVYKTI™ or any future products, raise capital, expand our business, or continue our operations.
The commercial success of CARVYKTI™, and of any future products, will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, third-party payors and others in the medical community.
The commercial success of CARVYKTI™ and of any future products will depend in part on the medical community, patients, and third-party or governmental payers accepting new treatments for our targeted indications in general, and CARVYKTI™ and any future products in particular, as medically useful, cost-effective, and safe. CARVYKTI™ and any other products that we may bring to the market may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue and may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of CARVYKTI™ and of any future products will depend on a number of factors, including:
|
• |
the potential efficacy and potential advantages over alternative treatments; |
|
• |
the prevalence and severity of any side effects, including any limitations or warnings contained in a product’s approved labeling; |
|
• |
the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies; |
|
• |
the strength of marketing and distribution support and timing of market introduction of competitive products; |
|
• |
the pricing of our product and of any future products; |
|
• |
publicity concerning our product, any future products, or competing products and treatments; and |
|
• |
sufficient third-party insurance coverage or reimbursement. |
Even if a potential product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in preclinical and clinical studies, market acceptance of the product will not be known until after it is launched. Our efforts, and the efforts of any of
7
our collaborators, to educate the medical community and payers on the benefits of our products may require significant resources and may never be successful. These efforts may require more resources than are required by the conventional technologies marketed by certain of our competitors. Any of these factors may cause CARVYKTI™, or any future products, to be unsuccessful or less successful than anticipated.
If the market opportunities for CARVYKTI™ or any future products are smaller than we believe they are, and if we are not able to successfully identify patients and achieve significant market share, our revenues may be adversely affected and our business may suffer.
Our projections regarding the number of people who have the potential to benefit from treatment with CARVYKTI™ or any future products are based on estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations, or market research, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of the diseases that our product candidates target. The number of patients may turn out to be lower or more difficult to identify than expected.
Even if we obtain significant market share for a product within an approved indication, because the potential target populations for CARVYKTI™ and for the product candidates in our pipeline are small, we may never achieve profitability without obtaining marketing approval for additional indications. In the field of cancer, the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for use in patients with relapsed or advanced disease. For example, the FDA’s approval for CARVYKTI™ indicates that the product is for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody. While we expect to seek approval for CARVYKTI™ in earlier lines of MM treatment and potentially as a first line therapy, there is no guarantee that we will be successful doing so.
Any of these factors may negatively affect our ability to generate revenues from sales of CARVYKTI™ and any future products and our ability to achieve and maintain profitability. As a consequence, our business may suffer.
We may not be able to successfully create our own manufacturing infrastructure for supply of our requirements of product candidates for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale.
We currently have manufacturing facilities in China and the United States supplying clinical materials for our trials. Further, as part of our collaboration with Janssen, we have established a manufacturing facility in the United States for the U.S. commercial supply of CARVYKTI™ and are in the process of establishing manufacturing capabilities in Belgium, which will provide regional product supply and add to our global manufacturing reach.
We will be conducting the manufacturing of cilta-cel globally, which requires that we expand the capacities at these sites as we begin commercialization in the applicable geographic regions following our receipt of marketing authorizations.
Our manufacturing and commercialization strategy is based on establishing a fully integrated vein-to-vein product delivery cycle. Over time, we expect to establish regional or zonal manufacturing hubs to service major markets to meet projected commercial needs. However, we are still in the process of constructing manufacturing facilities that will allow us to meet commercial sale quantities.
Our long-term plan is to establish additional manufacturing capacity in the United States, China and in Europe. The implementation of this plan is subject to many risks. For example, the establishment of a cell-therapy manufacturing facility is a complex endeavor requiring knowledgeable individuals. Expanding our internal manufacturing infrastructure will rely upon finding personnel with an appropriate background and training to staff and operate the facility. Should we be unable to find these individuals, we may need to rely on external contractors or train additional personnel to fill the needed roles. There are a small number of individuals with experience in cell therapy and the competition for these individuals is high.
We expect that operating our own commercial cell manufacturing facilities will provide us with enhanced control of material supply for both clinical trials and the commercial market, enable the more rapid implementation
8
of process changes, and allow for better long-term cost margins. However, we have limited experience as a company in designing and operating a commercial manufacturing facility and may never be successful in effectively implementing our manufacturing capability. We may establish additional manufacturing sites as we expand our commercial footprint to multiple geographies, which may lead to regulatory delays or prove costly. Even if we are successful, our manufacturing operations could be affected by cost-overruns, unexpected delays, equipment failures, labor shortages, natural disasters, power failures and numerous other factors, or we may not be successful in establishing sufficient capacity to produce CARVYKTI™ or any future products product candidates in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the contemplated launch or to meet potential future demand, all of which could prevent us from realizing the intended benefits of our manufacturing strategy and have a material adverse effect on our business.
Moreover, manufacturers of cell therapy products often encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling out and validating initial production, and ensuring that the product meets required specifications. These problems include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product, quality assurance testing, operator error, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations. We cannot make any assurances that these problems will not occur in the future, or that we will be able to resolve or address problems that occur in a timely manner or with available funds.
Additionally, since the T cells used as starting material for our drug products have a limited window of stability following procurement from a patient, we must establish and employ complex logistical operations, including collecting and shipping, as part of our manufacturing processes. Logistical and shipment delays and problems caused by us, our agents, and other factors not in our control, such as weather, could prevent or delay the delivery of product to patients. If our manufacturing processes fail to perform satisfactorily, we may suffer reputational, operational, and business harm. We also are required to maintain a complex chain of identity and chain of custody with respect to patient material as it moves through the manufacturing process. Failure to maintain chain of identity and chain of custody could result in adverse patient outcomes, loss of product or regulatory action.
In addition, any significant disruption in the supply chain for starting materials necessary for our manufacturing processes could adversely affect our commercialization efforts. We source key materials from third party suppliers. There are a small number of suppliers for certain key materials that are used to manufacture our product and product candidates. We must compete with other market participants for the limited supply of such materials, which may result in increased costs. Moreover, supply chain constraints with respect to such starting materials may impact the execution of our commercialization efforts. For example, as a result of supply chain limitations, we are constrained in the amount of CARVYKTI™ that we are able to manufacture at present, which requires that we make complex and challenging distribution determinations with respect to our limited supply. Such supply chain constraints necessarily limit the commercial benefits that could be achieved from a broader initial distribution.
Finally, to the extent supplies of CARVYKTI™ are limited, we will face bioethical challenges in allocating a limited supply of CARVYKTI™ to a significant patient need. Because such determinations are highly complex and involve a large number of factors, such allocation decisions may be questioned by third parties.
We believe that our current, robust manufacturing processes are fit for commercial scale and we anticipate they will enable commercial supply at an economical cost. However, we have not yet established manufacturing capacity at full commercial scale and may underestimate the cost and time required to do so, or overestimate cost reductions from economies of scale that can be realized with our manufacturing processes. We may ultimately be unable to manage the cost of goods for our products and product candidates to levels that will allow for a margin in line with our expectations and return on investment in connection with commercialization.
Although we are continuing to build out our commercial capabilities, we have no prior sales or distribution centers and limited capabilities for marketing and market access. We expect to invest significant financial and management resources to establish these capabilities and infrastructure to support commercial operations. If we are unable to establish these commercial capabilities and infrastructure or to enter into agreements with third
9
parties to market and sell our product or any future products, we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our business.
Although we are continuing to build out our field team as part of our first commercial launch in the United States, we have no prior sales or distribution experience and limited capabilities for marketing and market access. To successfully commercialize CARVYKTI™ and any other products that may result from our development programs, we will need to develop these capabilities and further expand our infrastructure to support commercial operations in the United States, Europe and other regions, either on our own or with others. Commercializing autologous CAR T therapies such as CARVYKTI™ is resource-intensive and will require substantial investment in commercial capabilities. We will be competing with many companies that currently have extensive and well-funded marketing and sales operations. Without a significant internal team or the support of a third party to perform these functions, including marketing and sales functions, we may be unable to compete successfully against these more established companies.
We currently expect to rely heavily on third parties—primarily, our collaboration partner, Janssen—to launch and market CARVYKTI™. If Janssen does not commit sufficient resources to commercialize CARVYKTI™ , we may be unable to generate sufficient product revenue to sustain our business.
We operate in a rapidly changing industry and face significant competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.
The development and commercialization of new biopharmaceutical products is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological advancements. We face competition from major multi-national pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and specialty pharmaceutical companies with respect to our current and future product candidates that we may develop and commercialize in the future. There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are pursuing the development of product candidates for the treatment of cancer. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Due to their promising clinical therapeutic effect in clinical exploratory trials, engineered T cell therapies, redirected T cell therapies in general and antibody-drug conjugates are being pursued by multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and products that are more effective, more effectively marketed and sold or less costly than any product candidates that we may develop, which could render our product candidates noncompetitive and obsolete.
Our potential prior line CAR-T cell therapy competitors include companies developing cell therapies targeting BCMA for the treatment of MM, including Allogene, Autolus, bluebird, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Carsgen, Innovent, Poseida Therapeutics, Novartis and Precision Biosciences. Our potential competitors also include additional companies developing BCMA-targeted therapies for the treatment of MM, including Amgen, Regeneron, GSK and Pfizer. In addition, we may compete with cell therapies companies that are focused on development in Asia.
Other than CARVYKTI™, our product candidates are in early stages of development. Our competitors with development-stage programs may obtain marketing approval from the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities for their product candidates more rapidly than we do with respect to our development-stage product candidates, and they could establish a strong market position for either a product or a specific indication before we are able to enter the market.
Many of our competitors, either alone or with their strategic collaborators, have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be more successful than we are in obtaining approval for treatments and achieving widespread market acceptance, which may render our treatments obsolete or noncompetitive. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical study sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.
10
Our commercial opportunity—including with respect to CARVYKTI™—could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive or better reimbursed than any products that we may commercialize.
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.
We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and an even greater risk related to any commercialized products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
|
• |
reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; |
|
• |
decreased demand for any product candidates or products that we may develop; |
|
• |
injury to our reputation 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 the resulting litigation; |
|
• |
substantial monetary awards paid to clinical trial participants or patients; |
|
• |
loss of revenue; and |
|
• |
the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop. |
We currently hold $10 million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a per incident limit of $10 million, which may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We may need to increase our insurance coverage as we commercialize CARVYKTI™ expand our clinical trials or if we commercialize additional product candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.
Risks Related to Our Business
We have incurred significant losses in every year since our inception. We expect to continue to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
Other than with respect to CARVYKTI™’s FDA-approved indication, we are primarily a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history and we have incurred significant net losses since our inception. Our net loss was approximately $386.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. We have funded our operations to date primarily with upfront and milestone payments and interest-bearing borrowings from Janssen under our collaboration and license agreement, with proceeds from public offerings and private placements of equity securities, and with capital contributions from GenScript.
While we had revenue of approximately $89.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, this was attributable to our recognition of milestone payments we received from Janssen in connection with our collaboration and license agreement with Janssen, or the Janssen Agreement. With the exception of our first product, CARVYKTI™, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, on February 28, 2022 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, we have no products approved for commercial sale. We have not yet generated any revenue from commercial sales of our product candidates, and are devoting substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to the commercialization of CARVYKTI™ and the research and development of cilta-cel and our other CAR-T cell
11
therapy product candidates as well as to building out our manufacturing platform, cell therapy technologies and management team. Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any potential product candidate could fail to demonstrate adequate effect or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable.
Except for CARVYKTI™, none of our product candidates have received marketing approval, and we may never be successful in obtaining further marketing approvals or in commercializing product candidates. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. These net losses will adversely impact our shareholders’ deficit and net assets and may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially as we:
|
• |
establish sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure for the commercialization of CARVYKTI™ as well as any other product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval; |
|
• |
continue our ongoing and planned research and development of cilta-cel for the treatment of multiple myeloma (or MM); |
|
• |
conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials for any additional product candidates that we may pursue in the future, including ongoing and planned development of additional therapies for the treatment of T cell Lymphoma (or TCL), Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (or NHL), multiple myeloma (MM), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), lung cancer (small cell and non-small cell), gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and HIV; |
|
• |
seek to discover and develop additional product candidates and further expand our clinical product pipeline; |
|
• |
seek regulatory approvals for additional product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials; |
|
• |
continue to scale up manufacturing capacity with the aim of securing sufficient quantities to meet our capacity requirements for clinical trials and commercialization needs; |
|
• |
develop, maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; |
|
• |
acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies; |
|
• |
hire additional clinical, quality control and manufacturing personnel; |
|
• |
add clinical, operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned commercialization efforts; |
|
• |
expand our operations in the United States, China, Europe and other geographies; and |
|
• |
incur additional legal, accounting and other expenses associated with operating as a public company. |
To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval, manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval, as well as discovering and developing additional product candidates. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant enough to achieve profitability.
Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development, delivery and commercialization of complex autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. If we are required by regulatory authorities to perform studies in addition to those currently expected, or if there are any delays in the initiation and completion of our clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates, our expenses could increase and profitability could be further delayed.
Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would depress the value of our ADSs and could impair
12
our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts or continue our operations.
Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are primarily a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. CARVYKTI™, our first approved product, received initial FDA approved on February 28, 2022 and we are now beginning commercialization efforts. As an organization, we have demonstrated limited ability to successfully complete late-stage clinical trials and obtain regulatory approvals, and we have demonstrated no ability to manufacture our product candidates at commercial scale or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization, or obtain reimbursement in the countries of sale. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, and delays in achieving our business objectives. Our short history as an operating company makes any assessment of our future success or viability subject to significant uncertainty. If we do not address these risks successfully or are unable to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities, then our business will be materially harmed.
We will need additional funding to complete the development of our product candidates, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
We will require substantial additional funding to meet our financial needs and to pursue our business objectives. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or altogether cease our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, we will need to raise additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of cilta-cel and our other product candidates and in connection with our continuing operations and other planned activities. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
|
• |
the costs and timing of commercialization activities, including product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution, for CARVYKTI™ and any other of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval; |
|
• |
the progress, results and costs of laboratory testing, manufacturing, and preclinical and clinical development for our current product candidates; |
|
• |
the scope, progress, results and costs of preclinical development, laboratory testing and clinical trials of other product candidates that we may pursue; |
|
• |
the development requirements of other product candidates that we may pursue; |
|
• |
the timing and amounts of any milestone or royalty payments we may be required to make under future license agreements; |
|
• |
the costs of building out our infrastructure, including hiring additional clinical, quality control and manufacturing personnel; |
|
• |
the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates; |
|
• |
the amount of revenue we receive pursuant to the Janssen Agreement and the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval; |
|
• |
the costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending any intellectual property-related claims; |
|
• |
the costs of operating as a public company; and |
|
• |
the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies. |
13
In addition to cilta-cel, identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. To date, we have not generated any revenue from product sales. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our product candidates on terms that are not favorable to us. Any additional capital-raising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our current and future product candidates, if approved. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we could be forced to delay, reduce or altogether cease our research and development programs or future commercialization efforts.
Our operating results may be adversely affected by inflation.
While we have not experienced inflationary pressures on our operating costs to date, as we begin to commercialize CARVYKTI™, our business may feel more of an impact. Among other things, competition for labor is becoming more acute, and we expect to experience increased labor costs as we hire employees to support our CARVYKTI™ commercialization efforts. In addition, inflation and higher energy costs may drive increased raw material and transportation costs. There is no assurance that we will be able to fully offset any cost increases through cost reduction programs or setting higher prices for our products. If we generally are not able to set our pricing to sufficiently offset these increased costs or if increased costs and prolonged inflation continue, it could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and profitability. In addition, volatility in certain commodity markets could significantly affect our production cost.
Risks Related to the Development of Our Product Candidates
With the exception of CARVYKTI™, which was approved by FDA on February 28, 2022, all of our product candidates are in clinical development or in preclinical development. If we are unable to continue to advance CARVYKTI™ and to advance our other product candidates through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
While our first product, CARVYKTI™, was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2022 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, our success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to advance the development of CARVYKTI™ in earlier lines of MM treatment. In collaboration with Janssen, we are currently conducting a Phase 2 trial of cilta-cel in relapsed or refractory MM, or RRMM, patients in China (CARTIFAN-1) and a Phase 1b/2 trial of in RRMM patients in the United States and Japan (CARTITUDE-1). In November 2019, we and our strategic partner Janssen began enrolling an aggregate of approximately 157 patients in a Phase 2 multicohort trial of cilta-cel in the United States, Europe and Israel (CARTITUDE-2) in patients with MM in various clinical settings such as in early relapse patients or as a front-line therapy. In addition, the Phase 3 CARTITUDE-4 clinical trial, enrolling approximately 400 patients including sites in the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and Israel has been initiated. This clinical trial is comparing treatment with cilta-cel to treatment of standard triplet therapy in Revlimid-refractory MM. Furthermore, we initiated the Phase 3 CARTITUDE-5 clinical trial during August 2021, targeting enrollment at approximately 650 patients approximately 650 patients, including sites in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Korea and Japan. This clinical trial is comparing treatment with cilta-cel to treatment of standard triplet therapy in newly diagnosed MM patients for whom hematopoietic stem cell transplant is not planned as an initial therapy.
In addition to cilta-cel, we have a broad portfolio of earlier-stage autologous product candidates targeting various cancers, including NHL, AML, TCL, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, small cell lung cancer, non small cell lung cancer and HIV, all of which are currently in investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trials in China. We are also developing allogeneic CAR-T product candidates targeting
14
CD20 for the treatment of NHL and targeting BCMA for MM, which are currently in investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trials in China. We also have several product candidates in early preclinical and clinical development for the treatment of solid tumors as well as infectious diseases. There is no assurance that these or any other future clinical trials of our product candidates will be successful or will generate positive clinical data and we may not receive marketing approval from the FDA, the PRC’s National Medical Products Administration, or NMPA, the European Commission, or the EC (or the favorable technical/scientific opinion of the European Medicines Agency, or EMA), and the Japanese Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Agency, or PMDA, or other regulatory agencies, for any of our product candidates. On December 14, 2020, we announced that the FDA has cleared the IND application to evaluate LB1901 in relapsed or refractory TCL. There can be no assurance that the FDA will permit the IND applications for our other product candidates to go into effect in a timely manner or at all. Without an IND, we will not be permitted to conduct clinical trials in the United States.
Biopharmaceutical development is a long, expensive and uncertain process, and delay or failure can occur at any stage of any of our clinical trials. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates will prevent us from commercializing and marketing those product candidates. The success in the development of our product candidates will depend on many factors, including:
|
• |
completing preclinical studies and receiving regulatory authorizations to conduct clinical trials for our preclinical-stage program product candidates; |
|
• |
obtaining positive results in our clinical trials to demonstrate efficacy, safety and durability of effect of our product candidates; |
|
• |
receiving approvals for commercialization of our product candidates from regulatory authorities; |
|
• |
manufacturing our product candidates at an acceptable quality and cost; and |
|
• |
maintaining and growing an organization of scientists, medical professionals and business people who can develop and commercialize our products and technology. |
Many of these factors are beyond our control, including the time needed to adequately complete clinical testing and the regulatory submission process. It is possible that none of our product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval, even if we expend substantial time and resources seeking such approval. If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, or any other factors impacting the successful development of biopharmaceutical products, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully develop our product candidates, which would materially harm our business.
Our proprietary, next-generation CAR-T cell preparation technologies, our modular approach for CAR-T and our manufacturing platform for our CAR-T product candidates, represent emerging approaches to cancer treatment that face significant challenges and hurdles.
We have concentrated our primary research and development efforts on our CAR-T cell therapies using our expertise in tumor biology and cell programming, and our future success is highly dependent on the successful development and manufacture of our CAR-T product candidates. With the exception of our first product, CARVYKTI™, which was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2022 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, we do not currently have any approved products, nor do we have any commercialized products. As with other targeted therapies, off-tumor or off-target activity could delay development or require us to reengineer or abandon a particular product candidate. Because CAR-T cell therapies represent a relatively new field of cellular immunotherapy and cancer treatment generally, developing and commercializing our product candidates subjects us to a number of risks and challenges, including:
|
• |
obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates, as the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the PMDA and other regulatory authorities have limited experience with CAR-T therapies for cancer; |
|
• |
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; |
15
|
|
• |
conditioning patients with chemotherapy in conjunction with delivering each of our products, which may increase the risk of adverse side effects of our product candidates; |
|
• |
sourcing clinical and commercial supplies of the materials used to manufacture CARVYKTI™ and our product candidates; |
|
• |
developing programming modules with the desired properties, while avoiding adverse reactions; |
|
• |
creating and obtaining a sufficient supply of viral vectors capable of delivering multiple programming modules; |
|
• |
developing a reliable and consistent vector and cell manufacturing process; |
|
• |
establishing manufacturing capacity suitable for the manufacture of our product candidates in line with expanding enrollment in our clinical studies and our projected commercial requirements; |
|
• |
achieving cost efficiencies in the scale-up of our manufacturing capacity; |
|
• |
developing protocols for the safe administration of our product candidates; |
|
• |
educating medical personnel regarding our CAR-T technologies and the potential side effect profile of each of our product candidates, such as potential adverse side effects related to CRS; |
|
• |
establishing integrated solutions in collaboration with specialty treatment centers in order to reduce the burdens and complex logistics commonly associated with the administration of T cell therapies; |
|
• |
establishing sales and marketing capabilities to successfully launch and commercialize CARVYKTI™ and any other of our product candidates if and when we obtain any required regulatory approvals, and risks associated with gaining market acceptance of a novel therapy if we receive approval; and |
|
• |
the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for our novel and personalized therapies in connection with commercialization of any approved product candidates. |
We may not be able to successfully develop our CAR-T product candidates, our technology or our other product candidates in a manner that will yield products that are safe, effective, scalable or profitable.
Additionally, because our technology involves the genetic modification of patient cells ex vivo, we are subject to additional regulatory challenges and risks, including:
|
• |
regulatory requirements governing gene and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. To date, only four CAR-T cell therapy products that involve the genetic modification of patient cells have been approved in the United States and three in the European Union, and none have been approved in China; |
|
• |
genetically modified products in the event of improper insertion of a gene sequence into a patient’s chromosome could lead to lymphoma, leukemia or other cancers, or other aberrantly functioning cells; |
|
• |
although our viral vectors are not able to replicate, there is a risk with the use of retroviral or lentiviral vectors that they could lead to new or reactivated pathogenic strains of virus or other infectious diseases; and |
|
• |
the FDA recommends a 15-year follow-up observation period for all patients who receive treatment using gene therapies, and we may need to adopt such an observation period for our product candidates. |
Moreover, public perception and awareness of cell therapy safety issues may adversely influence the willingness of subjects to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates or of physicians to prescribe approved products. Physicians, hospitals and third-party payors often are slow to adopt new products, technologies and treatment practices that require additional upfront costs and training. Treatment centers may not be willing or able to devote the personnel and establish other infrastructure required for the administration of CAR-T cell therapies. Physicians may not be willing to undergo training to adopt this novel and personalized therapy, may decide the therapy is too complex to adopt without appropriate training and may choose not to administer the
16
therapy. Based on these and other factors, hospitals and payors may decide that the benefits of this new therapy do not or will not outweigh its costs.
Our future success is highly dependent on the regulatory approval of cilta-cel and our other pipeline programs. All of our product candidates require significant preclinical study and clinical trial before we can seek regulatory approval for and launch a product commercially.
With the exception of our first product, CARVYKTI™, which was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2022 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, we do not have any products that have gained regulatory approval for marketing. Our business is substantially dependent on our ability to further advance the development of CARVYKTI™, obtain regulatory approval for cilta-cel in other jurisdictions and for additional indications, obtain regulatory approval of our other product candidates, and commercialize CARVYKTI™ and, if approved, our other product candidates. We cannot commercialize product candidates in the United States without first obtaining regulatory approval for the product from the FDA; similarly, we cannot commercialize product candidates in countries outside the United States without obtaining regulatory approval from comparable regulatory authorities in relevant jurisdictions, such as the NMPA in China, the European Commission, on the basis of the technical / scientific opinion issued by the EMA, in the European Union and the PMDA in Japan. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any product candidate for a particular indication, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence gathered in preclinical and clinical studies that the product candidate is safe and effective for that indication and that the manufacturing facilities, processes and controls comply with regulatory requirements with respect to such product candidate. Prior to seeking approval for any of our product candidates, we will need to confer with the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA and other regulatory authorities regarding the design of our clinical trials and the type and amount of clinical data necessary to seek and gain approval for our product candidates.
The time required to obtain marketing approval by the FDA, the NMPA, the EC, the PMDA and other regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of preclinical studies and clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of preclinical and clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s research and development and may vary among jurisdictions. It is possible that none of our existing clinical- or preclinical-stage product candidates or any future product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Our product candidates could fail to receive marketing regulatory approval from the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities for many reasons, including:
|
• |
disagreement with the design, protocol or conduct of our clinical trials; |
|
• |
failure to demonstrate that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication; |
|
• |
failure of clinical trials to meet the level of statistical significance required for approval; |
|
• |
failure to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its risks; |
|
• |
disagreement with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials; |
|
• |
insufficiency of data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates to support the submission and filing of a BLA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval; |
|
• |
failure to obtain approval of the manufacturing processes of our facilities; |
|
• |
changes in the approval policies or regulations that render our preclinical and clinical data insufficient for approval; or |
|
• |
lack of adequate funding to complete a clinical trial in a manner that is satisfactory to the applicable regulatory authority. |
17
|
The FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or a comparable regulatory authority may require more information, including additional preclinical or clinical data to support approval, including data that would require us to perform additional preclinical studies, clinical trials, or both, or modify our manufacturing processes, which may delay or prevent approval and our commercialization plans, or we may decide to abandon the development program. If we change our manufacturing processes, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies, which also could delay or prevent approval of our product candidates. If we obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer indications than we request (including failing to approve the most commercially promising indications), may impose warnings and restrictions on prescription and distribution, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials or other post-marketing commitments, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate.
While cilta-cel has received orphan drug designation and breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA, has been granted access to the PRIME scheme from the EMA, and received confirmation that the product is eligible for accelerated assessment, our development strategy may also include the use of additional expedited pathways, such as through the accelerated or contingent approval pathway. Depending on results of the preclinical and clinical trials in our other product candidates, we may also pursue such status for those candidates. There is no certainty that our product candidates will qualify for breakthrough therapy, orphan drug, or obtain or maintain access to the PRIME scheme, nor can we assume that the clinical data obtained from trials of our product candidates will be sufficient to qualify for any expedited approval program.
Even if a product candidate were to successfully obtain marketing approval from the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, any approval might contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, or may be subject to burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for one of our product candidates in one or more jurisdictions, or any approval contains significant limitations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient funding to continue the development of that product or generate revenue attributable to that product candidate. Also, any regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates, once obtained, may be withdrawn.
We may not be successful in our efforts to build a pipeline of product candidates.
A key element of our strategy is to use our expertise in tumor biology and cell programming and our proprietary and modular CAR-T cell programming technologies to develop what we believe are safer and more effective CAR-T cell therapies. Our initial focus is on the development of a pipeline of product candidates for the treatment of hematological cancers and the progression of these product candidates through clinical development. We also intend to develop follow-on, or next-generation, product candidates with additional elements of programming built into the programmed CAR-T cell product candidate to offer enhanced characteristics as compared to the earlier product generation, as well as developing additional cell therapy product candidates. However, we may not be able to develop product candidates that are safe and effective, or which compare favorably with other commercially available alternatives. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline and developing next-generation product candidates or expanding into solid tumor indications, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, including as a result of lack of safety, lack of tolerability, lack of anti-tumor activity, or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval, achieve market acceptance or obtain reimbursements from third-party payors. We cannot provide you any assurance that we will be able to successfully advance any of these additional product candidates through the development process. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development or commercialization for many reasons, including the following:
|
• |
our platform may not be successful in identifying additional product candidates; |
|
• |
we may not be able or willing to assemble sufficient resources to acquire or discover additional product candidates; |
|
• |
our product candidates may not succeed in preclinical or clinical testing; |
18
|
• |
a product candidate may on further study be shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate it is unlikely to be effective or otherwise does not meet applicable regulatory criteria; |
|
• |
competitors may develop alternatives that render our product candidates obsolete or less attractive; |
|
• |
product candidates we develop may nevertheless be covered by third parties’ patents or other exclusive rights; |
|
• |
the market for a product candidate may change during our development program so that the continued development of that product candidate is no longer reasonable; |
|
• |
a product candidate may not be capable of being produced in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost, or at all; and |
|
• |
a product candidate may not be accepted as safe and effective by patients, the medical community or third-party payors, if applicable. |
If any of these events occur, we may be forced to abandon our development efforts for a program or programs, or we may not be able to identify, discover, develop or commercialize additional product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could potentially cause us to cease operations.
Even if we receive FDA or other regulatory approval to market our product candidates, whether for the treatment of cancers or other diseases, we cannot assure you that any such product candidates will be successfully commercialized, widely accepted in the marketplace or more effective than other commercially available alternatives. Further, because of our limited financial and managerial resources, we are required to focus our research programs on certain product candidates and on specific diseases. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or other diseases that may later prove to have greater commercial potential, or relinquish valuable rights to such product candidates through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights.
If we do not successfully develop and commercialize product candidates or collaborate with others to do so, we will not be able to obtain product revenue in future periods, which could significantly harm our financial position and adversely affect the trading price of our ADSs.
Our preclinical programs may experience delays or may never advance to clinical trials, which would adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approvals or commercialize these product candidates on a timely basis or at all, which would have an adverse effect on our business.
Some of our product candidates are still in the preclinical development stage, and the risk of failure of preclinical programs is high. Before we can commence clinical trials for a product candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies to obtain regulatory clearance to initiate human clinical trials, including based on IND applications in the United States and clinical trial applications, or CTAs, in China and the European Union. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical testing and studies and cannot predict if the FDA, the NMPA, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities will accept our proposed clinical programs or if the outcome of our preclinical testing and studies will ultimately support the further development of our programs. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit IND applications or similar applications for our preclinical programs on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of IND applications or similar applications will result in the FDA, the NMPA, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities allowing clinical trials to begin.
Clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, involve uncertain outcomes and may not be successful.
Human clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. The design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product candidate and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. As an organization, we have limited experience designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and
19
execute clinical trials that support regulatory approvals. There is a high failure rate for biologic products proceeding through clinical trials, which may be higher for our product candidates because they are based on new technology and engineered on a patient-by-patient basis. 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 our product candidate development. Any such delays could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Success in preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials.
Results from preclinical studies are not necessarily predictive of future clinical trial results, and interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. While we have received positive data from previously completed and ongoing clinical trials of cilta-cel in RRMM, we are still in the process of conducting additional clinical trials in the United States, China, Japan, several countries in Europe, Australia and Korea in order to seek regulatory approvals. Our other product candidates are in earlier stages of development. For that reason, we do not know whether these candidates will be effective and safe for the intended indications in humans. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials. This failure to establish sufficient efficacy and safety could cause us to abandon clinical development of our product candidates.
We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates. If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with the protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:
|
• |
the patient eligibility criteria defined in the protocol; |
|
• |
the number of patients with the disease or condition being studied; |
|
• |
the understanding of risks and benefits of the product candidate in the trial; |
|
• |
clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating or drugs that may be used off-label for these indications; |
|
• |
the size and nature of the patient population who meet inclusion criteria; |
|
• |
the proximity of patients to study sites; |
|
• |
the design of the clinical trial; |
|
• |
clinical trial investigators’ ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience; |
|
• |
competing clinical trials for similar therapies or other new therapeutics not involving T cell-based immunotherapy; |
|
• |
our ability to obtain and maintain patient consents; and |
|
• |
the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the clinical trials before completion of their treatment. |
20
|
In particular, some of our clinical trials are designed to enroll patients with characteristics that are found in a very small population. Other companies are conducting clinical trials with cell therapies in MM and for other conditions that are targeted by our research, and seek to enroll patients in their studies that may otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials, which could lead to slow recruitment and delays in our clinical programs. In addition, since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which could further reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in these clinical trial sites. Moreover, because our product candidates represent a departure from more commonly used methods for cancer treatment, potential patients and their doctors may be inclined to use conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy and antibody therapy, rather than participating in our clinical trials.
Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these clinical trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates. In addition, many of the factors that may lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
We have studied our product candidates and plan to continue to study our product candidates in investigator- initiated clinical trials, which means we do not have full control over the conduct of such trials.
We are currently evaluating our product candidates in investigator-initiated clinical trials. In addition, part of our strategy is to continue to explore new opportunities for cell therapy in investigator-initiated clinical trials in China, where such trials are initiated and conducted under the oversight of the China National Health Commission (NHC) as a medical practice technology, rather than the NMPA as a medical product. The NMPA, generally speaking, will accept, review, and reject or approve a CTA only from the manufacturer of the investigational product as the sponsor of the CTA, rather than from a physician who intends to be the investigator and sponsor of the CTA. The NMPA distinguishes the former as registrational clinical trial, and the latter as non-registrational clinical trial, and normally will not consider the data generated from investigator-initiated non-registrational clinical trials, when it reviews the application for registrational clinical trial from the manufacturer.
In the case of CAR-T therapy, however, the NMPA is aware of the large number of investigator-initiated non-registrational clinical trials in China and the United States, and certain reviewers from its Center for Drug Evaluation published two articles on its website in February 2018 and October 2018, expressing the view that (1) the mainstream regulatory oversight is to follow the pathway of registrational clinical trial, but that (2) data from investigator-initiated non-registrational clinical trials may be considered if the non-registrational clinical trials otherwise fully comply with the same requirements applicable to registrational clinical trials -, in particular the requirements related to manufacturing quality control, informed consent, data integrity, data management, and all GCP requirements.
Accordingly, our strategy of continuing to explore new opportunities for cell therapy in investigator-initiated clinical trials in China exposes us to the risk that the NMPA may refuse to consider the data from the investigator- initiated clinical trials of our product candidates due to concerns that (1) this does not follow the mainstream regulatory pathway of relying on registrational clinical trial, or that (2) the non-registrational clinical trials of our product candidates may not otherwise fully comply with the same requirements applicable to registrational clinical trials, as further explained below.
Investigator-initiated clinical trials pose similar risks as those set forth elsewhere in this section relating to clinical trials initiated by us. While investigator-initiated trials may provide us with clinical data that can inform our future development strategy, we do not have full control over the protocols, administration, or conduct of the trials. As a result, we are subject to risks associated with the way investigator-initiated trials are conducted and there is no assurance the clinical data from any of our investigator-initiated clinical trials in China will be accepted by the FDA, EMA, PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities outside of China for any of our product candidates. Third parties in such investigator-initiated clinical trials may not perform their responsibilities for our clinical trials on our anticipated schedule or consistent with clinical trial protocols or applicable regulations. Further, any data integrity issues or patient safety issues arising out of any of these trials would be beyond our control, yet could adversely affect our reputation and damage the clinical and commercial prospects for our product candidates. Additional risks
21
include difficulties or delays in communicating with investigators or administrators, procedural delays and other timing issues, and difficulties or differences in interpreting data. Third-party investigators may design clinical trials with clinical endpoints that are more difficult to achieve, or in other ways that increase the risk of negative clinical trial results compared to clinical trials that we may design on our own , and they may elect to discontinue these trials, even if we believe they have scientific merit. As a result, our lack of control over the design, conduct and timing of, and communications with the FDA, NMPA, EMA and PMDA, other comparable regulatory authorities, and relevant Institutional Review Boards and Ethics Committees regarding investigator-initiated trials expose us to additional risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside our control, and the occurrence of which could adversely affect the prospects for our product candidates.
Furthermore, there is no assurance the clinical data from any of our investigator-initiated clinical trials in China, where the patients are predominately of Chinese descent, will produce similar results in patients of different races, ethnicities or those of non-Chinese descent.
The market opportunities for certain of our product candidates may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for or have failed prior treatments and may be small, and our projections regarding the size of the addressable market may be incorrect.
Cancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first line, second line or third line therapies, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for last line use. When blood cancers are detected, they are treated with first line of therapy with the intention of curing the cancer. This generally consists of chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor-targeted small molecules, or a combination of these. In addition, sometimes a bone marrow transplantation can be added to the first line therapy after the combination chemotherapy is given. If the patient’s cancer relapses, then they are given a second line or third line therapy, which can consist of more chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor-targeted small molecules, or a combination of these, or bone marrow transplant. Generally, the higher the line of therapy, the lower the chance of a cure. With third or higher line, the goal of the therapy in the treatment of lymphoma and myeloma is to control the growth of the tumor and extend the life of the patient, as a cure is unlikely to happen. Patients are generally referred to clinical trials in these situations.
While CARVYKTI™ has been approved by FDA as a later line therapy for patients with MM, there is no guarantee that cilta-cel will be approved for earlier lines of therapy, nor is there any guarantee that any of our other product candidates, even if approved, will be approved for earlier lines of therapy. In addition, we may have to conduct additional large randomized clinical trials prior to or post gaining approval for the earlier line of therapy.
Our projections of both the number of people who have the cancers we are targeting, as well as the size of the patient population subset of people with these cancers in a position to receive first, second, third and fourth line therapy and who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations, or market research and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these cancers. The number of patients may turn out to be fewer than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our product candidates. For instance, in our ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial for LB1901, we will seek to enroll patients with relapsed or refractory TCL, a rare and heterogeneous form of NHL. Even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve significant revenue without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications or as part of earlier lines of therapy.
Adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with our product candidates could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, cause us to abandon product candidates, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval.
In clinical trials conducted by us and other companies involving CAR-T cells, the most prominent acute toxicities included symptoms thought to be associated with CRS, such as fever, low blood pressure and kidney dysfunction. Some patients also experienced toxicity of the central nervous system, or neurotoxicity, such as confusion, tremor, cranial nerve dysfunction, seizures, encephalopathy and speech impairment. Adverse events with the worst grades and attributed to CAR-T cells were severe and life threatening in some patients. The life
22
threatening events were related to respiratory dysfunction and neurotoxicity. Severe and life threatening toxicities occurred mostly in the first two weeks after cell infusion and generally resolved within three weeks, but several patients died in clinical trials involving CAR-T cells, including in our clinical trials. Furthermore, other patients experienced serious adverse events at later stages in treatment follow-up, such as cytopenias, infections and neurotoxicity.
In the LEGEND-2 clinical trial, CRS was observed in over 90 percent of patients. Low grade CRS, experienced by 82 percent of patients, was managed with standard therapies and resolved. One patient died of a CAR-T related toxicity as a result of CRS and tumor lysis syndrome. A second patient died from a potential pulmonary embolism and acute coronary syndrome, which was considered unrelated to treatment by the investigator. In the Phase 1b/2 CARTITUDE-1 clinical trial, as of February 11, 2021, CRS was reported in 95 percent of patients. Total CAR-T cell neurotoxicity of any grade was observed in 21 percent of patients, with Grade 3 or higher neurotoxicity observed in 10 percent of patients. There were twenty one deaths during the Phase 1b/2 CARTITUDE-1 trial: ten due to disease progression, 6 were treatment-related as assessed by the investigator, and 5 were due to adverse events unrelated to treatment.
Our clinical trials include cancer patients who are very sick and whose health is deteriorating, and we expect that additional clinical trials of our other product candidates will include similar patients with deteriorating health. It is possible that some of these patients may experience similar adverse side effects as were observed in our current clinical trials and in clinical trials conducted by other companies and academic institutions involving CAR-T cells, and that additional patients may die during our clinical trials for various reasons, including as a result of receiving our product candidates, because the patient’s disease is too advanced, or because the patient experiences medical problems that may not be related to our product candidate. Even if the deaths are not related to our product candidate, the deaths could affect perceptions regarding the safety of our product candidate.
Patient deaths and severe side effects caused by our product candidates, or by products or product candidates of other companies that are thought to have similarities with our product candidates, could result in the delay, suspension, clinical hold or termination of clinical trials by us, Ethics Committees, the FDA, the NMPA, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities for a number of reasons. If we elect or are required to delay, suspend or terminate any clinical trial of any product candidates that we develop, the commercial prospects of such product candidates will be harmed and our ability to generate product revenue from any of these product candidates would be delayed or eliminated. Serious adverse events observed in clinical trials could hinder or prevent market acceptance of the product candidate at issue. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations significantly.
Additionally, for CARVYKTI™ or any other of our product candidates that receives marketing approval, if we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by that product, including during any long-term follow-up observation period recommended or required for patients who receive treatment using the product or during additional clinical trials or required Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMs, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
|
• |
regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product; |
|
• |
regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label; |
|
• |
if a REMS is not already required for such product, we may be required to create a REMS or similar risk management plan, which could include a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients, a communication plan for healthcare providers and/or other elements to assure safe use; |
|
• |
we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and |
|
• |
our reputation may suffer. |
Any of the foregoing could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
23
If the clinical trials of any of our product candidates fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities, or do not otherwise produce favorable results, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.
We may not commercialize, market, promote or sell any product candidate without obtaining marketing approval from the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authority, and we may never receive such approvals for our product candidates in development. It is impossible to predict accurately when or if any of these product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans and will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each proposed indication. Clinical trials are expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and are uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of clinical development.
We may experience numerous unforeseen events prior to, during or as a result of clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize any of our product candidates, including:
|
• |
the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authority may disagree as to the number, design or implementation of our clinical trials, or may not interpret the results from clinical trials as we do; |
|
• |
regulators or institutional review boards may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site; |
|
• |
we may not reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different clinical trial sites; |
|
• |
clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results; |
|
• |
we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs; |
|
• |
the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate or we may fail to recruit eligible patients to participate in a trial; |
|
• |
our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all; |
|
• |
regulators may issue a clinical hold, or regulators or institutional review boards may require that we or our investigators suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks; |
|
• |
the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate; |
|
• |
the FDA, the NMPA, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities may fail to approve our manufacturing processes or facilities; |
|
• |
the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate; |
|
• |
our product candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, particularly given their novel, first-in-human application, such as cytokine-induced toxicity and T cell aplasia, causing us or our investigators, regulators or institutional review boards to suspend or terminate the clinical trials; and |
|
• |
the approval policies or regulations of the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or other comparable regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval. |
24
|
To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory for the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions to approve the BLA, MAA, new drug application, or NDA, or other comparable applications, the commercialization of our product candidates may be significantly delayed, or we may be required to expend significant additional resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates.
Our product candidates are biologics and the manufacture of our product candidates is complex and we may encounter difficulties in production, particularly with respect to process development or scaling-out of our manufacturing capabilities. If we encounter such difficulties, our ability to provide supply of our product candidates for clinical trials or our products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or stopped.
We have developed a robust process for manufacturing CAR-T cells with desired quality, and we have improved the viral transduction process to help eliminate processing inconsistencies. We believe that our current processes are suitable for full-scale commercialization. While we have established a process which we believe is scalable for full-scale commercial production, each manufacturing process must be validated through the performance of process validation runs to guarantee that the facility, personnel, equipment, and process work as designed. We have not yet manufactured or processed most of our product candidates on a commercial scale and may not be able to do so for any of our product candidates.
We, like other manufacturers of biologic products, may encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up or out, validating the production process, and assuring high reliability of the manufacturing process. These problems include delays or breakdowns in logistics and shipping, difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, and product testing, operator error, lack of availability of qualified personnel, as well as failure to comply with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations.
Furthermore, if microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our supply of products or product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination. We cannot assure you that any of these or other issues relating to our manufacturing will not occur in the future. Any delay or interruption in the supply of commercial product could delay our commercialization program, result in regulatory scrutiny, damage our reputation and impede our profitability. Any delay or interruption in the fulfillment of clinical trial supplies could delay the completion of clinical trials, increase the costs associated with maintaining clinical trial programs and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to begin new clinical trials at additional expense or terminate clinical trials completely.
The manufacture and delivery of CAR-T cell therapies to patients involves complex, integrated processes, including harvesting T cells from patients, programming the T cells ex vivo, multiplying the CAR-T cells to obtain the desired dose, and ultimately infusing the CAR-T cells back into a patient’s body. As a result of the complexities, the cost to manufacture biologics in general, and our CAR-T cell product candidates in particular, is generally higher than traditional small molecule chemical compounds, and the manufacturing process is more variable and is more difficult and costly to reproduce. In addition, our manufacturing process is susceptible to product loss or failure due to logistical issues associated with the collection of white blood cells from the patient, shipping such patient material to the manufacturing site, storing and processing such patient material, shipping the patient material with the CAR-T cells back to the patient, and infusing the patient with the final product. Other manufacturing issues include the differences in patient starting materials, inconsistency in cell growth, variability in product characteristics, interruptions in the manufacturing process, equipment or reagent failure, improper installation or operation of equipment, and vendor or operator error. Even minor deviations from normal manufacturing processes could result in reduced production yields, product defects, and other supply disruptions. If we lose, destroy or otherwise impair the patient materials at any point in the vein-to-vein supply chain, the manufacturing process for that patient may need to be restarted and the resulting delay may adversely affect that patient’s outcome due to the risk of disease progression. In addition, because our products and product candidates are manufactured for each particular patient, we are required to maintain a chain of identity with respect to materials as they move from the patient to the manufacturing facility, through the manufacturing process, and back to the patient. Maintaining such a chain of identity is difficult and complex, and failure to do so could result in adverse patient outcomes, loss of product, or regulatory action including withdrawal of our products from the market. Further, as product candidates are developed through preclinical to late stage clinical trials toward approval and commercialization, it is common that
25
various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives, and any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials.
Our manufacturing facilities also require commissioning and validation activities to demonstrate that they operate as designed, and are subject to government inspections by the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA and other comparable regulatory authorities. If we are unable to reliably produce products to specifications acceptable to the regulatory authorities, we may not obtain or maintain the approvals we need to manufacture our products. Further, our facilities may fail to pass government inspections prior to or after the commercial launch of our product candidates, which would cause significant delays and additional costs required to remediate any deficiencies identified by the regulatory authorities. Any of these challenges could delay completion of clinical trials, require bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidate, impair commercialization efforts, increase our cost of goods, and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
The process for treating cancer patients using T cell therapy is subject to human and systemic risks.
The “vein-to-vein” cycle for treating cancer patients using T cell therapy typically takes approximately four to six weeks and involves a large number of steps and human participants. First, the patient’s lymphocytes are isolated by apheresis at the clinical site and shipped to the manufacturing site. Under current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, conditions at the manufacturing site, the patient’s lymphocytes are thawed and washed, and then enriched for CD3-positive T cells using specialized reagents. After overnight culture and T cell activation, the T cells are transduced using lentiviral vector transduction technology to introduce the CAR genetic construct into the enriched T cell population. At the completion of T cell transduction, the T cells are expanded for several days, harvested, formulated into the final drug product and then cryopreserved for delivery to patients. In both the United States and China, samples of the final product are subjected to several release tests which must fulfill specified criteria for the drug product to be released for infusion. These include sterility, identity, purity, potency and other tests. We are subject to stringent regulatory and quality standards in the course of a T cell therapy treatment process. We cannot assure you that our quality control and assurance efforts will be successful or that the risk of human or systemic errors in these processes can be eliminated.
Prior treatments can alter the cancer and negatively impact chances for achieving clinical activity with our CAR-T cells.
Patients with hematological cancers typically receive highly toxic chemotherapy as their initial treatments. Such treatments can impact the viability of the T cells collected from the patient and may contribute to highly variable responses to CAR-T cell therapies. Patients could also have received prior therapies that target the same target antigen on the cancer cells as our intended programmed CAR-T cell products or product candidate, which could result in these patients having cancer cells with low or no expression of the target. As a result, our CAR-T cell product candidates may not recognize the cancer cell and may fail to achieve clinical activity. Our lead product candidate, cilta-cel (which was approved by the FDA under the trademark CARVYKTI™), faces this challenge. For example, MM patients could have received a BCMA-targeting antibody drug conjugate BCMA-ADC, like GSK2857916, BCMA targeting T cell engagers, like AMG-420 (Amgen) and CC-93269 (Bristol-Myers Squibb), or similar products or product candidates prior to receiving cilta-cel. If any of our product candidates do not achieve a sufficient level of clinical activity, we may discontinue the development of that product candidate, which could have an adverse effect on the value of our ADSs.
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or have a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and management resources, we focus on research programs and product candidates that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay the pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for
26
specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
As a company partly based outside of the United States, our business is subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.
As a company with substantial operations in China, our business is subject to risks associated with conducting business outside the United States. Many of our suppliers and clinical trial relationships are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:
|
• |
economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular non-U.S. economies and markets; |
|
• |
differing and changing regulatory requirements for product approvals; |
|
• |
differing jurisdictions could present different issues for securing, maintaining or obtaining freedom to operate in such jurisdictions; |
|
• |
potentially reduced protection for intellectual property rights; |
|
• |
difficulties in compliance with different, complex and changing laws, regulations and court systems of multiple jurisdictions and compliance with a wide variety of foreign laws, treaties and regulations; |
|
• |
changes in non-U.S. regulations and customs, tariffs and trade barriers; |
|
• |
changes in non-U.S. currency exchange rates of the Renminbi, or RMB, U.S. dollar, euro and currency controls; |
|
• |
changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic environment; |
|
• |
trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements or other restrictive actions by governments; |
|
• |
differing reimbursement regimes and price controls in certain non-U.S. markets; |
|
• |
negative consequences from changes in tax laws; |
|
• |
compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad, including, for example, the variable tax treatment in different jurisdictions of options granted under our Share Option Scheme or Restricted Share Unit Incentive Plan; |
|
• |
workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is more common than in the United States; |
|
• |
litigation or administrative actions resulting from claims against us by current or former employees or consultants individually or as part of class actions, including claims of wrongful terminations, discrimination, misclassification or other violations of labor law or other alleged conduct; |
|
• |
difficulties associated with staffing and managing international operations, including differing labor relations; |
|
• |
production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and |
|
• |
business interruptions resulting from geo-political actions, including war and terrorism, health epidemics, or natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods and fires. |
See “Item 3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China” for additional risks related to our operations in China.
27
We will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.
As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 1,071 full-time employees. As our development and commercialization plans progress and strategic plans expand and develop, and as we mature as a public company, we expect to need additional managerial, operational, financial and other personnel, including personnel to support our product development and both current and planned future commercialization efforts. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:
|
• |
identifying, recruiting, integrating, maintaining and motivating additional employees; |
|
• |
managing our internal development efforts effectively, including the clinical, FDA, NMPA, EMA and PMDA review processes for our product candidates; and |
|
• |
improving our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures. |
There are a small number of individuals with experience in cell therapy and the competition for these individuals is high. Our future financial performance and our ability to effectively commercialize our product candidates depends, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.
If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.
In addition to expanding our organization, we are increasing the size of our facilities and building out our development and manufacturing capabilities, which requires significant capital expenditures. If these capital expenditures are higher than expected, it may adversely affect our financial condition and capital resources. In addition, if the increase in the size of our facilities is delayed, it may limit our ability to rapidly expand the size of our organization in order to meet our corporate goals.
Our future success depends on our ability to retain key members of senior management and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biopharmaceutical industry depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified management, research and development, clinical, financial and business development personnel. We are highly dependent on our management, scientific and medical personnel, any of whom may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our employees.
Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical , commercialization, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel, will be critical to our success. The loss of the services of members of our senior management or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing members of our senior management and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level and senior managers, as well as junior, mid-level and senior scientific and medical personnel. Competition to hire from this limited candidate pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.
28
If we engage in future acquisitions or strategic collaborations, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our shareholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.
From time to time, we may evaluate various acquisitions and strategic collaborations, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses, as we may deem appropriate to carry out our business plan. Any potential acquisition or strategic collaboration may entail numerous risks, including:
|
• |
increased operating expenses and cash requirements; |
|
• |
the assumption of additional indebtedness or contingent liabilities; |
|
• |
assimilation of operations, intellectual property and products of an acquired company, including difficulties associated with integrating new personnel; |
|
• |
the diversion of our management’s attention from our existing programs and initiatives in pursuing such a strategic partnership, merger or acquisition; |
|
• |
retention of key employees, the loss of key personnel and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships; |
|
• |
risks and uncertainties associated with the other party to such a transaction, including the prospects of that party and their existing products or product candidates and regulatory approvals; and |
|
• |
our inability to generate revenue from acquired technology sufficient to meet our objectives in undertaking the acquisition or even to offset the associated acquisition and maintenance costs. |
Additionally, if we undertake acquisitions, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large onetime expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expenses. Moreover, we may not be able to locate suitable acquisition opportunities and this inability could impair our ability to grow or obtain access to technology or products that may be important to the development of our business.
Our internal information technology systems, or those of our third-party vendors, collaborators or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a significant disruption of our product development programs, give rise to significant liability, subject us to costly and protracted litigation, cause significant reputational harm and our ability to operate our business effectively.
We are increasingly dependent upon information technology systems, infrastructure, and data to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store, and transmit confidential information (including but not limited to intellectual property, proprietary business information, and personal information). It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of such information. We also have outsourced elements of our operations to third parties, and as a result we manage a number of third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants who have access to our confidential information.
Our internal information technology systems and those of our current and any future third-party vendors, collaborators and other contractors or consultants may be vulnerable to a variety of disruptive elements, including cyber-attacks by malicious third parties (including the deployment of computer viruses, harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering, and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information), unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. In particular, the risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments, and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity, and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. We may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats, and we may not be able to implement preventive measures effective against all such security threats. The techniques used by cyber criminals change frequently, may not be recognized until launched, and can originate from a wide variety of sources, including outside groups such as external service providers, organized crime affiliates, terrorist organizations, or hostile foreign governments or agencies. While we have not experienced any significant system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations or a loss of, or
29
damage to, our data or applications, or those of our third-party vendors and other collaborators, contractors and consultants, it could result in a disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other proprietary information, significant delays or setbacks in our research, or other similar disruptions. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur significant liability, our competitive position could be harmed, our reputation could be damaged, and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed. In addition, any such event that leads to unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information, including personal information regarding our customers or employees, could compel us to comply with federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to mandatory corrective action, and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of personal information. The costs related to significant security breaches or disruptions could be material and exceed the limits of the cybersecurity insurance we maintain against such risks. If the information technology systems of our third-party vendors and other collaborators, contractors and consultants become subject to disruptions or security breaches, we may be exposed to material liability and have insufficient recourse against such third parties and we may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring.
We are or may become subject to a variety of privacy and data security laws, policies and contractual obligations, and our failure or failure of our third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors or consultants to comply with existing or future laws and regulations related to privacy or data security could lead to government enforcement actions, which could include civil or criminal fines or penalties, private litigation, other liabilities, and/or adverse publicity. Compliance or the failure to comply with such laws could increase the costs, could limit their use or adoption, and could otherwise negatively affect our operating results and business.
We maintain and process, and our third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors and consultants maintain and process on our behalf, sensitive information, including confidential business and personal information, including but not limited to health information in connection with our commercialization and development activities and our employees, and are subject to laws and regulations governing the privacy and security of such information. Failure by us, our third- party vendors, collaborators, contractors and consultants to comply with any of these laws and regulations could result in enforcement action against us, including fines, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, claims for damages by affected individuals, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
Regulatory authorities in China have implemented and are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals concerning data protection. On March 17, 2018, the General Office of the PRC State Council promulgated the Measures for the Management of Scientific Data (the Scientific Data Measures) which provide a broad definition of scientific data and relevant rules for the management of scientific data. According to the Scientific Data Measures, any scientific data involving state secret, state security, social public interests, commercial secret or personal privacy may not be open and shared; where openness is indeed needed, the purpose, user’s qualification, conditions of confidentiality and other factors shall be reviewed, and the informing scope shall be strictly controlled. Further, any researcher conducting research funded, at least in part, by the PRC government is required to submit relevant scientific data for management by the entity to which such researcher is affiliated before such data may be published in any foreign academic journal. China’s Cyber Security Law, which became effective in June 2017, created China’s national-level data protection for “network operators,” which may include all organizations in China that provide services over the internet or another information network. Numerous regulations, guidelines and other measures are expected to be adopted under the umbrella of the Cyber Security Law. Furthermore, the Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities, which was issued by the General Office of the State Council and another authority on July 6, 2021, requires the speed-up of the revision of the provisions on strengthening the confidentiality and archives management related to overseas issuance and listing of securities, and improvement to the laws and regulations related to data security, cross-border data flow, and management of confidential information. China’s Data Security Laws, which was promulgated by the Standing Committee of PRC National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, on June 10, 2021 and became effective on September 1, 2021, outlines the main system framework of data security protection. The Personal Information Protection Law promulgated by the SCNPC
30
on August 20, 2021 and became effective on November 1, 2021, which outlines the main system framework of personal information protection and processing.
The Measures for Cybersecurity Review were published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, and 12 other relevant PRC government authorities on December 28, 2021 and became effective on February 15, 2022. These measures provide that, among other things, if a “network platform operator” that possesses personal information of more than one million users intends to go public in a foreign country, it must apply for a cybersecurity review with the cybersecurity review office; in such event, the relevant PRC governmental authorities may initiate cybersecurity review if they determine certain network products, services, or data processing activities affect or may affect national security.
Regulations on the Security Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure, which was promulgated by the State Council of the PRC on July 30, 2021 and became effective on September 1, 2021, or the CII Protection Regulations, stipulates the obligations and liabilities of the regulators, society and critical information infrastructure operators, or the CIIOs, in protecting the security of critical information infrastructure, or the CII. According to the CII Protection Regulations, regulators supervising specific industries shall formulate detailed guidance to recognize the CII in the respective sectors, and CIIOs shall take the responsibility to protect the CII’s security by performing certain prescribed obligations. For example, CIIOs are required to conduct network security test and risk assessment, report the assessment results to relevant regulatory authorities, and timely rectify the issues identified at least once a year. In addition, drafts of some of these measures have now been published, including the draft rules on the Measures for the Security Assessment of Personal Information and Important Data to be Transmitted Abroad, which may, upon enactment, require security review before transferring human health-related data out of China. On October 29, 2021, the CAC published the Measures on Security Assessment of Cross-border Transfer of Data (Draft for Comments), which provides that data processors are required to make self-assessment of the risks before transferring data cross-border, and are required to apply for security assessment for cross-border data transfer in any of the following circumstances: (i) transferring personal information and important data collected and produced by CIIOs; (ii) important data is included in the data transferred cross-border; (iii) transferring personal information cross-border by personal information processors which process more than one million individuals’ personal information; (iv) transferring more than one hundred thousand individuals’ personal information or more than ten thousand individuals’ sensitive personal information cumulatively; or (v) other circumstances which require the application for cross-border data transfer security assessment as determined by the CAC.
The draft Regulations for the Administration of Cyber Data Security, or the Draft Data Security Regulations, published by the CAC on November 14, 2021 for public comments until December 13, 2021 reiterates that a data processor who processes personal information of more than 1 million individuals shall go through the cyber security review if it intends to be listed in a foreign country, and if a data processor conducts any data processing activities that affect or may affect national security, an application for cyber security review shall also be made by such processor. And the Draft Data Security Regulations require data processors processing important data or being listed outside China shall carry out data security assessment annually by itself or through a third party data security service provider and submit assessment report to local agency of the CAC. The Draft Data Security Regulations provide a broad definition of data processing activities, including collection, storage, usage, processing, transfer, provision, publication, deletion and other activities, and the Draft Data Security Regulations also provide a broad definition of data processor as individuals and entities which autonomously determine the purpose and method during data processing activities. However, the Draft Data Security Regulations provide no further elaboration on what constitutes a situation that “affects or may affect national security” and are subject to further changes before being formally adopted and coming into effect.
As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 20-F, no detailed rules or implementation of the Measures for Cybersecurity Review or the Draft Data Security Regulations have been issued by the CAC, and the PRC governmental authorities may have wide discretion in the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations. It also remains uncertain whether the future regulatory changes would impose additional restrictions on companies like us. We cannot predict the impact of the Draft Data Security Regulations, if any, at this stage, and we will closely monitor and assess any development in the rulemaking process. If the enacted version of the Draft Data Security Regulations requires any clearance of cybersecurity review and other specific actions to be completed by companies like us, we face uncertainties as to whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all. If we are not able to comply with the cybersecurity and data privacy requirements in a timely manner, or at all, we may be subject
31
to government enforcement actions and investigations, fines, penalties, or suspension of our non-compliant operations, among other sanctions, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. We have been making constant efforts to comply with the relevant data protection laws and regulations in the PRC and will endeavor to comply with any update in the applicable laws, regulations or guidelines as issued by any relevant regulatory authorities in the PRC. However, we cannot assure you that we are able to comply with any applicable privacy and data security laws, regulations and guidelines in a timely manner, or at all. In addition, certain industry-specific laws and regulations affect the collection and transfer of personal data in China. For example, the PRC State Council promulgated Regulations on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources (effective in July 2019), which require approval/filing from the Science and Technology Administration Department of the PRC State Council where human genetic resources are involved in any international collaborative project and additional approval, filing and backup for any export or cross-border transfer of the human genetic resources samples or associated data or for providing/offering access of the information on human genetic resources to foreign entities and the institutions established or actually controlled thereby. We cannot assure you that we have complied or will be able to comply with all applicable human genetic resources related regulations. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices, potentially resulting in confiscation of human genetic resources samples and associated data and administrative fines. As there are still uncertainties regarding the further enacting of new laws and regulations as well as the revision, interpretation and implementation of those existing laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with such regulations in all respects, and we may be ordered to make rectification and terminate any actions that are deemed illegal by the regulatory authorities and become subject to fines and/or other sanctions. As a result, we may be required to suspend our related businesses or face other penalties which may have material adverse effect on our business, operations and financial condition.
In May 2018, a new privacy regime, the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, took effect in the European Economic Area, or the EEA, into which we may expand our business. The GDPR governs the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or other processing of personal data of persons who are in the European Union. Among other things, the GDPR imposes requirements regarding the security of personal data and notification of data processing obligations to the competent national data protection authorities, establishes a limited range of lawful bases on which personal data can be processed, expands the definition of personal data and requires changes to informed consent practices, as well as more detailed notices for clinical trial subjects and investigators. In addition, the GDPR increases the scrutiny of transfers of personal data from clinical trial sites located in the EEA to the United States and other jurisdictions that the European Commission does not recognize as having “adequate” data protection laws, and imposes substantial fines for breaches and violations (up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of our consolidated annual worldwide gross revenue). The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. Further, while the United Kingdom enacted the Data Protection Act 2018 in May 2018 that supplements the GDPR and has publicly announced that it will continue to regulate the protection of personal data in the same way post-Brexit, Brexit has created uncertainty with regard to the future of regulation of data protection in the United Kingdom. Some countries also are considering or have passed legislation requiring local storage and processing of data, or similar requirements, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our products and services.
In the United States, there are numerous federal and state privacy and data security laws and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal information, including federal and state health information privacy laws, federal and state security breach notification laws, and federal and state consumer protection laws. Each of these constantly evolving laws can be subject to varying interpretations. For example, regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, that constitutes protected health information, and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. Determining whether protected health information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy and security standards and our contractual obligations can be complex and may be subject to changing interpretation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, has the discretion to impose penalties without attempting to first resolve violations. HHS enforcement activity can result in financial liability and reputational harm, and responses to such enforcement activity can consume significant internal resources.
32
In addition, states are frequently adopting new laws or amending existing laws, requiring attention to such frequently changing regulatory requirements. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, on June 28, 2018, which took effect on January 1, 2020 and has been dubbed the first “GDPR- like” law in the United States. The CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used by requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers (as that term is broadly defined and can include any of our current or future employees who may be California residents) and provide such residents new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. As we expand our operations and trials (both preclinical or clinical), the CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. Other states are beginning to pass similar laws.
Many statutory requirements, both in the United States and abroad, include obligations for companies to notify individuals of security breaches involving certain personal information, which could result from breaches experienced by us or our third-party service providers. For example, laws in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia require businesses to provide notice to consumers whose personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. These laws are not consistent, and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach is difficult and may be costly. Moreover, states have been frequently amending existing laws, requiring attention to changing regulatory requirements. We also may be contractually required to notify customers or other counterparties of a security breach. Any contractual protections we may have from our third-party service providers, contractors or consultants may not be sufficient to adequately protect us from any such liabilities and losses, and we may be unable to enforce any such contractual protections.
We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning data privacy and security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws, regulations, standards and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. Because the interpretation and application of health-related and data protection laws, regulations, standards and other obligations are still uncertain, and often contradictory and in flux, it is possible that the scope and requirements of these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices and our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection rules may be unsuccessful. If so, this could result in government- imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, these privacy regulations may differ from country to country, and may vary based on whether testing is performed in the United States or in the local country and our operations or business practices may not comply with these regulations in each country.
Compliance with these and any other applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new data protection rules. If we or our third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors and consultants fail to comply with any such laws or regulations, we may face regulatory investigations, significant fines and penalties, reputational damage or be required to change our business practices, all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The COVID-19 coronavirus could adversely impact our business, including our clinical trials.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China. Since then, the COVID-19 coronavirus has spread globally, including to the United States, Europe and Japan, which are countries in which we have planned or ongoing clinical trials. The outbreak and government measures taken in response have also had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses, as worker shortages have occurred; supply chains have been disrupted; facilities and production have been suspended; and demand for certain goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked. As a result, we have and may in the future experience disruptions impacting our business and clinical trials, including:
|
• |
delays or difficulties in enrolling patients in our clinical trials; |
33
|
• |
delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in recruiting clinical site investigators and clinical site staff; |
|
• |
diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials; |
|
• |
interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others; and |
|
• |
limitations in employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people. |
For our clinical trials that are being conducted at sites outside the United States, particularly in countries which are experiencing heightened impact from the COVID-19 coronavirus, in addition to the risks listed above, we have and may in the future experience the following adverse impacts:
|
• |
delays in receiving approval from local regulatory authorities to initiate our planned clinical trials; |
|
• |
delays in clinical sites receiving the supplies and materials needed to conduct our clinical trials; |
|
• |
interruption in global shipping that may affect the transport of clinical trial materials; |
|
• |
changes in local regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted, which may result in unexpected costs, or to discontinue the clinical trials altogether. For instance, the protocols for certain of our clinical trials have been amended to allow local evaluations for patients who could not access the main hospital in which such trial is being conducted; |
|
• |
delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees; and |
|
• |
refusal of the FDA to accept data from clinical trials in these affected geographies. |
The extent to which the COVID-19 coronavirus may impact our business and clinical trials is highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, the duration of the outbreak and social distancing regulations, travel restrictions, business closures or business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and other countries to contain and treat the disease.
Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.
Our operations, and those of our vendors and suppliers, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are predominantly self-insured. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. We currently rely on third-party suppliers to produce and process our product candidates on a patient-by-patient basis. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption.
If we fail to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired.
We must maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in order to accurately and timely report our results of operations and financial condition. As a public company, we are subject to reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404(a), requires that management assess and report annually on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting and identify any material weaknesses in our internal controls over
34
financial reporting. Pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404(b), our independent registered public accounting firm is required to issue an annual attestation report that addresses the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. The rules governing the standards that must be met for our management to assess our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation. These stringent standards require that our audit committee be advised and regularly updated on management’s review of internal control over financial reporting. The presence of material weaknesses, if identified, could result in financial statement errors which, in turn, could lead to errors in our financial reports or delays in our financial reporting, which could require us to restate our operating results or result in our auditors issuing a qualified audit report. In order to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, we must expend significant resources and provide significant management oversight. There can be no assurance that we will be effective in maintaining adequate internal controls.
If either we are unable to conclude that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting or, our independent auditors are unwilling or unable to provide us with an unqualified report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting as required by Section 404(b), investors may lose confidence in our operating results, the price of our ADSs could decline and we may be subject to litigation or regulatory enforcement actions. In addition, if we are unable to meet the requirements of Section 404, we may not be able to remain listed on the Nasdaq.
We have broad discretion in the use of our cash and cash equivalents and may invest or spend these in ways with which you do not agree.
Our management has broad discretion in the application of our cash and cash equivalents and could spend such cash and cash equivalents in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our ADSs. The failure by our management to apply these amounts effectively could result in financial losses that could have a negative impact on our business, cause the price of our ADSs to decline and delay the development of our product candidates and preclinical program. Pending the use of our cash and cash equivalents, we may invest the same in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value
Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties
We depend upon our existing collaboration partner, Janssen, and other third parties, and we may depend upon future collaboration partners to commit to the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of our product candidates.
We have a significant collaboration with Janssen for the development and commercialization of cilta-cel.
We may enter into additional collaborations for our other product candidates or technologies in development. We cannot control the timing or quantity of resources that our existing or future collaborators will dedicate to research, preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing or marketing of our products. Our collaborators may not perform their obligations according to our expectations or standards of quality. Our collaborators could terminate our existing agreements for a number of reasons, including a material breach of agreement or an unforeseen material safety event. If the Janssen Agreement were to be terminated, we could encounter significant delays or other impairments in the commercialization of CARVYKTI™ and further developing cilta-cel, lose the opportunity to earn any future revenue we expected to generate under the agreement, incur unforeseen costs, and suffer damage to the reputation of our products, product candidates and as a company generally.
We have only limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals and may rely on third-party contract research organizations, or CROs, to assist us in this process. In addition, to optimize the launch and market penetration of certain of our future product candidates, we may enter into distribution and marketing agreements with pharmaceutical industry leaders. For these future potentially partnered product candidates, we would not market our products alone once they have obtained marketing authorization. The risks inherent in entry into these contracts are as follows:
35
|
• |
the negotiation and execution of these agreements is a long process that may not result in an agreement being signed or that can delay the development or commercialization of the product candidate concerned; |
|
• |
these agreements are subject to cancellation or nonrenewal by our collaborators, or may not be fully complied with by our collaborators; |
|
• |
in the case of a license granted by us, we lose control of the development of the product candidate licensed; |
|
• |
in such cases we would have only limited control over the means and resources allocated by our partner for the commercialization of our product; and |
|
• |
collaborators may not properly obtain, maintain, enforce, or defend our intellectual property or proprietary rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation. |
Furthermore, even though Janssen is required to diligently develop and commercialize cilta-cel, it is possible that Janssen will seek to prioritize other products in its portfolio over cilta-cel, including products that may treat conditions that are the same as or are similar to the conditions for which cilta-cel has either received marketing approval or for which we are conducting research for potential future marketing approvals.
Should any of these risks materialize, or should we fail to find suitable collaborators, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
The revenue generated from the Janssen Agreement has contributed and is expected to contribute a large portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future.
We have entered into the Janssen Agreement in respect of the development of cilta-cel. We received an upfront payment of $350.0 million from Janssen in 2018, an additional $200.0 million in milestone payments through December 31, 2021, and a further $50.0 million in milestone payments from December 31, 2021 to the date of this Annual Report. Janssen may not execute its obligations as planned or may refuse to honor their commitments under the Janssen Agreement. The non-performance of Janssen, early termination of the Janssen Agreement, or our inability to find new or replacement partners may negatively impact our revenue and research and development activities and funding therefor. Should any of these risks materialize, this would have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
If we or Janssen do not achieve our product development or commercialization objectives in the time frames we expect, we may not receive milestone or royalty payments, and we may not be able to conduct our operations as planned.
We have received and expect to continue to receive payments from Janssen when we satisfy certain pre-specified milestones in the Janssen Agreement. We currently depend to a large degree on these milestone payments from Janssen in order to fund our operations. We may enter into new collaboration agreements that also provide for milestone payments. The milestone payments in the Janssen Agreement are generally dependent on the accomplishment of various clinical, regulatory, sales and other product development objectives. The successful or timely achievement of many of these milestones is outside of our control, in part because some of these activities are being or will be conducted by Janssen. If we or Janssen fail to achieve the applicable milestones, we will not receive such milestone payments. A failure to receive any such milestone payment may cause us to:
|
• |
delay, reduce or terminate certain research and development programs or otherwise find ways to reduce short-term expenses that may not be in our long-term best interest; |
|
• |
raise funds through additional equity or convertible debt financings that could be dilutive to our shareholders and holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs; |
|
• |
obtain funds through collaboration agreements that may require us to assign rights to technologies or products that we would have otherwise retained; |
36
|
|
• |
sign new collaboration or license agreements that may be less favorable than those we would have obtained under different circumstances; and |
|
• |
consider strategic transactions or engaging in a joint venture with a third party. |
Any potential royalty payments are also dependent on the successful product development and commercialization of our drug candidates, which may never occur. Our failure to receive milestone or royalty payments and the occurrence of any of the events above may have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on Genscript to provide various services.
We rely on the services provided by Genscript pursuant to the agreements described in “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Transactions with Genscript.” We do not expect personnel and support staff who provide services to us under these agreements will have as their primary responsibility the management and administration of our business or act exclusively for us. In addition, Genscript may prioritize its own needs ahead of the services Genscript has agreed to provide us, or Genscript employees who conduct services for us may prioritize Genscript’s interests over our interests. As a result, such individuals will not allocate all of their time and resources to us.
If Genscript fails to perform its obligations in accordance with the terms of these agreements, it could be difficult for us to operate our business, including compliance with SEC reporting requirements. Any failure by Genscript to effectively manage the services that they provide to us could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the termination of our relationships with Genscript could make it difficult for us to operate our business. For instance, Genscript may terminate our human resources services agreement with them with one-month written notice.
Additionally, we have been in the process of transitioning away from Genscript for these services to perform them internally, and we expect to continue that process. If we do not have adequate financial resources or personnel and systems in place at the time that we assume responsibilities for such services, we may not be successful in effectively or efficiently transitioning these services from Genscript, which could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Even if we are able to successfully transition these services, they may be more expensive or less efficient than the services we are receiving from Genscript during the transition period.
We have entered, and may in the future enter into, partnership agreements with third parties for the development and commercialization of our product candidates, which may adversely affect our ability to generate revenue.
We have entered into and may seek to enter into additional collaborations or partnerships with third parties for the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates. Should we seek to collaborate with a third party with respect to a prospective development program, we may not be able to locate a suitable partner or to enter into an agreement on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we succeed in securing partners for the development and commercialization of our product candidates, such as the arrangement we have entered into related to the development and commercialization of cilta-cel with Janssen, we have limited control over the time and resources that our partners may dedicate to the development and commercialization of our product candidates. These partnerships pose a number of risks, including the following:
|
• |
partners may not have sufficient resources or decide not to devote the necessary resources due to internal constraints such as budget limitations, lack of human resources or a change in strategic focus; |
|
• |
partners may believe our intellectual property is not valid or is unenforceable or the product candidate infringes on the intellectual property rights of others; |
|
• |
partners may dispute their responsibility to conduct development and commercialization activities pursuant to the applicable collaboration, including the payment of related costs or the division of any revenue; |
|
• |
partners may decide to pursue a competitive product developed outside of the collaboration arrangement; |
37
|
• |
partners may not be able to obtain, or believe they cannot obtain, the necessary regulatory approvals; or |
|
• |
partners may delay the development or commercialization of our product candidates in favor of developing or commercializing another party’s product candidate. |
Thus, partnership agreements may not lead to development, regulatory approval or successful commercialization of product candidates in the most efficient manner or at all. Some partnership agreements are terminable without cause on short notice. Once a partnership agreement is signed, it may not lead to regulatory approval and commercialization of a product candidate. We also face competition in seeking out partners. If we are unable to secure new collaborations that achieve the collaborator’s objectives and meet our expectations, we may be unable to advance our product candidates and may not generate meaningful revenue.
We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on independent investigators and other third parties to conduct the preclinical and clinical trials for our product candidates, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials or failing to comply with applicable regulatory requirements.
We depend and will continue to depend upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as universities, medical institutions, and strategic partners to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials. Agreements with such third parties might terminate for a variety of reasons, including a failure to perform by the third parties. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, our product development activities would be delayed.
Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with regulatory standards, commonly referred to as good laboratory practices and good clinical practices for conducting, recording and reporting the results of preclinical and clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. Similar regulatory requirements apply outside the United States, including the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, or ICH. We are also required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and post the results of certain completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database within specified time frames. Failure to do so by us or third parties can result in FDA refusal to approve applications based on the clinical data, enforcement actions, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Furthermore, these third parties may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates.
In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and may receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such services. If these relationships and any related compensation result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or the FDA concludes that the financial relationship may have affected the interpretation of the trial, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be questioned and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized, which could result in the delay or rejection by the FDA. Any such delay or rejection could prevent us from commercializing our clinical-stage product candidates or any future product candidates.
Cell-based therapies rely on the availability of reagents, specialized equipment, and other specialty materials, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. For some of these reagents, equipment, and materials, we rely or may rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors, which could impair our ability to manufacture and supply our products.
Manufacturing our product candidates will require many reagents, which are substances used in our manufacturing processes to bring about chemical or biological reactions, and other specialty materials and
38
equipment, some of which are manufactured or supplied by small companies with limited resources and experience to support commercial biologics production. We currently depend on a limited number of vendors for access to facilities and supply of certain materials and equipment used in the manufacture of our product candidates. For example, we currently use facilities and equipment at external contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, as well as supply sources internal to the collaboration for vector supply. Our use of CMOs increases the risk of delays in production or insufficient supplies as we transfer our manufacturing technology to these CMOs and as they gain experience with our supply requirements. In addition, we purchase equipment and reagents critical for the manufacture of our product candidates from Hemacare, Miltenyi, Leukapheresis Collection Center and other suppliers on a purchase order basis. Some of our suppliers may not have the capacity to support commercial products manufactured under cGMP by biopharmaceutical firms or may otherwise be ill-equipped to support our needs. We also do not have supply contracts with many of these suppliers, and may not be able to obtain supply contracts with them on acceptable terms or at all. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain key materials and equipment to support clinical or commercial manufacturing.
For some of these reagents, equipment, and materials, we rely and may in the future rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors. An inability to continue to source product from any of these suppliers, which could be due to regulatory actions or requirements affecting the supplier, adverse financial or other strategic developments experienced by a supplier, labor disputes or shortages, unexpected demands, or quality issues, could adversely affect our ability to satisfy demand for our product candidates, which could adversely and materially affect our product sales and operating results or our ability to conduct clinical trials, either of which could significantly harm our business.
As we continue to develop and scale our manufacturing process, we may need to obtain rights to and supplies of certain materials and equipment to be used as part of that process. We may not be able to obtain rights to such materials on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to alter our process in a commercially viable manner to avoid the use of such materials or find a suitable substitute, it would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters
Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the regulatory approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or if, and in which territories, we will obtain marketing approval to commercialize any product candidate.
Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, research, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, quality control, recordkeeping, labeling, packaging, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import, export, and reporting of safety and other post-market information, are subject to comprehensive regulation, including by the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA and other comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have only limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals and may rely on third-party CROs to assist us in this process. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. Further, in connection with marketing approval, the accompanying label for a product may limit its approved use, which could limit sales of the product.
The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive and may take many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. The FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities
39
may determine that our product candidates are not safe and effective, only moderately effective or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain for a product candidate may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
In addition, changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a product candidate. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenue will be impaired.
In order to market and sell our products in China, the European Union, Japan and any other international jurisdictions, we must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval elsewhere may differ substantially from that required to obtain approval from the FDA. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining approval from the FDA. In addition, in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. We may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. However, failure to obtain approval in one jurisdiction may impact our ability to obtain approval elsewhere. We may not be able to file for marketing approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in other 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 those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical studies conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product must obtain pricing and/or reimbursement approvals before it can be sold in those jurisdictions.
Obtaining foreign regulatory 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 and/or to receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.
40
Even if we obtain marketing approvals for our product candidates, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of our products may limit how we manufacture and market our products and compliance with such requirements may involve substantial resources, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.
Even if marketing approval of a product candidate is granted, an approved product and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive regulatory requirements for manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, and recordkeeping, including the potential requirements to implement a REMS program (which is a requirement for FDA’s approval of CARVYKTI™) or to conduct costly post- marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. We must also comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved labeling. Thus, we will not be able to promote any products we develop for indications or uses for which they are not approved. In addition, manufacturers of approved products and those manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive regulatory requirements of the FDA, the NMPA, the European Commission, the EMA, the PMDA and other regulatory authorities, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP and other comparable regulations and standards, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We or our suppliers could be subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA or other regulatory authorities to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMP.
Accordingly, we and our suppliers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control. If we are not able to comply with post- approval regulatory requirements, we could have the marketing approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our ability to market any future products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
Thus, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or recall or withdrawal from the market, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates, when and if any of them are approved.
The FDA and other federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, closely regulate compliance with all requirements governing prescription drug products, including requirements pertaining to marketing and promotion of products in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling and manufacturing of products in accordance with cGMP requirements. The FDA and DOJ impose stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label use and if we do not market our products for their approved indications, or if other of our marketing claims are deemed false or misleading, we may be subject to enforcement action. Violations of such requirements may lead to investigations alleging violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and other statutes, including the False Claims Act and other federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws as well as state consumer protection laws.
Our failure to comply with all regulatory requirements, and later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, may yield various results, including:
|
• |
litigation involving patients taking our products; |
|
• |
restrictions on such products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes; |
|
• |
restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product; |
|
• |
restrictions on product distribution or use; |
41
|
• |
requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials; |
|
• |
warning or untitled letters; |
|
• |
withdrawal of the products from the market; |
|
• |
refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit; |
|
• |
recall of products; |
|
• |
fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenue; |
|
• |
suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals; |
|
• |
suspension of any ongoing clinical trials; |
|
• |
damage to relationships with any potential collaborators; |
|
• |
unfavorable press coverage and damage to our reputation; |
|
• |
refusal to permit the import or export of our products; |
|
• |
product seizure; or |
|
• |
injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties. |
Noncompliance by us or any future collaborator with regulatory requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with regulatory requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
If any of these events occurs, our ability to sell such product may be impaired, and we may incur substantial additional expense to comply with regulatory requirements, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our employees, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, commercial partners and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct or failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements. Misconduct by employees and independent contractors, such as principal investigators, consultants, commercial partners, and vendors, could include failures to comply with regulations of the FDA, the NMPA, the EMA, the PMDA and other comparable regulatory authorities, to provide accurate information to such regulators, to comply with manufacturing standards we have established, to comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws, to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and other business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of business activities, including, but not limited to, research, manufacturing, distribution, pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee and independent contractor misconduct could also involve the improper use of individually identifiable information, including, without limitation, information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory, civil, administrative and criminal sanctions and serious harm to our reputation.
In addition, federal procurement laws impose substantial penalties for misconduct in connection with government contracts and require certain contractors to maintain a code of business ethics and conduct. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee and independent contractor misconduct, and any precautions we take to detect and prevent improper activities may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws. If any such actions are instituted against us, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages,
42
monetary fines, disgorgement of profits, imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, or other government supported healthcare in other jurisdictions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting or oversight obligations if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of noncompliance with the law and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our business operations and current and future relationships with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere may be subject, directly or indirectly, to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, physician payment transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to substantial penalties.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors may expose us to broadly applicable healthcare laws, including, without limitation, the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the U.S. federal False Claims Act, that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we sell, market and distribute any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In addition, we may be subject to physician payment transparency laws and privacy and security regulation by the U.S. federal government and by the states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws that may affect our ability to operate include the following:
|
• |
the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, lease, order or recommendation of, any good, facility, item or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. This statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers on the other hand. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution or other regulatory sanctions, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and practices that involve remuneration that are alleged to be intended to induce prescribing, purchases or recommendations may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular applicable statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Instead, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on a cumulative review of all its facts and circumstances. Several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute has been violated; |
|
• |
U.S. federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the federal False Claims Act, which can be enforced through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, and civil monetary penalty laws, which, among other things, impose penalties, against individuals or entities for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, claims for payment or approval that are false or fraudulent or knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the government, or knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding or, decreasing an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the federal government. Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been found liable under these laws for, among other things, allegedly inflating drug prices they report to pricing services, which in turn were used by the government to set Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, and for allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal healthcare programs for the product. In addition, certain marketing practices, including off-label promotion, may also violate false claims laws. Further, pharmaceutical manufacturers can be held liable under the False Claims Act even when they do |
43
|
not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims. Criminal prosecution is also possible for making or presenting a false, fictitious or fraudulent claim to the federal government; |
|
• |
HIPAA, which contains federal criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud any healthcare benefit program, obtaining, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, knowingly and willfully embezzling, stealing, or otherwise without authority converting to the use of any person other than the rightful owner, or intentionally misapplying any of the moneys, funds, securities, premiums, credits, property, or other assets of a healthcare benefit program, willfully preventing, obstructing, misleading, delaying or attempting to prevent, obstruct, mislead, or delay the communication of information or records relating to a violation of a federal healthcare offense to a criminal investigator and in any matter involving a healthcare benefit program, knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or making or using any materially false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services; |
|
• |
HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH, and their respective implementing regulations, which impose obligations on “covered entities,” including certain healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, and their respective “business associates” that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered entity, as well as their covered subcontractors with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. Additionally, HITECH, among other changes, also established four new tiers of civil monetary penalties; amends HIPAA to make business associates of covered entities directly liable for compliance with certain requirements of the federal HIPAA laws and gave state attorneys general new authority to bring civil actions for damages or injunctions on behalf of state residents in the appropriate district court of the United States for violations of the federal HIPAA laws and in the case of any successful action, the court, in its discretion, may award the costs of the action and reasonable attorney fees to the State; |
|
• |
the U.S. federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which prohibits, among other things, the adulteration or misbranding of drugs, biologics and medical devices; |
|
• |
the U.S. federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively, the ACA, and its implementing regulations, created annual reporting requirements for certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions), to report information related for certain payments and “transfers of value” provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members; and effective January 1, 2022, these reporting obligations extend to include information related to payments and other transfers of value provided in the previous year to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives; and |
|
• |
analogous state laws and regulations and foreign laws, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare 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 to adopt compliance programs as prescribed by state laws and regulations, or that otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers; 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, marketing expenditures or drug pricing; state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; and state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information |
44
|
in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. |
Further, the ACA, among other things, amended the intent requirement of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and certain criminal statutes governing healthcare fraud. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, the ACA provided that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of their exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that our business activities can be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform. Federal and state enforcement bodies have increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry.
Efforts to ensure that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. 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, including, without limitation, damages, monetary fines, imprisonment, disgorgement of profits, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting or oversight obligations if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of noncompliance with the law and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and pursue our strategy. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business, including future collaborators, are found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to significant criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from participation in government healthcare programs, which could also affect our business.
Our product candidates are subject to government price controls in certain jurisdictions that may affect our revenue.
There has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the United States, China, the European Union, Japan and other jurisdictions of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs. In the United States, such scrutiny has resulted in several recent Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. At the federal level, Congressional leadership has each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly enacted legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Outside of the United States, particularly in countries within the European Union, the pricing and reimbursement of certain pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing and reimbursement negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain coverage and reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be harmed.
45
Recently enacted and future legislation in the United States and other countries may affect the prices we may obtain for our product candidates and increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize our product candidates.
In the United States and many other countries, rising healthcare costs have been a concern for governments, patients and the health insurance sector, which resulted in a number of changes to laws and regulations, and may result in further legislative and regulatory action regarding the healthcare and health insurance systems that could affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. For a detailed discussion of healthcare reform initiatives of importance to the pharmaceutical industry, see “Item 4.B. Information On The Company—Business Overview—Government Regulation—United States Regulation—Healthcare Reform.”
For example, the ACA was enacted in the United States in March 2010 with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access to healthcare, and includes measures to change healthcare delivery, increase the number of individuals with insurance, ensure access to certain basic healthcare services, and contain the rising cost of care. Congress has considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of the ACA. While Congress has not passed repeal legislation, several bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the ACA have been signed into law. H.R. 1: An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, or the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the ACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” Additionally, the 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated, effective January 1, 2020, the ACA-mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage and medical device tax and, effective January 1, 2021, also eliminated the health insurer tax.
It is also unclear how litigation and other efforts to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the ACA in the future.
In addition, other federal health reform measures have been proposed and adopted in the United States that may impact reimbursement by Medicare or other government healthcare programs. For example, as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, providers are subject to Medicare payment reductions of 2% per fiscal year through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension of certain mandatory Medicare claim payment reductions until March 31, 2022, unless