UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
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 |
Commission File Number
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
|
||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
|
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
|
||
(Address of principal executive offices) |
|
(Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
|
Trading Symbol(s) |
|
Name of each exchange on which registered |
|
|
(Nasdaq Global Select Market) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐
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, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
|
☒ |
|
Accelerated filer |
|
☐ |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Non-accelerated filer |
|
☐ |
|
Smaller reporting company |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Emerging growth company |
|
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the Registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant 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 whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No
The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2021 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $
The number of shares of the Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as of February 23, 2022 was
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the Registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement relating to the registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated herein by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent stated herein. The proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the Registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.
Table of Contents
|
|
Page |
|
4 |
|
Item 1. |
4 |
|
Item 1A. |
27 |
|
Item 1B. |
72 |
|
Item 2. |
73 |
|
Item 3. |
73 |
|
Item 4. |
73 |
|
|
|
|
|
74 |
|
Item 5. |
74 |
|
Item 6. |
75 |
|
Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
76 |
Item 7A. |
88 |
|
Item 8. |
89 |
|
Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
118 |
Item 9A. |
118 |
|
Item 9B. |
118 |
|
Item 9C. |
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections. |
118 |
|
|
|
|
119 |
|
Item 10. |
119 |
|
Item 11. |
119 |
|
Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
119 |
Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
119 |
Item 14. |
119 |
|
|
|
|
|
120 |
|
Item 15. |
120 |
|
Item 16. |
123 |
|
|
124 |
i
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements concerning our business, operations and financial performance and condition, as well as our plans, objectives and expectations for our business, operations and financial performance and condition. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that are in some cases beyond our control and may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “due,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “positioned,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:
1
We have based these forward-looking statements largely on management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate and management’s beliefs and assumptions and are not guarantees of future performance or development and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein until after we distribute this Annual Report on Form 10-K, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.
In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this report, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
Investors and others should note that we may announce material business and financial information to our investors using our investor relations website (https://ir.revmed.com), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, webcasts, press releases and conference calls. We use these mediums, including our website, to communicate with our members and public about our company, our products and other issues. It is possible that the information that we make available may be deemed to be material information. We therefore encourage investors and others interested in our company to review the information that we make available on our website.
Summary of Material Risks Associated with Our Business
The principal risks and uncertainties affecting our business include the following:
2
The summary risk factors described above should be read together with the text of the full risk factors below in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as in other documents that we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks summarized above or described in full below are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not precisely known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future growth prospects.
3
PART I
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on developing targeted therapies to inhibit frontier targets in RAS-addicted cancers. We possess sophisticated structure-based drug discovery capabilities built upon deep chemical biology and cancer pharmacology know-how and innovative, proprietary technologies that enable the creation of small molecules tailored to unconventional binding sites. Our understanding of genetic drivers and adaptive resistance mechanisms in cancer, coupled with robust drug discovery and medicinal chemistry capabilities, has guided us to establish a deep pipeline targeting critical signaling nodes within the RAS pathway and associated pathways. This cohesive approach underpins our clinical strategy of exploring mechanism-based dosing paradigms and in-pathway combinations to optimize treatment for cancer patients.
Our research and development pipeline comprises RAS(ON) inhibitors that bind directly to RAS variants, which we refer to as RAS(ON) Inhibitors, and RAS companion inhibitors that target key nodes in the RAS pathway or associated pathways, which we refer to as RAS Companion Inhibitors. Our RAS Companion Inhibitors (e.g., SHP2, mTORC1 and SOS1 inhibitors) are designed primarily for combination treatment strategies involving one or more therapeutic agents, which may include our RAS(ON) Inhibitors. Our long-term goal is to combine selected RAS Companion Inhibitors with RAS(ON) Inhibitors on behalf of patients based on molecular tumor features.
RAS (ON) Inhibitors
Our RAS(ON) Inhibitors are based on our proprietary tri-complex technology platform, which enables a highly differentiated approach to inhibiting the active, GTP-bound form of RAS, which we refer to as RAS(ON). We are developing a portfolio of compounds that we believe are the first and only RAS(ON) inhibitors to use this mechanism of action. We currently have four RAS(ON) Inhibitors in the IND-enabling stage of preclinical development: RMC-6236, our inhibitor of multiple RAS variants, which we refer to as RASMULTI(ON), RMC-6291, our inhibitor targeting KRASG12C(ON), RMC-9805, our inhibitor targeting KRASG12D(ON) and RMC-8839, our inhibitor targeting KRASG13C(ON). We currently plan to submit an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for RMC-6236 in the first half of 2022 and to provide evidence of first-in-class single agent activity for this compound in 2023. We currently plan to submit an IND for RMC-6291 in the first half of 2022 and to provide preliminary evidence of superior activity for this compound in 2023. We currently plan to submit an IND for RMC-9805 in the first half of 2023 and to submit an IND for RMC-8839 in the second half of 2023. In addition to the compounds currently in development, we are also focused on developing additional mutant-selective inhibitors.
RAS Companion Inhibitors
RMC-4630
Our RAS Companion Inhibitor RMC-4630 is designed as a potent and selective inhibitor of SHP2, a central node in the RAS signaling pathway. In collaboration with Sanofi, we are evaluating RMC-4630 in a multi-cohort Phase 1/2 clinical program.
Our highest priority hypothesis regarding RMC-4630 is that it can deliver additional clinical benefit to patients with RAS-addicted tumors treated with a RAS inhibitor. Below is a list of the active or planned clinical studies of RMC-4630 in combination with RAS inhibitors:
Amgen is currently evaluating RMC-4630 in an active Phase 1b study in combination with Amgen’s KRASG12C(OFF) agent sotorasib in Amgen’s CodeBreaK 101c study.
As a complement to the CodeBreaK 101c study, we are sponsoring RMC-4630-03, which is an additional global Phase 2 study of RMC-4630 in combination with sotorasib for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying a KRASG12C mutation who have failed prior standard therapy and who have not previously been treated with a RAS inhibitor. The first patient in RMC-4630-03
4
has been dosed and enrollment is ongoing. We are sponsoring the RMC-4630-03 study under our global partnership with Sanofi and conducting the trial in collaboration with Amgen, which is supplying sotorasib globally under a clinical collaboration and supply agreement. We expect to complete enrollment in RMC-4630-03 in the second half of 2022, to provide preliminary evidence of the clinical benefit of RMC-4630 as a RAS Companion Inhibitor from the RMC-4630-03 study in the second half of 2022 and to provide additional evidence of the clinical benefit of this compound from this study in 2023.
Sanofi plans to sponsor a combination study under our 2018 collaborative research, development and commercialization agreement with Aventis, Inc. (an affiliate of Sanofi) (the Sanofi Agreement) and under a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement between Sanofi and Mirati to evaluate RMC-4630 (also known as SAR442720) in combination with Mirati’s KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor, adagrasib.
There are also several active or planned clinical studies of RMC-4630 that do not involve combinations with RAS inhibitors and which are listed and discussed in more detail below in the “Pipeline” section:
RMC-5552
Our RAS Companion Inhibitor RMC-5552 is designed as a selective inhibitor of hyperactivated mTORC1 signaling in tumors. We are evaluating RMC-5552 first as a monotherapy in a Phase 1 study (RMC-5552-01), and plan to evaluate RMC-5552 in combination with RAS inhibitors for patients with cancers harboring a RAS mutation and co-occurring mutations in the mTOR signaling pathway.
In January 2022, we reported initial findings from the ongoing dose escalation portion of the RMC-5552-01 study, including preliminary evidence of clinical activity against advanced tumors with mutations associated with hyperactive mTORC1 signaling. As of January 7, 2022, all four efficacy evaluable patients treated with 6 mg per week experienced disease control, including one patient with a confirmed partial response with a 63% reduction from baseline and the other three with stable disease. We currently expect to provide additional evidence of single agent activity for this compound in 2023.
RMC-5845
Our RAS Companion Inhibitor RMC-5845 targets SOS1, a protein that plays a key role in converting RAS(OFF) to RAS(ON) in cells. RMC-5845 is intended for select combination therapies for certain genetically-defined tumors. This compound is ready for preparation of an IND based on the Company’s preclinical development. We continue evaluating the scientific rationale for advancing RMC-5845 into clinical development in the context of other assets in our portfolio.
Our strategy
Our goal is to develop novel targeted therapies to outsmart RAS-addicted cancers for the benefit of patients. RAS proteins drive 30% of human cancers (Prior et al, Cancer Research 2020), and are largely unserved by targeted therapeutics. The KRASG12C mutation has been clinically validated as a therapeutic target, and the evidence is strong that numerous other oncogenic mutations in the RAS family of proteins are likewise compelling cancer targets. Our collection of RAS(ON) Inhibitors designed to have best-in-class preclinical profiles and/or first-in-class potential is tailored to target RAS cancer mutations that together comprise the vast majority of RAS-addicted cancers.
Data from the ongoing development of first-generation KRASG12C inhibitors have clearly demonstrated that selective targeting of RAS cancer drivers is often insufficient to confer deep and durable clinical benefit, as RAS cancers are also supported and maintained by other cellular proteins we call RAS cooperating targets and pathways. We believe it is important to match our treatment strategies to this biological cooperativity by developing RAS(ON) Inhibitors to suppress the primary RAS drivers and RAS Companion Inhibitors to suppress the cooperating proteins. We expect drugs of these two types may be combined to form the optimal therapeutic regimens
5
capable of delivering maximal clinical benefit. To develop these optimal therapies for RAS cancers, we plan to pursue the following strategies:
RAS(ON) Inhibitors
Establish tri-complex inhibition of RAS(ON) as a first-in-class therapeutic modality. There are dozens of RAS variants that have been implicated as molecular drivers of cancer. We are developing a portfolio of small molecules designed to target multiple oncogenic forms of RAS(ON) that are derived from our proprietary tri-complex technology platform. We believe that targeted inhibition of oncogenic RAS(ON) variants represents a highly differentiated approach for treating the large population of patients with diverse RAS mutations, including non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, colorectal, pancreatic and other cancers.
Initially, we intend to advance our first two RAS(ON) development candidates into clinical development: RMC-6236, a RAS-selective inhibitor of multiple RAS(ON) variants and RMC-6291, a mutant-selective inhibitor of KRASG12C(ON). We are also conducting IND-enabling studies of RMC-9805, our inhibitor targeting KRASG12D(ON) and RMC-8839, our inhibitor targeting KRASG13C(ON). We may evaluate our RAS(ON) development candidates both as monotherapies and/or in combination with other drugs and investigational new drugs, particularly our RAS Companion Inhibitors and immunotherapies.
Deploy our innovation engine against additional frontier targets. In parallel with the IND-enabling development of our RAS(ON) development candidates, we are focusing on optimization of mutant-selective tri-complex inhibitors of additional targets, including KRASG12R, KRASG12V, KRASG13D and RASQ61X. While RMC-6236 has demonstrated preclinical activity in models of RAS mutant cancers with diverse mutations, discovery and development of mutant-selective inhibitors of these targets may help to maximize clinical benefit for some patients with cancers bearing these RAS variants.
RAS Companion Inhibitors
Establish our proprietary SHP2 inhibitor, RMC-4630, as the backbone of targeted therapy combinations for the treatment of RAS-dependent tumors. RMC-4630 is an allosteric inhibitor of SHP2, a convergent node within the oncogenic RAS-signaling pathway. We are evaluating RMC-4630 as both a monotherapy and as a backbone of combination therapies designed to maximize clinical benefit by combating drug resistance pathways that depend on SHP2. In the future, we may leverage our complementary pipeline of RAS(ON) and RAS Companion Inhibitors by evaluating RMC-4630 in combination with certain RAS(ON) inhibitors, which could include RMC-6291 or RMC-6236.
Demonstrate clinical utility of our RAS Companion Inhibitors targeting mTORC1/4EBP1 (RMC-5552) through precision oncology. RMC-5552 is designed as a potent, selective inhibitor of mTORC1/4EBP1 that we are evaluating in an ongoing Phase 1 program. In initial clinical trials, we plan to test RMC-5552 both as a monotherapy in patients with cancers harboring genotypes linked to hyperactivated mTORC1 signaling, and as a combination partner for RAS inhibitors in patients with cancers harboring one or more RAS mutations and co-occurring mutations in the mTOR signaling pathway.
Corporate
Maximize the global value of our programs by continuing to execute synergistic and value-creating transactions. We have the organizational capabilities and resources to enable us to continue to complete value-creating transactions, such as our collaboration with Sanofi on SHP2 and our acquisition of Warp Drive. In the future, we may enter into other collaborations where we believe there is an opportunity to accelerate the development and commercialization of our product candidates while allowing us to retain meaningful rights in major markets. We may also seek to acquire or in-license product candidates or technologies opportunistically that are synergistic with our drug discovery and development efforts.
Maintain our culture of tireless commitment to patients. As we grow our business, we will continue to apply transformative science in the development of novel targeted therapies for patients suffering from cancers with limited therapeutic options. To accomplish this, we intend to continue building our team of qualified individuals who share our commitment to collaboration and scientific rigor in the development of novel therapies to outsmart cancer and improve the lives of patients.
Our opportunity: multiple large unmet needs in RAS-addicted cancers
RAS mutant epidemiology in the United States
Variants in RAS proteins account for approximately 30% of all human cancers in the United States, many of which are fatal. Diverse oncogenic RAS variants in three different RAS isoforms (KRAS, NRAS and HRAS) drive distinct human cancers. Figure 1 below summarizes the estimated new RAS-addicted cancers diagnosed each year in the U.S. organized into convenience groups based on tumor genetics. Based on these data, we believe there are an estimated 230,000 new cancers diagnosed per year that could potentially be addressed by RAS inhibitors in the U.S. alone.
6
Figure 1.
(1) HRASX = all HRAS mutants; NRASQ61X X = H, K, L, R, P; RASWT = NF1LOF, RASWTamp, BRAFclass3 and PTPN11MUT; KRASX X = G12A, G12R, G12S and A146T; KRASQ61X X = H, K, L; RASG12C includes KRASG12C and NRASG12C.
(2) Calculated using tumor mutation frequencies from Foundation Medicine Insights August 2020 and scaled to estimated patient numbers using cancer incidence from ACS Cancer Facts and Figures 2020. Includes 12 major types: non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, renal, gastroesophageal, head and neck squamous cell, ovarian and biliary cancers, acute myeloid leukemia, and advanced melanoma, bladder and uterine/endometrial cancers causing mortality.
(3) Estimated worldwide annual incidence of RAS-mutated cancers is 3.4 million per year. Prior et al., Cancer Research 2020.
Our innovation engine
We have built an innovation engine that enables us to discover and develop novel targeted therapies for elusive high-value frontier cancer targets with particular focus on a cohesive set of disease targets within notorious growth and survival pathways. This engine is centered around our proprietary tri-complex platform and is bolstered by three complementary pillars:
Deep chemical biology and cancer pharmacology know-how, including assays and proprietary tool compounds, to define the critical vulnerabilities of “frontier” RAS and mTOR pathway targets and associated signaling circuits in cancer cells;
Sophisticated structure-based drug discovery capabilities, including proven access to complex chemical space, to create drug candidates tailored to unconventional binding sites on elusive cancer targets; and
Astute precision medicine approach, embracing patient selection and innovative single agent and combination drug regimens, to translate our preclinical insights into clinical benefit for patients with RAS-addicted cancers.
Our Tri-complex platform
Our proprietary tri-complex technology enables us to discover small molecule inhibitors of targets lacking intrinsic drug binding sites by inducing new druggable pockets. This occurs through small molecule-driven formation of a high affinity ternary complex (tri-complex) between the target protein, the small molecule, and a widely expressed cytosolic protein called a chaperone (e.g., FKPB12 or cyclophilin A). This platform technology is the foundation of our RAS(ON) Inhibitor programs. In this context, the inhibitory effect of tri-complex formation on the RAS(ON) target is mediated by steric occlusion of the site where RAS(ON) binds its downstream effector molecules, such as RAF, which are required for propagating the oncogenic signal. Thus, tri-complex formation with RAS(ON) targets disrupts RAS effector binding and terminates oncogenic signaling. Our RAS(ON) tri-complex inhibitors, which are inspired by natural products, are “Beyond Rule of 5” compounds.
7
Pipeline
Our pipeline is summarized below:
RAS(ON) Inhibitors
Overview
Our RAS(ON) Inhibitors are based on our proprietary tri-complex technology platform, which enables a highly differentiated approach to inhibiting the active, GTP-bound form of RAS, or RAS(ON). We are developing a portfolio of compounds that we believe are the first and only RAS(ON) inhibitors to use this mechanism of action. Our portfolio of RAS(ON) inhibitors includes four compounds in the IND-enabling stage of preclinical development: RMC-6236 (RASMULTI), RMC-6291 (KRASG12C), RMC-9805 (KRASG12D) and RMC-8839 (KRASG13C). All four of these inhibitors have driven tumor regressions in vivo in preclinical models of target genotypes. We believe that direct inhibitors of RAS(ON) will suppress cell growth and survival and be less susceptible to adaptive resistance mechanisms recognized for RAS(OFF) inhibitors. We plan to evaluate our RAS(ON) Inhibitors alone and in combination with other drugs and investigational drug candidates, particularly in-pathway agents.
We believe tailored RAS(ON) inhibitors will be useful to serve the diverse landscape of RAS-driven cancers optimally. We believe that in some cases, patients may experience maximal clinical benefit from the broad activity of our RASMULTI(ON) inhibitor, RMC-6236, if approved. In others, treatment with a mutant-selective RAS(ON) inhibitor like RMC-6291 (KRASG12C), RMC-9805 (KRASG12D) or RMC-8839 (KRASG13C) may be optimal. Consistent with this thesis, we are pursuing additional RAS mutant-selective inhibitors for RAS variants KRASG12R, KRASG12V, KRASG13D and RASQ61X. This strategy is a component of our broader mission to develop the best therapeutic regimens for patients with RAS mutant cancer by combining the optimal RAS(ON) Inhibitor with the optimal RAS Companion Inhibitor.
RMC-6236
RMC-6236, our RASMULTI(ON) inhibitor development candidate, is in the IND-enabling stage of preclinical development. RMC-6236 is designed as a first-in-class, potent, oral, RAS-selective tri-complex inhibitor of multiple RAS(ON) variants including cancer drivers at all three of the major hotspot positions, G12, G13, and Q61. RMC-6236 inhibits all canonical RAS family members, suppressing the mutant cancer driver and cooperating wild-type RAS proteins.
In a series of in vivo tumor xenograft studies, RMC-6236 was highly active against lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancers bearing KRASG12X driver mutations (KRASG12D, KRASG12V, KRASG12R or KRASG12C; Figure 2). Across cancer types, RMC-6236 drove deep tumor regressions, including complete responses, and established preclinical response rates supporting advancement into clinical development.
8
Figure 2. RMC-6236 was highly active in vivo across cancer models with KRASG12X drivers.
In vivo characterization of the effect of RMC-6236 on the growth of KRASG12X cancers. RMC-6236 was dosed at 25 mg/kg po qd. n=3-10/group. NSCLC = non-small cell lung cancer; PDAC = pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; CRC = colorectal cancer. Responses assigned according to mRECIST (modified from Gao et al. Nat Med. 2015). ORR = objective response rate; DCR = disease control rate.
We believe the preclinical results for RMC-6236 show that this product candidate has the potential to treat patients whose cancers harbor a range of RAS variants, including KRASG12X mutations. While first-generation KRASG12C inhibitors have provided strong clinical validation of RAS as a cancer driver, patients with cancers bearing KRASG12D, KRASG12V, or KRASG12R mutations continue to lack targeted therapy options. In total, KRASG12X mutations are found in 137,000 new patients per year in the U.S., indicating major unmet medical need in the cancer types for which RMC-6236 has demonstrated strong preclinical activity.
In the initial clinical development of RMC-6236, we plan to pursue development against KRASG12X tumors, focused on NSCLC, pancreatic and colorectal cancers.
RMC-6291
RMC-6291 is designed as a first-in-class, potent, oral and selective tri-complex inhibitor of KRASG12C(ON). It is designed to exhibit subnanomolar potency for suppressing RAS pathway signaling and growth of KRASG12C-bearing cancer cells and is engineered to be highly selective for KRASG12C over wild type RAS and other cellular targets. RMC-6291 is designed to be differentiated from first-generation KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitors, which sequester the KRASG12C(OFF) form, by its potential mechanism of directly inhibiting the KRASG12C(ON) form. We believe direct inhibition of the ON form offers important biological advantages, including more rapid termination of RAS signaling and more robust inhibition in the face of known resistance mechanisms.
While KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitors have validated the target and changed the treatment landscape for patients with cancers bearing KRASG12C, significant unmet medical need remains. In NSCLC, KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor single agent response rates are less than 50%, and the vast majority of patients are expected to progress on therapy within a year. We believe RMC-6291 has the potential to improve on the KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor class. In a series of in vivo tumor xenograft studies, RMC-6291 outperformed adagrasib, a representative KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor, across 25 models of KRASG12C NSCLC (Figure 3). Within this set of experiments, we observed examples of RMC-6291 driving increased rate, depth and/or duration of response (Figure 4).
9
Figure 3. RMC-6291 drove superior outcomes in a mouse clinical trial with KRASG12C NSCLC models.
In vivo characterization of the effect of RMC-6291 on the growth of KRASG12C NSCLC models. RMC-6291 and adagrasib were administered at approximately molar equivalent doses (RMC-6291 is roughly twice the molecular weight of adagrasib). RMC-6291 was dosed at 200 mg/kg po qd. Adagrasib was dosed at 100 mg/kg po qd. n=3-10/group. NSCLC = non-small cell lung cancer. Responses assigned according to mRECIST (modified from Gao et al. Nat Med. 2015). ORR = objective response rate; DCR = disease control rate.
Figure 4. RMC-6291 drove increased rate, depth, and duration of response in a mouse clinical trial with KRASG12C NSCLC models.
In vivo characterization of the effect of RMC-6291 on the growth of KRASG12C NSCLC models. RMC-6291 and adagrasib were administered at approximately molar equivalent doses (RMC-6291 is roughly twice the molecular weight of adagrasib). RMC-6291 was dosed at 200 mg/kg po qd. Adagrasib was dosed at 100 mg/kg po qd. PDX Models: (a) LUN055; (b) LXFA-983; (c) CTG-0828 N=3-10/group. NSCLC = non-small cell lung cancer.
In the initial clinical development of RMC-6291, we plan to pursue best-in-class activity against KRASG12C tumors, focused on NSCLC, pancreatic and colorectal cancers.
RMC-9805
RMC-9805 is designed as a first-in-class, potent, oral and selective tri-complex inhibitor of KRASG12D(ON). It is designed to exhibit low nanomolar potency for suppressing RAS pathway signaling and growth of KRASG12D-bearing cancer cells and is engineered to covalently inactivate KRASG12D for irreversible inhibition. To our knowledge, RMC-9805 is the first ever drug candidate that covalently modified an aspartic acid residue in preclinical studies.
10
Specifically, RMC-9805 was observed to covalently modify KRASG12D in a highly selective manner, and achieve deep and durable inhibition of RAS pathway signaling in vivo in xenograft models of KRASG12D pancreatic and colorectal cancers (Figure 5).
Figure 5. RMC-9805 drove selective, covalent, and sustained inhibition of KRASG12D and tumor regressions in models of KRASG12D cancers.
Preclinical characterization of the effect of RMC-9805 on models of KRASG12D cancers. RMC-9805 was dosed at 100 mg/kg po qd. n = 10/group (top right), 6/group (bottom right); PDAC = pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; CRC = colorectal cancer.
RMC-8839
RMC-8839 is designed as a first-in-class, potent, oral and selective tri-complex inhibitor of KRASG13C(ON). It is designed to exhibit picomolar potency for suppressing RAS pathway signaling and growth of KRASG13C-bearing cancer cells and is engineered to covalently inactivate KRASG13C for irreversible inhibition.
In preclinical studies, RMC-8839 was observed to covalently modify KRASG13C in a highly selective manner, and achieve deep and durable inhibition of RAS pathway signaling in vivo xenograft model of KRASG13C NSCLC (Figure 6).
Figure 6. RMC-8839 drove selective, covalent, and sustained inhibition of KRASG13C and tumor regressions in models of KRASG13C cancers.
Preclinical characterization of the effect of RMC-8839 on models of KRASG13C cancers. RMC-8839 was dosed at 100 mg/kg po qd. n = 5/group; NSCLC = Non-small cell lung cancer.
11
RAS Companion Inhibitors
Overview
Our RAS Companion Inhibitors are designed to suppress cooperating targets and pathways that sustain RAS-addicted cancers. Each of our RAS Companion Inhibitors, when administered in combination with a RAS inhibitor, may provide deeper and more durable suppression of RAS cancer signaling, helping to maximize clinical benefit for patients with RAS cancers. RMC-4630, our most advanced RAS Companion Inhibitor, is designed to be a potent and selective inhibitor of SHP2 and to suppress resistance to RAS inhibition through inhibition of cooperating RAS pathway signaling. In collaboration with Sanofi, we are evaluating RMC-4630 in a multi-cohort Phase 1/2 clinical program. RMC-5552 is designed to be a potent and selective inhibitor of mTORC1/4EBP1 and to suppress resistance to RAS inhibition through inhibition of cooperating mTORC1 pathway signaling. RMC-5552 is under clinical evaluation in a Phase 1 dose escalation program. RMC-5845, our investigational SOS1 inhibitor, is designed to suppress resistance to RAS inhibition through inhibition of cooperating RAS pathway signaling. RMC-5552 is under clinical evaluation in a Phase 1 dose escalation program. RMC-5845, our potent and selective SOS1 inhibitor, is designed to suppress resistance to RAS inhibition through inhibition of cooperating RAS pathway signaling.
RMC-4630
Our RAS Companion Inhibitor RMC-4630 is designed as a potent and selective inhibitor of SHP2, a central node in the RAS signaling pathway. In our monotherapy dose escalation study (RMC-4630-01), we have observed that RMC-4630 was a clinically active SHP2 inhibitor, with broad anti-tumor effects, including a confirmed partial response in a patient with NSCLC bearing a KRASG12C mutation and a complete response in a patient with uterine cancer bearing an NF1LOF mutation. The anti-tumor activity of RMC-4630 observed in this study was enabled by a unique intermittent dosing paradigm (200 mg D1D2 weekly) designed to maximize dose intensity without compromising safety and tolerability. Accordingly, and consistent with the highly selective profile of RMC 4630, all dose-limiting toxicities observed in the RMC-4630-01 study have been linked to on-target SHP2 inhibition. We continue to evaluate RMC-4630 monotherapy at the RP2DS in an expansion cohort of the RMC-4630-01 study, consisting of patients with gynecologic tumors harboring NF1LOF mutations, in addition to a small safety/tolerability cohort representing a broader set of histotypes and RAS pathway genotypes.
Our highest priority hypothesis regarding RMC-4630 is that it can deliver additional clinical benefit as a RAS Companion Inhibitor to patients with RAS-addicted tumors treated with a RAS inhibitor. Below is a list of the active or planned clinical studies of RMC-4630 in combination with RAS inhibitors:
Below is a list of the active or planned clinical studies of RMC-4630 that do not involve combinations with RAS inhibitors:
RMC-4630 is being evaluated by Sanofi in a global Phase 1/2 study in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda®). Sanofi has selected a RP2DS for the Phase 2 expansion evaluating this combination as front-line treatment for NSCLC patients whose tumors express PD-L1 is ongoing.
12
The Pancreatic Cancer Collective (a strategic partnership between Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer) has awarded funding to the Netherlands Cancer Institute, or the NKI, for its study using our SHP2 inhibitor, RMC-4630 in combination with an investigational ERK inhibitor (LY3214996) in patients with pancreatic cancer. We plan to provide RMC-4630 to support this investigator-sponsored study.
In addition to the above, RMC-4630-02 is a deprioritized Phase 1b/2 study of RMC-4630 that includes an arm that studied RMC-4630 in combination with the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib and an arm that evaluated RMC-4630 in combination with the EGFR inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso®). Although we will observe and support patients who are part of the study, no additional patients will be enrolled and the study has been deprioritized.
Under our collaboration with Sanofi on our SHP2 inhibitor programs, including RMC-4630, we have a 50-50 profit share and a co-promote right in the United States and are eligible to receive royalties on net sales outside of the United States. Sanofi is responsible for reimbursing substantially all of our research costs and all of our development costs for RMC-4630.
RMC-5552
Our RAS Companion Inhibitor RMC-5552 is designed as a selective inhibitor of hyperactivated mTORC1 signaling in tumors. We are evaluating RMC-5552 as a monotherapy in a Phase 1 clinical program, and plan to study it in combination with RAS inhibitors for patients with cancers harboring a RAS mutation and co-occurring mutations in the mTOR signaling pathway. To date, RMC-5552 has been well tolerated at doses up through 6 mg weekly, and preliminary assessments suggest that mucositis is the dose-limiting toxicity at higher doses, which we believe is an on-target biological effect. We have observed preliminary evidence of clinical activity at tolerable doses, including a confirmed partial response in a patient with head and neck cancer bearing an mTOR pathway mutation (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Best Tumor Change in Efficacy Evaluable Patients Treated with 6 mg IV Weekly#.
# Preliminary assessments suggest mucositis was the major dose-limiting toxicity. 6 mg weekly was well tolerated. Further enrollment at doses above 6 mg is ongoing to define the RP2DS; *Patient received one dose of 12 mg, followed by weekly doses of 6 mg. Data as of 01/07/2022.
mTORC1 is a critical regulator of metabolism, growth and proliferation within cells, including cancer cells. The abnormal activation of mTORC1, and subsequent inactivation of the tumor suppressor 4EBP1, is a mechanism that is frequently harnessed by cancer cells to gain a growth and proliferation advantage over normal cells. RMC-5552 is designed to selectively and deeply inhibit mTORC1, thereby preventing phosphorylation and inactivation of 4EBP1, a downstream protein in the mTOR signaling pathway that normally suppresses expression of certain oncogenes such as C-MYC. RMC-5552 has been shown to have combinatorial activity with KRASG12C inhibitors in preclinical models of KRASG12C lung and colon cancer, suggesting that RMC-5552 may be a meaningful and rational addition to our portfolio of RAS Companion Inhibitors.
RMC-5845
RMC-5845, our potent and selective SOS1 inhibitor, is designed to suppress resistance to RAS inhibition through inhibition of cooperating RAS pathway signaling. This compound is ready for preparation of an IND based on the Company’s preclinical
13
development. We continue evaluating the scientific rationale for advancing RMC-5845 into clinical development in the context of other assets in our portfolio.
Commercial plan
We intend to retain significant development and commercialization rights to our product candidates and, if marketing approval is obtained, to commercialize our product candidates on our own, or potentially with a partner, in the United States and other regions. Our most advanced product candidate, RMC-4630, is the subject of a global collaboration with Sanofi. Unless otherwise delegated to us by the joint commercialization committee, Sanofi has the sole right and responsibility for all aspects of the commercialization of SHP2 inhibitors in the world for any and all uses, at its expense, subject to our right to elect to co-promote SHP2 inhibitors in the United States. In the United States, we will share equally with Sanofi the profits and losses applicable to commercialization of SHP2 inhibitor products. Sanofi is responsible for manufacturing SHP2 inhibitors for commercial supply and is expected to lead commercialization efforts through a joint commercialization committee representing the partners. We currently have no sales, marketing or commercial product distribution capabilities. We intend to build the necessary infrastructure and capabilities over time for the United States, and potentially other regions, following further advancement of our product candidates. Clinical data, the size of the addressable patient population, the size of the commercial infrastructure and manufacturing needs, and the status of our pipeline, may all influence or alter our commercialization plans.
Collaboration agreement with Sanofi
In June 2018, we entered into the Sanofi Agreement with Aventis, Inc. (an affiliate of Sanofi) to research and develop SHP2 inhibitors, including RMC-4630, for any indications. The Sanofi Agreement was assigned to Genzyme Corporation, a Sanofi affiliate, in December 2018. For the purposes of this discussion, we refer to Genzyme Corporation as Sanofi. Pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, we granted Sanofi a worldwide, exclusive, sublicensable (subject to our consent in certain circumstances) license under certain of our patents and know-how to research, develop, manufacture, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise commercialize SHP2 inhibitors, including RMC-4630, for any and all uses, subject to our exercise of rights and performance of obligations under the Sanofi Agreement. Such intellectual property exclusively licensed to Sanofi includes our interest under any of our solely-owned or jointly-owned inventions arising out of activities undertaken pursuant to the development of SHP2 inhibitor product candidates under the Sanofi Agreement.
Under the Sanofi Agreement, we have primary responsibility for early clinical development of RMC-4630 pursuant to a development plan that is currently approved through 2022. The development plan and budget beyond 2022 will be determined by a joint research and development committee, over which Sanofi has final decision-making power subject to certain exceptions. Sanofi is responsible to reimburse us for all internal and external costs and expenses to perform our activities under approved development plans, except for costs and expenses related to studies designated in the Sanofi Agreement as RevMed Studies, for which we will bear all costs and expenses, and for the planned RMC-4630-03 study, for which we have agreed that Sanofi will reimburse us for 50% of the costs and expenses. Unreimbursed costs borne by us for any RevMed Studies and for our 50% share of the RMC-4630-03 collaboration study are subject to future reimbursement by Sanofi through a buy-in payment pursuant to the terms of the Sanofi Agreement if they use data from a RevMed Study or the RMC-4630-03 study in support of a marketing approval application. There currently are no active RevMed Studies.
We are responsible for the manufacture of SHP2 inhibitors for Phase 1 and non-registrational Phase 2 clinical trials pursuant to a development plan that is currently approved through 2022, while Sanofi is responsible for manufacturing SHP2 inhibitors for all other clinical trials and commercial supply. Sanofi has the sole right and responsibility to perform all regulatory activities under the Sanofi Agreement, except with respect to certain trials conducted by us or otherwise conducted under our IND, including our current clinical trials evaluating RMC-4630. Once we have completed all clinical trials for a product candidate that are assigned to us under a development plan, all regulatory approvals for such product candidate are automatically assigned to Sanofi.
We are also primarily responsible for performing preclinical research on SHP2 inhibitors, pursuant to a research plan that is currently approved through 2021. The parties currently do not anticipate additional collaboration preclinical research under the research plan in 2022. Sanofi is responsible to reimburse us for all internal and external costs and expenses incurred to perform activities under approved research plans, with the exception of internal and external research costs and expenses under the approved research plans for 2019 and 2020, for which Sanofi was obligated to reimburse us for 80% of such costs. We were responsible for 20% of all internal and external research costs incurred under the research plans for 2019 and 2020. Sanofi is responsible to reimburse us for all internal and external costs and expenses incurred under the research plan for 2021.
Unless otherwise delegated to us by the joint commercialization committee, Sanofi also has the sole right and responsibility for all aspects of the commercialization of SHP2 inhibitors in the world for any and all uses, at its expense, subject to our right to elect to co-promote SHP2 inhibitors in the United States. Sanofi is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to seek marketing approval
14
for at least one SHP2 inhibitor product candidate in certain major market countries. Sanofi agrees to provide us, and we agree to provide Sanofi, with research, development and commercialization updates through the joint committees.
During the term of the Sanofi Agreement, we may not, alone or with any affiliate or third party, conduct certain research activities with respect to, or develop or commercialize, any product that contains a SHP2 inhibitor outside of the Sanofi Agreement.
Pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, we received an upfront payment of $50 million from Sanofi in July 2018. Upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, Sanofi will be obligated to pay us up to $520 million in the aggregate, including up to $235 million upon the achievement of specified development milestones and up to $285 million upon achievement of certain marketing approval milestones. In the United States, we will share equally with Sanofi the profits and losses applicable to commercialization of SHP2 inhibitor products, pursuant to a profit/loss share agreement that the parties will negotiate based on key terms agreed in the Sanofi Agreement. On a product-by-product basis, Sanofi will also be required to pay us tiered royalties on annual net sales of each product outside the United States ranging from high single digit to mid-teen percentages. The royalty payments are subject to reduction under specified conditions set forth in the Sanofi Agreement. Subject to certain exceptions, the royalties are payable on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis until the latest of the expiration of all valid claims covering such product in such country contained in the patents licensed to Sanofi under the Sanofi Agreement and the expiration of regulatory exclusivity for such product in such country.
Sanofi has the sole and exclusive right to file, prosecute and maintain any patents licensed to it pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, as well as to enforce infringement of or defend claims against such patents that relate to SHP2 inhibitor products.
Unless terminated earlier, the Sanofi Agreement will continue in effect until the later of the expiration of all of Sanofi’s milestone and royalty payment obligations and the expiration of the profit/loss share agreement. Upon expiration of the Sanofi Agreement, the licenses granted to Sanofi thereunder shall become fully paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual and irrevocable. Sanofi may terminate the Sanofi Agreement in its entirety or on a country-by-country or product-by-product basis for any reason or for significant safety concerns, upon prior notice to us within certain specified time periods. Sanofi may terminate the Sanofi Agreement in its entirety upon our change of control, with prior notice. Either party may terminate the Sanofi Agreement if an undisputed material breach by the other party is not cured within a defined period of time, or immediately upon notice for insolvency-related events of the other party. We may terminate the Sanofi Agreement after a certain number of years if Sanofi develops a competing program without commencing a registrational clinical trial for a SHP2 inhibitor product candidate, and subject to certain other conditions. We may also terminate the Sanofi Agreement at any time, if Sanofi ceases certain critical activities for SHP2 inhibitor product candidates for more than a specified period of time, provided that such cessations of critical activity were not a result of certain specified factors, and subject to certain other conditions. Upon any termination of the Sanofi Agreement with respect to any product or country, all licenses to Sanofi with respect to such product or country shall automatically terminate and all rights generally revert back to us. If the Sanofi Agreement is terminated, in its entirety or with respect to a product, other than by us for Sanofi’s material breach or insolvency, we may be required to pay Sanofi royalties on worldwide net sales of reverted products up to mid-single digit percentages based on the development and regulatory status of such reverted products, in each case subject to reductions in accordance with the terms of the Sanofi Agreement.
Manufacturing
We rely on and will continue to rely on our contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, for both drug substance and drug product. Currently, all of our manufacturing is outsourced to well-established third-party manufacturers. We have entered into contracts with CMOs for production of drug substance and drug product for our clinical trials and IND-enabling development studies, and plan to enter into additional contracts with these or other manufacturers for additional supply.
Our outsourced approach to manufacturing relies on CMOs to first develop manufacturing processes that are compliant with current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, then produce material for preclinical and clinical studies. Our agreements with CMOs may obligate them to develop and qualify upstream and downstream processes, develop drug product process, validate (and in some cases develop) suitable analytical methods for test and release as well as stability testing, produce drug substance for preclinical testing, produce cGMP-compliant drug substance, or produce cGMP-compliant drug product. We conduct audits of CMOs prior to initiation of activities under these agreements and monitor operations to ensure compliance with the mutually agreed process descriptions and to cGMP regulations.
Competition
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and the oncology sector, are characterized by rapid evolution of technologies, fierce competition and strong defense of intellectual property rights. While we believe that our discovery programs, technology, knowledge, experience, and scientific resources provide us with competitive advantages, we face competition from major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions, among others.
15
Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with currently approved therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future. Key product features that would affect our ability to effectively compete with other therapeutics include the efficacy, safety and convenience of our products and the ease of use and effectiveness of any complementary diagnostics and/or companion diagnostics.
There are a large number of companies developing or marketing treatments for cancer, including many major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These treatments consist of small molecule drug products, biologics, cell-based therapies and traditional chemotherapy. There are also several programs in development targeting SHP2, including those clinical programs run by Novartis AG, Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (licensed to AbbVie Inc.), Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (licensed to Roche), Erasca, Inc., Navire Pharma, Inc., InnoCare Pharma Ltd., and Genhouse Bio Co. Ltd.
There are several RAS pathway mutations programs, including those directed at KRASG12C and KRASG12Dmutations, including clinical programs directed at KRASG12C(OFF) being conducted by Amgen Inc., Mirati Therapeutics, Inc., Roche, Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Novartis AG, InventisBio, Eli Lilly & Co., InnoCare Pharma Ltd., Innovent Biologics, Inc and Genhoouse Bio Co. Ltd. Other clinical programs directed at mutant RAS are being conducted including those by Merck & Co./Moderna Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Smaller and other early-stage companies such as Frontier Medicines, may also prove to be significant competitors. In addition, academic research departments and public and private research institutions may be conducting research on compounds that could prove to be competitive.
The availability of coverage and reimbursement from government and other third-party payors will also significantly affect the pricing and competitiveness of our products. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.
Many of the companies against which we may compete have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.
Intellectual property
Our success depends in part on our ability and the ability of our collaborators to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our technology, programs, and know-how related to our business, defend and enforce our intellectual property rights, in particular, our patent rights, preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets, and operate without infringing valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others. We endeavor to establish, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights that protect our business interests.
The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term of patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries in which we file, including the United States, the patent term is generally 20 years from the earliest date of filing a non-provisional patent application, assuming the patent has not been terminally disclaimed over a commonly-owned patent or a patent naming a common inventor, or over a patent not commonly owned but that was disqualified as prior art as the result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. In the United States, the term of a patent may also be eligible for patent term adjustment for delays within the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO. In addition, for patents that cover an FDA-approved drug, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act, may permit a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the expiration of the patent. While the length of such patent term extension is related to the length of time the drug is under regulatory review, patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent per approved drug may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Similar provisions are available in Europe and certain other foreign jurisdictions to extend the term of a patent that covers an approved drug. In the future, if and when our products receive FDA approval, we expect to apply for patent term extensions on patents covering those products. We plan to seek any available patent term extension to any issued patents we may be granted in any jurisdiction where such extensions are available; however, there is no guarantee that the applicable authorities, including the FDA in the United States, will agree with our assessment of whether such extensions should be granted, and if granted, the length of such extensions.
We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, and confidential information relating to our programs to develop and maintain our proprietary position, and seek to protect and maintain the confidentiality of such items to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not presently consider appropriate for, patent protection. Our trade secrets include, for example, certain program specific syntheses, manufacturing schema, formulations, biomarkers, patient selection strategies, and certain aspects of our
16
proprietary tri-complex technology platform. It is our policy to require our employees, consultants, contractors, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements prior to the commencement of employment or consulting relationships with us, and for employees, contractors and consultants to enter into invention assignment agreements with us. These agreements generally provide that all confidential information developed or made known to the individual during the course of the individual’s relationship with us is to be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific circumstances. Where applicable, the agreements provide that all inventions to which the individual contributed as an inventor shall be assigned to us, and as such, will become our property. There can be no assurance, however, that these agreements will be self-executing or otherwise provide meaningful protection or adequate remedies for our trade secrets or other proprietary information, including in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our trade secrets and confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in the measures we take to protect and preserve our trade secrets, such measures can be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. For more information regarding the risks related to intellectual property, please see “Risk factors—Risks related to intellectual property.”
Our program-specific patent portfolio
Our patent portfolio is directed to small molecules, platform methodologies, and related technology. We seek patent protection for product candidates, development programs, and related alternatives by filing and prosecuting patent applications in the United States and other countries, as appropriate.
We own and co-own patents and patent applications related to our SHP2 development program. Our patent portfolio related to this program consists of ownership or co-ownership rights to several patent families that include filings covering compositions of matter or methods of using our clinical candidate, RMC-4630, alone or in combination with certain other therapeutic agents. The single co-owned patent family is co-owned with The University of California, San Francisco, or UCSF. The issued patents have, and any patents issuing from these patent applications would have, nominal expiration dates ranging from 2037 to 2040, without accounting for any applicable patent term adjustments or extensions. All but the single UCSF co-owned family is exclusively licensed to our SHP2 collaborator, Sanofi, under the Sanofi Agreement.
We own or exclusively license patents and patent applications related to our mTORC1 development program. Our patent portfolio related to this program consists of ownership or the exclusive license of rights to several patent families that include filings covering compositions of matter or methods of using our development candidate, RMC-5552, alone or in combination with certain other therapeutic agents. The single exclusively licensed patent family is licensed from UCSF. The issued patents have, and any patents issuing from these patent applications would have, nominal expiration dates ranging from 2035 to 2041, without accounting for any applicable patent term adjustments or extensions.
We own patent applications related to our SOS1 development program. Our patent portfolio related to this program consists of ownership of several patent families that include filings covering compositions of matter or methods of using our development candidate, RMC-5845, alone or in combination with certain other therapeutic agents. The patents issuing from these patent applications would have an earliest nominal expiration date of 2040, without accounting for any applicable patent term adjustments or extensions.
We own patents and patent applications related to our RAS tri-complex inhibitors and related platform technology. Our patent portfolio related to this program consists of ownership rights to several patent families that include filings covering compositions of matter or methods of using our development candidates, RMC-6291 and RMC-6236, alone or in combination with certain other therapeutic agents, or aspects pertaining to our tri-complex approach to RAS inhibition. The issued patents have, and any patents issuing from these patent applications would have, nominal expiration dates ranging from 2031 (for patents originating from the Warp Drive Bio portfolio) to 2041 (for patents originating from the Company’s portfolio), without accounting for any applicable patent term adjustments or extensions.
Government regulation
The FDA and other regulatory authorities at federal, state, and local levels, as well as in foreign countries, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, storage, recordkeeping, approval, labeling, marketing and promotion, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, sampling, and import and export of products, such as those we are developing. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
17
U.S. drug regulation
In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and its implementing regulations. FDA approval is required before any new unapproved drug can be marketed in the United States. Drugs are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. Failure to comply with applicable FDA or other requirements may subject a company to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as FDA clinical holds, refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, civil penalties and criminal prosecution.
The process required by the FDA before product candidates may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:
completion of extensive preclinical laboratory tests and animal studies, where all supporting safety and toxicity studies are performed in accordance with applicable regulations, including the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice, or GLP, regulations;
manufacture of clinical drug supply in accordance with FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, regulations, when required;
submission to the FDA of an investigational new drug application, or IND, which must become effective before human clinical studies may begin and must be updated annually or when significant changes are made;
approval by an independent institutional review board, or IRB, representing each clinical site before a clinical study may be initiated;
performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials in accordance with good clinical practice, or GCP, regulations to establish the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for each proposed indication;
preparation of and submission to the FDA of an NDA after completion of all pivotal trials;
a determination by the FDA within 60 days of its receipt of an NDA to file the application for review;
satisfactory completion of an FDA advisory committee review, if applicable;
satisfactory completion of an FDA pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facility(ies) where the product is manufactured to assess compliance with cGMP regulations, and of selected clinical investigation sites to assess compliance with GCP;
payment of users fees for FDA review of the NDA; and
FDA review and approval of an NDA to permit commercial marketing of the product for its particular labeled uses in the United States.
Preclinical and clinical studies
The preclinical and clinical testing and approval process can take many years and the actual time required to obtain approval, if any, may vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product or condition being treated.
Preclinical tests include laboratory (in vitro) evaluation of product chemistry, formulation and toxicity, as well as animal (in vivo) studies to assess the characteristics and potential safety and efficacy of the product. The conduct of preclinical tests that provide safety and toxicological information must comply with federal regulations and requirements, including GLP. The results of preclinical testing are submitted to the FDA as part of an IND along with other information, including information about product chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) and any available human data or literature to support use of the product in humans. An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational product to humans and must become effective before clinical trials may begin. Long-term preclinical tests, such as animal tests of reproductive toxicity and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted.
The central focus of an IND submission is on the general investigational plan and the protocol(s) for human studies. An IND must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. An IND will automatically become effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time the FDA raises concerns or questions related to the proposed clinical studies. In such a case, the IND may be placed on clinical hold and the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns or questions before clinical studies can begin.
For each successive clinical trial conducted with the investigational drug, a separate, new protocol submission to an existing IND must be made, along with any subsequent changes to the investigational plan. Sponsors are also subject to ongoing reporting requirements, including submission of IND safety reports for any serious adverse experiences associated with use of the investigational drug or
18
findings from preclinical studies suggesting a significant risk for human subjects, as well as IND annual reports on the progress of the investigations conducted under the IND.
Clinical studies involve the administration of the investigational new drug to human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with GCPs, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for participation in each clinical study. Clinical studies are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the efficacy criteria to be evaluated. A protocol for each clinical study and any subsequent protocol amendments must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Additionally, approval must also be obtained from each clinical study site’s IRB before a study may be initiated at the site, and the IRB must monitor the study until completed. Sponsors of clinical trials generally must register and report ongoing clinical studies and clinical study results to public registries, including the website maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Human clinical trials are typically divided into three or four phases. Although the phases are usually conducted sequentially, they may overlap or be combined.
Phase 1. The drug is initially introduced into healthy human subjects or into patients with the target disease or condition. These studies are designed to evaluate the safety, dosage tolerance, metabolism and pharmacologic actions of the drug in humans, the side effects associated with increasing doses, and if possible, to gain early evidence on effectiveness. In the case of some products for severe or life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, especially when the product may be too inherently toxic to ethically administer to healthy volunteers, the initial human testing is often conducted in patients.
Phase 2. The drug is administered to a limited patient population to evaluate tolerance and optimal dose, identify possible adverse side effects and safety risks, and preliminarily evaluate efficacy. Multiple Phase 2 trials may be conducted to obtain additional data prior to beginning Phase 3 trials.
Phase 3. The drug is administered to an expanded patient population, generally at geographically dispersed clinical study sites to generate enough data to statistically evaluate dosage, clinical effectiveness and safety, to establish the overall benefit-risk relationship of the investigational product and to provide an adequate basis for product approval.
Phase 4. In some cases, the FDA may condition approval of an NDA for a product candidate on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct additional clinical studies after approval. In other cases, a sponsor may voluntarily conduct additional clinical studies after approval to gain more information about the drug. Such post-approval studies are typically referred to as Phase 4 clinical studies.
The FDA, the IRB or the clinical study sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical study at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. The sponsor may also suspend or terminate a clinical study based on evolving business objectives and/or competitive climate.
Concurrent with clinical trials, companies may complete additional in vivo studies and develop additional information about the characteristics of the product candidate. Companies must also finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercially applicable quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product and, among other things, must use validated methods for testing the product against specifications to confirm its identity, strength, quality and purity. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
U.S. review and approval process
Assuming successful completion of all required testing in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements, the results of preclinical studies and other non-clinical studies and clinical trials, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacture, controls, and proposed labeling, among other things, are submitted to the FDA in the form of an NDA requesting approval to market the product for one or more indications. The submission of an NDA requires payment of a substantial application user fee to the FDA, unless a waiver or exemption applies.
An NDA must include all relevant data available from pertinent preclinical and clinical studies, including negative or ambiguous results as well as positive findings, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacturing, controls and proposed labeling, among other things. Data can come from company-sponsored clinical studies intended to test the safety and effectiveness of a use of a product, or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by investigators. To support marketing approval, the data submitted must be sufficient in quality and quantity to establish the safety and effectiveness of the investigational product to the satisfaction of the FDA.
The FDA reviews all submitted NDAs before it accepts them for filing. The FDA has 60 days from its receipt of an NDA to determine whether the application will be accepted for filing based on the agency’s threshold determination that it is sufficiently complete to
19
permit substantive review. The FDA may request additional information rather than accept an application for filing. In this event, the application must be resubmitted with the additional information and is subject to payment of additional user fees. The resubmitted application is also subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth substantive review. Under applicable Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, performance goals, the FDA endeavors to review applications subject to standard review within ten to twelve months, and to review applications subject to priority review within six to eight months, depending on whether the drug is a new molecular entity.
The FDA may refer applications for novel drug products or drug products which present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee for review, evaluation and recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions.
Before approving an NDA, the FDA typically will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure that relevant study data was obtained in compliance with GCP requirements. If the FDA determines that the application, manufacturing process or manufacturing facilities are not acceptable, it will outline the deficiencies in the submission and often will request additional testing or information. Notwithstanding the submission of any requested additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval.
After the FDA evaluates the NDA and conducts inspections of manufacturing facilities, it may issue an approval letter or a complete response letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A complete response letter indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete and the application will not be approved in its present form. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing or information, including additional clinical trials or other significant and time-consuming requirements related to the clinical trials, in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. Even with submission of this additional information, the FDA may ultimately decide that an application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval.
If regulatory approval of a product is granted, such approval will be granted for particular indications and may entail limitations on the indicated uses for which such product may be marketed. For example, as a condition of NDA approval, the FDA may require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, program to help ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks. If the FDA determines a REMS program is necessary during review of the application, the drug sponsor must agree to the REMS plan at the time of approval. A REMS program may be required to include various elements, such as a medication guide or patient package insert, a communication plan to educate healthcare providers of the drug’s risks, or other elements to assure safe use, such as limitations on who may prescribe or dispense the drug, dispensing only under certain circumstances, special monitoring and the use of patient registries. In addition, all REMS programs must include a timetable to periodically assess the strategy following implementation. The FDA also may condition approval on, among other things, changes to proposed labeling or the development of adequate controls and specifications.
Further, product approval may require substantial post-approval testing and surveillance to monitor the drug’s safety and efficacy, and the FDA has the authority to prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of these post-marketing programs. Once granted, product approvals may be withdrawn if compliance with regulatory standards is not maintained or problems are identified following initial marketing. Moreover, changes to the conditions established in an approved application, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities may require submission and FDA approval of a new NDA or NDA supplement before the changes can be implemented. An NDA supplement for a new indication typically requires clinical data similar to that supporting the original approval, and the FDA uses similar procedures in reviewing supplements as it does in reviewing original applications. In addition, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could impact the timeline for regulatory approval or otherwise impact ongoing development programs.
Expedited development and review programs
The FDA offers a number of expedited development and review programs for qualifying product candidates, and we may seek one or more of these programs for our current or future products.
New drug products may be eligible for fast track designation if they are intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the disease or condition. Fast track designation applies to the combination of the product and the specific indication for which it is being studied. The sponsor of a fast track product has opportunities for frequent interactions with the review team during product development and, once an NDA is submitted, the product may be eligible for priority review. A fast track product may also be eligible for rolling review, where the FDA may consider for
20
review sections of the NDA on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the NDA, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the NDA and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the NDA.
A product intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition may also be eligible for breakthrough therapy designation to expedite its development and review. A product can receive breakthrough therapy designation if preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The designation includes all of the fast track program features, as well as more intensive FDA interaction and guidance beginning as early as Phase 1 and an organizational commitment to expedite the development and review of the product, including involvement of senior managers.
After an NDA is submitted for a product, including a product with a fast track designation and/or breakthrough therapy designation, the NDA may be eligible for priority review. A product is eligible for priority review if it has the potential to provide a significant improvement in the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of a serious disease or condition compared to marketed products. Depending on whether a drug contains a new molecular entity, priority review designation means the FDA’s goal is to take an action on the marketing application within six to eight months of the 60-day filing date, compared with ten to twelve months under standard review.
Additionally, products studied for their safety and effectiveness in treating serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions may receive accelerated approval upon a determination that the product has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of accelerated approval, the FDA will generally require the sponsor to perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical studies to verify and describe the anticipated effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. The FDA may withdraw approval of a drug or an indication approved under accelerated approval if, for example, sponsor fails to conduct the confirmatory trial in a timely manner, or if the confirmatory trial fails to verify the predicted clinical benefit of the product. In addition, the FDA currently requires as a condition for accelerated approval pre-approval of promotional materials, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product.
Fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation, priority review and accelerated approval do not change the scientific or medical standards for approval or the quality of evidence necessary to support approval, though they may expedite the development or review process. Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or the time period for FDA review or approval may not be shortened.
Orphan drug designation
We intend to pursue orphan drug designation for one or more of our product candidates with respect to certain oncology indications, as appropriate, with the potential to obtain orphan drug exclusivity for our products, if approved.
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or more than 200,000 individuals in the United States for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the United States a drug for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the United States for that drug. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an NDA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the generic identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. The orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review or approval process.
If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusive approval (or exclusivity), which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full NDA, to market the same drug for the same disease or condition for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity. Orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving a different drug for the same disease or condition, or the same drug for a different disease or condition. Orphan product exclusivity also could block the approval of one of our products for seven years if a competitor obtains approval of the same biological product as defined by the FDA or if our product candidate is determined to be contained within the competitor’s product for the same disease or condition. Among the other benefits of orphan drug designation are tax credits for certain research and a waiver of the application user fee.
A designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later
21
determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.
Pediatric information and pediatric exclusivity
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, certain NDAs and certain supplements to an NDA must contain data to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, or FDASIA, amended the FDCA to require that a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a drug that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan, or iPSP, within 60 days of an end-of-Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of a Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 study. The iPSP must include an outline of the pediatric study or studies that the sponsor plans to conduct, including study objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach, or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the iPSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed-upon iPSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from preclinical studies, early phase clinical trials and/or other clinical development programs.
A drug product can also obtain pediatric market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods and patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of other exclusivity protection or patent term, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric study in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a study.
Post-approval requirements
Once an NDA is approved, a product will be subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to drug listing and registration, recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, adverse event reporting and advertising, marketing and promotion. Drugs may be marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. While physicians may prescribe for off-label uses, manufacturers may only promote for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. However, companies may share truthful and not misleading information that is otherwise consistent with a product’s FDA approved labeling. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability.
After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing user fee requirements, under which FDA assesses an annual program fee for each product identified in an approved NDA. In addition, quality-control, drug manufacture, packaging and labeling procedures must continue to conform to cGMPs after approval. Drug manufacturers and certain of their subcontractors are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies. Registration with the FDA subjects entities to periodic unannounced and announced inspections by the FDA and these state agencies, during which the agency inspects manufacturing facilities to assess compliance with cGMP requirements and other laws. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting requirements upon us and any third-party manufacturers that we may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain compliance with cGMP and other aspects of regulatory compliance. The FDA may withdraw approval of a product if compliance with regulatory requirements is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical studies to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:
restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of a product, complete withdrawal of the product from the market or product recalls;
fines, warning or untitled letters or holds on clinical studies;
refusal of the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications, or suspension or revocation of existing product approvals;
product seizure or detention, or refusal of the FDA to permit the import or export of products;
mandated modifications of promotional materials and labeling and the issuance of corrective information;
22
the issuance of safety alerts, Dear Healthcare Provider letters, press releases or other communications containing warnings or other safety information about the product; or
injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
We also must comply with the FDA’s advertising and promotion requirements, such as those related to direct-to-consumer advertising, the prohibition on promoting products for uses or in patient populations that are not described in the product’s approved labeling, known as “off-label use,” industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and promotional activities involving the internet.
The FDA may also require post-approval studies and clinical trials if the FDA finds that scientific data, including information regarding related drugs, deem it appropriate. The purpose of such studies would be to assess a known serious risk or signals of serious risk related to the drug or to identify an unexpected serious risk when available data indicate the potential for a serious risk. The FDA may also require a labeling change if it becomes aware of new safety information that it believes should be included in the labeling of a drug.
Failure to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval may subject an applicant or manufacturer to, among other things, adverse publicity, warning letters, corrective advertising and potential civil and criminal penalties. FDA sanctions could include refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, clinical hold, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, mandated corrective advertising or communications with doctors, debarment, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal penalties.
International regulation
In addition to regulations in the United States, we could become subject to a variety of foreign regulations regarding development, approval, commercial sales and distribution of our products if we seek to market our product candidates in other jurisdictions. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain the necessary approvals by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries before we can commence clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries. The approval process varies from country to country and can involve additional product testing and additional review periods, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required to obtain FDA approval. The requirements governing, among other things, the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country. Regulatory approval in one country does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may negatively impact the regulatory process in others. If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulatory requirements, we may be subject to fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecution.
Other healthcare laws
Pharmaceutical companies are subject to additional healthcare regulation and enforcement by the federal government and by authorities in the states and foreign jurisdictions in which they conduct their business. Such laws include, without limitation, U.S. federal and state anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, consumer fraud, pricing reporting, and transparency laws and regulations as well as similar foreign laws in jurisdictions outside the U.S.
For example, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind to induce or in return for purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending the purchase, lease or order of any item or service reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
The federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the civil False Claims Act, prohibit, among other things, any individual or entity from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim for payment to the federal government or knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government. In addition, 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 civil False Claims Act.
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, created additional federal civil and criminal statutes that prohibit, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program. Similar to the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the healthcare fraud statute implemented under HIPAA or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
23
The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, with specific exceptions, to report annually to CMS information related to payments or other transfers of value made to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain non-physician practitioners (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, anesthesiology assistants and certified nurse midwives) and teaching hospitals, and applicable manufacturers and applicable group purchasing organizations to report annually to CMS ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members.
Similar state and local laws and regulations may also restrict business practices in the pharmaceutical industry, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to business practices, including but not limited to, research, distribution, sales and marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers, or by patients themselves; state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state laws and regulations that require drug manufacturers to file reports relating to pricing and marketing information or which require tracking gifts and other remuneration and items of value provided to physicians, other healthcare providers and entities; and state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives.
Violation of any of such laws or any other governmental regulations that apply may result in penalties, including, without limitation, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, additional reporting obligations, the curtailment or restructuring of operations, exclusion from participation in governmental healthcare programs and individual imprisonment.
Data privacy and security laws
Pharmaceutical companies may be subject to numerous federal, state and foreign laws, regulations that govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information. In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including data breach notification laws, health information privacy and security laws and consumer protection laws and regulations govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of health-related and other personal information. In addition, certain foreign laws govern the privacy and security of personal data, including health-related data. For example, the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes strict requirements for processing the personal data of individuals within the European Economic Area. Companies that must comply with the GDPR face increased compliance obligations and risk, including more robust regulatory enforcement of data protection requirements and potential fines for noncompliance of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenues of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater. Further, from January 1, 2021, companies have had to comply with the GDPR and also the United Kingdom (UK) GDPR, which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, i.e., fines up to the greater of €20 million (£17.5 million) or 4% of global turnover. Privacy and security laws, regulations, and other obligations are constantly evolving, may conflict with each other to complicate compliance efforts, and can result in investigations, proceedings, or actions that lead to significant civil and/or criminal penalties and restrictions on data processing.
Coverage and reimbursement
Sales of any pharmaceutical product depend, in part, on the extent to which such product will be covered by third-party payors, such as federal, state and foreign government healthcare programs, commercial insurance and managed healthcare organizations, and the level of reimbursement for such product by third-party payors. Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any newly approved product. Decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided are made on a plan-by-plan basis. One third-party payor’s decision to cover a particular product does not ensure that other payors will also provide coverage for the product. As a result, the coverage determination process can require manufacturers to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of a product to each payor separately and can be a time-consuming process, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance.
In addition, third-party payors are increasingly reducing reimbursements for pharmaceutical products and services. The U.S. government and state legislatures have continued implementing cost-containment programs, including price controls, restrictions on coverage and reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products. Third-party payors are more and more challenging the prices charged, examining the medical necessity and reviewing the cost effectiveness of pharmaceutical products, in addition to questioning their safety and efficacy. Adoption of price controls and cost-containment measures, and adoption of more restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could further limit sales of any product. Decreases in third-party reimbursement for any product or a decision by a third-party payor not to cover a product could reduce physician usage and patient demand for the product.
24
In international markets, reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies. For example, the European Union provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. Pharmaceutical products may face competition from lower-priced products in foreign countries that have placed price controls on pharmaceutical products and may also compete with imported foreign products. Furthermore, there is no assurance that a product will be considered medically reasonable and necessary for a specific indication, will be considered cost-effective by third-party payors, that an adequate level of reimbursement will be established even if coverage is available or that the third-party payors’ reimbursement policies will not adversely affect the ability for manufacturers to sell products profitably.
Healthcare reform
In the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system. In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the ACA, was signed into law, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers in the United States. The ACA contains a number of provisions, including those governing enrollment in federal healthcare programs, reimbursement adjustments and fraud and abuse changes. Additionally, the ACA increased the minimum level of Medicaid rebates payable by manufacturers of brand name drugs from 15.1% to 23.1%; required collection of rebates for drugs paid by Medicaid managed care organizations; imposed a non-deductible annual fee on pharmaceutical manufacturers or importers who sell certain “branded prescription drugs” to specified federal government programs; expanded eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs; created a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and established a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending.
Since its enactment, there have been judicial, executive and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the most recent judicial challenge to the ACA brought by several states without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the ACA. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden issued an executive order to initiate a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through August 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The executive order also instructed certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to healthcare, including among others, reexamining Medicaid demonstration projects and waiver programs that include work requirements, and policies that create unnecessary barriers to obtaining access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the ACA.
Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the ACA was enacted, including aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year and reduced payments to several types of Medicare providers, which will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022 absent additional congressional action. Moreover, there has recently been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted legislation designed, among other things, to bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for pharmaceutical products. Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical 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, mechanisms to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Furthermore, there has been increased interest by third party payors and governmental authorities in reference pricing systems and publication of discounts and list prices.
Employees and human capital resources
As of December 31, 2021, we had 188 full-time employees, including 82 employees who have M.D. or Ph.D. degrees. Within our workforce, as of December 31, 2021 154 employees were engaged in research and development. None of our employees are represented by labor unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good.
Our human capital resources objectives include meeting hiring goals, deepening our oncology and public company expertise, integrating new employees, and retaining, incentivizing and developing our existing employees. We provide competitive compensation and benefit programs, including competitive salaries, incentive programs, equity awards, and employee stock purchase plan, healthcare and insurance benefits. The principal purposes of our equity incentive programs are to attract, retain and motivate selected employees, consultants and directors through the granting of stock-based compensation awards and to align the interests of
25
these individuals with those of our stockholders. We regularly review our compensation practices to support our employees, including evaluating innovative health and wellness programs to continue to respond to employee needs.
We are committed to creating an environment where diverse perspectives are encouraged and supported. This commitment is memorialized as one of our corporate core values (Inclusiveness and Fairness) and is brought to life for every employee during our cultural integration sessions for new hires and through an informal network of cultural champions that we foster. As of December 31, 2021, 60% of our employees self-identified as women.
We are equally committed to the development of our employees and one of our corporate core values (Exceptional Together) captures this commitment. We offer our employees career-specific training and resources and support development opportunities through company-sponsored programs, including learning, mentoring, and coaching opportunities. We host regular company-wide sessions where our employees discuss ideas related to corporate initiatives and scientific breakthroughs and recognize each other’s contributions.
The health and safety of our employees is a top priority. In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a comprehensive plan that established clear and standardized COVID-19 policies, safety protocols and updates to all employees. We continue to monitor and adjust this plan as required to best service the needs of our employees and business. Our plan has included facilitating remote work of many of our employees, while implementing additional safety measures for employees continuing critical onsite work, including safety screening and onsite COVID-19 testing.
Corporate Information
We were founded in October 2014 as a Delaware corporation. Our principal executive offices are located at 700 Saginaw Drive, Redwood City, California 94063, and our telephone number is (650) 481-6801.
Our website address is www.revmed.com. We make available on or through our website certain reports and amendments to those reports that we file with or furnish to the SEC in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. These include our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and our current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. We make this information available on or through our website free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the information with, or furnish it to, the SEC. References to our website address do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website, and the information contained on the website is not part of this document or any other document that we file with or furnish to the SEC. The SEC maintains a site on the worldwide web that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding our filings at www.sec.gov.
26
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, competitive position, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Many of the following risks and uncertainties and those contained in the documents incorporated by reference herein are, and will be, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and any worsening of the global business and economic environment as a result. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations and the market price of our common stock.
Risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, or other epidemic and pandemic diseases or governmental or other actions taken in response to them, could significantly disrupt our business.
Outbreaks of epidemic, pandemic or contagious diseases, such as the recent SARS-CoV-2 virus, or coronavirus, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or, historically, the Ebola virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or the H1N1 virus, could significantly disrupt our business. These outbreaks pose the risk that we or our employees, contractors, suppliers, and other partners may be prevented from conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time due to spread of the disease within these groups, or due to restrictions that may be requested or mandated by governmental authorities. Business disruptions could include disruptions or restrictions on our ability to travel, as well as temporary closures of all or part of our facilities and the facilities of our partners, clinical trial sites, service providers, suppliers or contract manufacturers. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves and spreads, both across the United States and through the world, we continue to actively monitor the impact that COVID-19 is having and may have on our business. The pandemic and the measures taken by governmental authorities could disrupt and delay our ongoing clinical trials, our preclinical activities, the manufacture or shipment of both drug substance and finished drug product for our product candidates for preclinical testing and clinical trials and otherwise significantly disrupt our business.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of California, where our corporate offices are located, and many counties where our offices are located or our employees reside, have issued and may in the future issue orders for all residents to remain at home, except as needed for essential activities, and have placed restrictions on the scope and conduct of business activities. We have taken steps to ensure the safety of our patients and employees, while working to ensure the sustainability of our business operations as this unprecedented situation continues to evolve. As a result, we have implemented policies that require or permit many of our employees to work remotely. Some of these policies may continue for an indefinite period and may become more restrictive in response to developments related to the pandemic and the associated governmental responses. We continue to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare system and work with healthcare providers supporting our clinical studies to mitigate risk to patients while taking into account regulatory, institutional, and government guidance and policies.
The clinical trial sites for our clinical studies may be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 outbreak, travel, quarantine or other restrictions imposed by governments, and the inability to access sites for initiation and patient monitoring and enrollment. As a result, patient screening, new patient enrollment, monitoring and data collection may be affected or delayed. We are aware that several clinical sites involved in our RMC-4630 clinical studies temporarily stopped or delayed enrolling new patients, with exemptions if appropriate, and it is possible that these or other clinical sites may be similarly affected in the future. These developments may delay our clinical trial timelines. Our clinical trials currently permit patients to receive COVID-19 vaccines while they are on study. The potential impact of our candidates on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, and the potential impact on of COVID-19 vaccines on the safety and efficacy of our candidates is unknown at this time, but it possible that adverse impacts will negatively affect our clinical trials.
Although we are currently not aware of any material impacts on our supply chain of our current or potential product candidates as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of our third-party manufacturers which we use for the supply of materials for product candidates or other materials necessary to manufacture product to conduct preclinical tests and clinical trials and contract research organizations that we may utilize may be impacted by COVID-19, and should they experience continued disruptions, such as temporary closures or suspension of services, we would likely experience delays in advancing clinical trials. Furthermore, the spread of the virus may affect the operations of key governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the FDA), which may delay the development of our product candidates. The spread of an infectious disease, including COVID-19, may also result in the inability of our suppliers to deliver components or raw materials on a timely basis or at all. Such events may result in a period of business disruption, and in reduced operations, or doctors and medical providers may be unwilling to participate in our clinical trials.
27
In addition, a significant outbreak of epidemic, pandemic or contagious diseases in the human population, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, could result in a widespread health crisis and adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that could affect demand for our current or future products.
While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, COVID-19 may be difficult to assess or predict, a continuing widespread pandemic could result in significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect the value of our common stock.
Risks related to our limited operating history, financial position and need for additional capital
We are a clinical-stage precision oncology company with a limited operating history and no products approved for commercial sale. We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses for at least the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability, which, together with our limited operating history, makes it difficult to assess our future viability.
Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We are a clinical-stage precision oncology company, and we have only a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. We currently have no products approved for commercial sale, have not generated any revenue from sales of products and have incurred losses in each year since our inception in October 2014. In addition, we have limited experience as a company and have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Since inception, we have incurred significant net losses. Our net losses were $187.1 million, $108.2 million and $47.7 million, for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $452.6 million. We have funded our operations to date primarily with proceeds from the sale of common stock and preferred stock and upfront payments and research and development cost reimbursement received under our collaboration agreement with Genzyme Corporation, an affiliate of Sanofi (the Sanofi Agreement). To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, acquiring and discovering development programs, securing intellectual property rights and conducting discovery, research and development activities for our programs. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any clinical trials, including pivotal clinical trials, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product, or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Our product candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we will be able to apply for or receive regulatory approvals and, if approved, begin generating revenue from product sales. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future.
We have never generated revenue from product sales and may never be profitable.
Our ability to generate revenue from product sales and achieve profitability depends on our ability, alone or with our collaboration partners, to successfully complete the development of, and obtain the regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize, our development programs. We do not anticipate generating revenue from product sales for the next several years, if ever. Our ability to generate future revenue from product sales depends heavily on our, Sanofi’s, and any potential future collaborators’ success in:
28
Even if one or more of the product candidates that we develop is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA, the European Medicines Agency (the EMA) or other regulatory agencies to perform clinical trials or studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate. Even if we are able to generate revenue from the sale of any approved products, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations.
We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. A failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or commercialization efforts.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. Since our inception, we have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in research and development activities for our initial preclinical and clinical product candidates.
Preclinical studies and clinical trials and additional research and development activities will require substantial funds to complete. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $577.1 million. In February 2020, we raised $250.7 million upon the completion of our initial public offering (IPO), net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. In July 2020, we raised $167.8 million upon the completion of a follow-on public offering, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. In February 2021, we raised $281.1 million upon the completion of a follow-on public offering, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to continue the preclinical and clinical development of our current and future programs. If we are able to gain marketing approval for product candidates that we develop, we will require significant additional amounts of cash in order to launch and commercialize our product candidates to the extent that their launch and commercialization are not the responsibility of Sanofi or another collaborator that we may contract with in the future. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise. Because the design and outcome of our current, planned and potential future clinical trials is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of any product candidate we develop.
The timing and amount of our future funding requirements depend on many factors, including:
29
Other than our Sanofi collaboration on SHP2 inhibitors, including RMC-4630, we do not have any committed external source of funds or other support for our development efforts. We expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of public or private equity offerings, debt financings, credit or loan facilities, collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements and other marketing or distribution arrangements. 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.
Our ability to raise additional funds will depend on financial, economic and other factors, many of which are beyond our control.
Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to:
Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which will make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our results to fall below expectations.
Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which will make it difficult for us to predict our future results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including:
The cumulative effects of these factors could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.
30
This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met any previously publicly stated revenue or operating guidance we may provide.
Risks related to product development and regulatory process
We are early in our development efforts. Our business is dependent on the successful development of our current and future product candidates. If we are unable to advance our current or future product candidates through clinical trials, obtain marketing approval and ultimately commercialize any product candidates we develop, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We are early in our development efforts. Only certain of our product candidates are being evaluated in clinical trials whereas our other programs are in the preclinical stage. We have invested substantially all of our efforts and financial resources in the identification of targets and preclinical development of small molecules to treat cancer. The success of our business, including our ability to finance our company and generate revenue from products in the future, which we do not expect will occur for several years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of the product candidates we develop, which may never occur. Our current product candidates, and any future product candidates we develop, will require additional preclinical and clinical development, management of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, marketing approval in the United States and other markets, demonstrating effectiveness to pricing and reimbursement authorities, obtaining sufficient manufacturing supply for both clinical development and commercial production, building of a commercial organization, and substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales.
We have not previously submitted a new drug application (NDA) to the FDA or similar approval filings to a comparable foreign regulatory authority, for any product candidate. An NDA or other relevant regulatory filing must include extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to establish that the product candidate is safe and effective for each desired indication. The NDA or other relevant regulatory filing must also include significant information regarding the chemistry, manufacturing and controls for the product. We cannot be certain that our current or future product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. Further, even if they are successful in clinical trials, our product candidates or any future product candidates may not receive regulatory approval. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for current or future product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations. Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approval to market a product candidate, our revenue will depend, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval and have commercial rights, as well as the availability of competitive products, whether there is sufficient third-party reimbursement and adoption by physicians.
We plan to seek regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates both in the United States and in select foreign countries. While the scope of regulatory approval generally is similar in other countries, in order to obtain separate regulatory approval in other countries we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding safety and efficacy. Other countries also have their own regulations governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, as well as pricing and distribution of drugs, and we may be required to expend significant resources to obtain regulatory approval and to comply with ongoing regulations in these jurisdictions.
The success of our current and future product candidates will depend on several factors, including the following:
31
If we are not successful with respect to one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize the product candidates we develop, which would materially harm our business. If we do not receive marketing approvals for any product candidate we develop, we may not be able to continue our operations.
Preclinical development is uncertain. 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 our product candidates on a timely basis or at all, which would have an adverse effect on our business.
In order to obtain approval from the FDA or comparable foreign authorities to market a new small molecule product, we must demonstrate proof of safety and efficacy in humans. To meet these requirements, we will have to conduct adequate and well-controlled clinical trials. Before we can commence clinical trials for a product candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical studies that support our planned INDs in the United States. We have two product candidates in clinical development and the rest of our programs are in preclinical research or development. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical studies and cannot predict if the FDA or foreign authorities will accept our proposed clinical programs or if the outcome of our preclinical studies will ultimately support further development of our programs. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit INDs or similar applications on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of INDs or similar applications will result in the FDA or other regulatory authorities allowing additional clinical trials to begin.
Conducting preclinical testing is a lengthy, time-consuming and expensive process. The length of time may vary substantially according to the type, complexity and novelty of the program, and often can be several years or more per program. Delays associated with programs for which we are directly conducting preclinical studies may cause us to incur additional operating expenses. Moreover, we may be affected by delays or decisions to discontinue development associated with the studies of certain programs that are the responsibility of Sanofi or our potential future partners over which we have no control. The commencement and rate of completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials for a product candidate may be delayed by many factors, including, for example:
Moreover, even if clinical trials do begin for our preclinical programs, our development efforts may not be successful, and clinical trials that we conduct or that third parties conduct on our behalf may not demonstrate sufficient safety or efficacy to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals for any product candidates we develop. Even if we obtain positive results from preclinical studies or initial clinical trials, we may not achieve the same success in future trials.
32
Some of our programs focus on the discovery and development of “Beyond Rule of 5” small molecules. Such molecules can be associated with longer development timelines and greater costs compared to traditional small molecule drugs. Our “Beyond Rule of 5” product candidates may take longer to develop and/or manufacture relative to traditional small molecules, and we may not be able to formulate “Beyond Rule of 5” candidates for certain routes of administration.
We enlist various technologies and capabilities that give us chemical access to challenging sites on target proteins that generally are not accessible using conventional small molecule drug discovery approaches. For each target, we consider the specific structural, physico-chemical, functional and dynamic properties of the target and deploy the approach or approaches that appear most likely to yield viable development candidates. The “Rule of 5” is a set of criteria used in pharmaceutical drug development to determine whether chemical compounds have certain physico-chemical properties that make them likely to be orally active drugs in humans. In some instances, the compounds we discover and develop are traditional small molecules (i.e. less than 500 daltons) with properties that generally satisfy conventional pharmaceutical “Rule of 5” criteria, while in other cases, they are larger (i.e. more than 500 daltons) “Beyond Rule of 5” (BRo5) compounds that do not satisfy these criteria. For example, our mTORC1 program and our RAS(ON) Inhibitors each include pursuit of BRo5 compounds.
BRo5 compounds have been successfully pursued by many pharmaceutical companies. Examples of BRo5 compounds include natural products and semi-synthetic derivatives, peptidomimetics, macrocycles and degraders. However, larger molecular weight small molecules often cannot be formulated into orally absorbed drugs and also often face solubility, potency, bioavailability and stability challenges, among others. In addition, many of the commonly used predictive and other drug development tools are designed specifically for traditional Rule of 5 small molecule drugs rather than BRo5 molecules, contributing to the difficulty and uncertainty of development of BRo5 compounds.
Due to their size and complexity, drug development of our BRo5 compounds may be slower and/or more expensive than drug development of traditional “Rule of 5” compounds, resulting in program delays, increased costs or failure to obtain regulatory approval in a commercially reasonable timeframe, if at all. Our competitors developing traditional small molecules in areas where we are developing BRo5 compounds could obtain regulatory approval and reach the market before we do. Even if we succeed in generating an approved drug from a BRo5 compound, it may be less convenient to administer, have higher grade and/or more frequent side effects or be more costly to manufacture and formulate than competing products on the market. The discovery and development of BRo5 small molecules may pose risks to us such as:
33
These and other risks related to our research and development of BRo5 small molecules may result in delays in development, an increase in development costs and/or the failure to develop any BRo5 small molecule to approval. As a result, our competitors may develop products more rapidly and cost effectively than we do if they are able to target the same indications as our product candidates using conventional small molecules. In particular, competitors may develop and commercialize a product that competes with a RAS(ON) Inhibitor product candidate we may develop, as some of our competitors in this area are pursuing conventional small molecules directed to other forms of RAS, such as RAS(OFF), and are further along in development than we currently are.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, the EMA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time-consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA, the EMA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. We have not obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate and it is possible that none of our current or future product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Our current and future product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:
This lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market any product candidate we develop. The FDA, the EMA and other comparable foreign authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process, and determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any product candidate that we develop. Even if we believe the data collected from future clinical trials of our product candidates are promising, this data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulatory authority.
In addition, even if we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, may not approve the price we may desire to charge for our products, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials, 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. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates.
34
Further, we have not previously submitted an NDA to the FDA, or a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the EMA. We cannot be certain that any of our programs will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. Further, product candidates we develop may not receive regulatory approval even if they are successful in clinical trials. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations.
Clinical product development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with uncertain outcomes. We may experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our current and future product candidates.
To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to commercialize any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our products are safe or effective in humans. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process and our future clinical trial results may not be successful.
We may experience delays in completing our clinical trials or preclinical studies and initiating or completing additional clinical trials. We may also experience numerous unforeseen events during our clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize the product candidates we develop, including:
We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs or ethics committees of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may impose such a suspension or termination due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of our product candidates.
If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Clinical trial delays could also allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do or shorten any periods during which we have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates.
35
Our clinical trial sites may be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 outbreak, travel or quarantine restrictions imposed by governments, and the inability to access sites for initiation and patient monitoring and enrollment. As a result, patient screening, new patient enrollment, monitoring and data collection may be affected or delayed. We are aware that several clinical sites involved in our clinical studies temporarily stopped or delayed enrolling new patients, with exemptions if appropriate, and it is possible that these or other clinical sites may be similarly affected in the future.
These developments may delay our clinical trial timelines. Our clinical trials currently permit patients to receive COVID-19 vaccines while they are on study. The potential impact of our candidates on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, and the potential impact on of COVID-19 vaccines on the safety and efficacy of our candidates is unknown at this time, but it possible that adverse impacts will negatively affect our clinical trials.
Some of our third-party manufacturers which we use for the supply of materials for product candidates or other materials necessary to manufacture product to conduct clinical trials and contract research organizations that we may utilize may be impacted by COVID-19, and should they experience disruptions, such as temporary closures or suspension of services, we would likely experience delays in advancing these trials.
Many of the factors described above that cause, or 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 or result in the development of our product candidates being stopped early.
Historically, direct inhibition of any RAS protein has been challenging due to a lack of tractable, or “druggable,” binding pockets and we are not aware of any programs in clinical development that have successfully targeted any RAS(ON) protein. Given this approach is unproven, it may not be successful.
Historically, direct inhibition of any RAS protein has been challenging due to a lack of tractable, or “druggable,” binding pockets. Our tri-complex technology has enabled us to design potent, cell-active inhibitors of multiple mutant RAS(ON) proteins. We are not aware of any programs in clinical development that have successfully targeted any RAS(ON) protein. We cannot be certain that our approach will lead to the development of approvable or marketable products, alone or in combination with other therapies.
The results of preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of future results.
The results of preclinical studies may not be predictive of the results of clinical trials, and the results of any early-stage clinical trials we commence may not be predictive of the results of the later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. For example, historically, targeted therapies have been susceptible to resistance mutations in cancer cells that facilitate escape from anti-tumor response. Should such resistance mutations arise in patients being treated with our product candidates, the clinical benefit associated with those candidates may be compromised.
There can be no assurance that any of our current or future clinical trials will ultimately be successful or support further clinical development of any of our product candidates. There is a high failure rate for drugs proceeding through clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving promising results in earlier studies. Even if our clinical trials are completed, the results may not be sufficient to obtain regulatory approval of any products.
Interim, “topline” and preliminary data from our clinical trials may differ materially from the final data.
From time to time, we may disclose interim data from our clinical trials. For example, we have reported interim Phase 1 clinical data for RMC-4550 as a single agent and interim Phase 1 clinical data for RMC-4630 as a single agent. In each case, this interim data included a limited number of patients and time of exposure to the study drug. Interim data from clinical trials are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more data on existing patients become available. Our clinical trial program is ongoing, and the final results may be materially different from those reflected in any interim data we report.
From time to time, we may also publicly disclose preliminary or “topline” data from our clinical trials, which are based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the topline results that we report may differ from future results of the same clinical trials, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such topline results once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Topline data also remain
36
subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available.
Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and the value of our company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is typically a summary of extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product, product candidate or our business. If the topline data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed.
If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise be adversely affected.
The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the trial until its conclusion. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:
In addition, our clinical trials will compete with approved therapies, including sotorasib, as well as other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas (and that seek to evaluate patients with cancer cells having the same mutations, particularly with patients having KRASG12C mutations, including Sanofi’s planned study of RMC-4630 in combination with adagrasib) as our current and potential future product candidates. This competition and competition with approved therapies, including sotorasib, will reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to pursue a treatment regime using an approved therapy or enroll in a trial conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials at such sites. Moreover, because our current and potential future product candidates may 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, rather than enroll patients in our ongoing or any future clinical trials.
The clinical trial sites for our clinical studies may be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 outbreak, travel or quarantine restrictions imposed by governments, and the inability to access sites for initiation and patient monitoring and enrollment. As a result, patient screening, new patient enrollment, monitoring and data collection may be affected or delayed. We are aware that several clinical sites involved in our RMC-4630 clinical studies temporarily stopped or delayed enrolling new patients, with exemptions if appropriate, and it is possible that these or other clinical sites may be similarly affected in the future. These developments may delay our clinical trial timelines. Some of our third-party manufacturers which we use for the supply of materials for product candidates or other materials necessary to manufacture product to conduct clinical trials and
37
contract research organizations that we may utilize may be impacted by COVID-19, and should they experience disruptions, such as temporary closures or suspension of services, we would likely experience delays in advancing these trials.
Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of the product candidates we develop.
Our current or future product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties when used alone or in combination with other approved products or investigational new drugs that could delay or halt their clinical development, prevent their marketing approval, limit their commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences.
Undesirable or clinically unmanageable side effects could occur and cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of marketing approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics.
For example, the safety data we released in 2020 for both our RMC-4630-01 and RMC-4630-02 trials included both serious adverse events (SAEs) and other adverse events (AEs).
Although our current and future product candidates will undergo safety testing to the extent possible and, where applicable, under such conditions discussed with regulatory authorities, not all adverse effects of drugs can be predicted or anticipated. Unforeseen side effects could arise either during clinical development or, if such side effects are more rare, after our products have been approved by regulatory authorities and the approved product has been marketed, resulting in the exposure of additional patients. So far, we have not demonstrated that our product candidates are safe in humans, and we cannot predict if ongoing or future clinical trials will do so.
Furthermore, certain of our product candidates are currently being, and may in the future be, co-administered with approved or experimental therapies, such as the combinations of RMC-4630 with Amgen’s KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor sotorasib, Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, Mirati’s KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor adagrasib or Lilly’s investigational ERK inhibitor LY3214996, which is the subject of a potential investigator sponsored trial with the Netherlands Cancer Institute. These combinations may have additional side effects, including those that could lead us to discontinue the studies. The uncertainty resulting from the use of our product candidates in combination with other therapies may make it difficult to accurately predict side effects in future clinical trials.
If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
Any of the foregoing events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved. In addition, if one or more of our product candidates prove to be unsafe, our entire technology platform and pipeline could be affected.
Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the marketing approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us or any of our existing or potential future collaboration partners from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of any product candidate we develop.
Any current or future product candidate we may develop and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale,
38
and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate in a given jurisdiction. We have not received approval to market any product candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction and it is possible that none of our current or future product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval. We have no experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals and expect to rely on third-party CROs or regulatory consultants to assist us in this process. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to the various regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Any product candidates we develop 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.
The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive, may take many years if additional clinical trials are required, 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. 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. The FDA and comparable authorities in other countries have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are 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.
If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of any current or future product candidates we may develop, the commercial prospects for those product candidates may be harmed.
Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain marketing approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining marketing approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the marketing approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials 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 candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we may charge for our products is also subject to approval.
We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign marketing approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets or 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.
Adverse events in the field of oncology or the biopharmaceutical industry could damage public perception of our current or future product candidates and negatively affect our business.
The commercial success of our products will depend in part on public acceptance of the use of targeted cancer therapies. While a number of targeted cancer therapies have received regulatory approval and are being commercialized, our approach to targeting cancer cells carrying tumor causing mutations, including oncogenic RAS(ON) pathway mutations, is novel and unproven. Adverse events in clinical trials of our product candidates, or post-marketing activities, or in clinical trials of others developing similar products or that are related to approved targeted therapies, particularly those targeting oncogenic RAS pathway mutations, including sotorasib, and adagrasib and the resulting publicity, as well as any other adverse events in the field of oncology that may occur in the future, could result in a decrease in demand for any product that we may develop. If public perception is influenced by claims that the use of cancer
39
therapies is unsafe, whether related to our therapies or those of our competitors, our products may not be accepted by the general public or the medical community.
Future adverse events in oncology or the biopharmaceutical industry could also result in greater governmental regulation, stricter labeling requirements and potential regulatory delays in the testing or approvals of our products. Any increased scrutiny could delay or increase the costs of obtaining marketing approval for the product candidates we develop.
Even if we receive marketing approval of a product candidate, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products, if approved.
Any marketing approvals that we receive for any current or future product candidate may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-market testing and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. The FDA may also require REMS as a condition of approval of any product candidate, which could include requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. In addition, if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves a product candidate, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, import and export and record keeping for the product candidate will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with current Good
Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with any approved candidate, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:
The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay marketing approval of a product. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained.
Even if a current or future product candidate receives marketing approval, it may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.
If any current or future product candidate we develop receives marketing approval, whether as a single agent or in combination with other therapies, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community to be a viable product. For example, current approved immunotherapies, and other cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are well established in the medical community, and doctors may continue to rely on these therapies. The degree of market acceptance of any product candidate, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
40
The market opportunities for any current or future product candidate we develop, if and when approved, may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for established therapies or for whom prior therapies have failed, and may be small.
Cancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first-line, second-line or third-line, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for third-line use. When cancer is detected early enough, first-line therapy, usually chemotherapy, hormone therapy, surgery, radiation therapy or a combination of these, is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Second- and third-line therapies are administered to patients when prior therapy is not effective. We expect to initially seek approval of any product candidates we develop as a therapy for patients who have received one or more prior treatments. Subsequently, for those products that prove to be sufficiently beneficial, if any, we would expect to seek approval potentially as a first-line therapy, but there is no guarantee that product candidates we develop, even if approved, would be approved for first-line therapy, and, prior to any such approvals, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials.
The number of patients who have the cancers we are targeting, including those with the necessary mutations, may turn out to be lower than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our current programs or future product candidates may be limited, if and when approved. Even if we obtain significant market share for any product candidate, if and when approved, if the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve commercial success without obtaining marketing approval for additional indications, including to be used as first- or second-line therapy.
We are currently developing and may in the future develop our product candidates in combination with other therapies, which exposes us to additional risks.
We are developing RMC-4630 in combination with Amgen’s KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor sotorasib, Mirati’s KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor adagrasib and Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, and may in the future, develop RMC-4630 and other product candidates in combination with one or more approved cancer therapies. Even if any product candidate we develop were to receive marketing approval or be commercialized for use in combination with other existing therapies, we would continue to be subject to the risks that the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States could revoke approval of the therapy used in combination with our product candidate or that safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues could arise with these existing therapies. Combination therapies are commonly used for the treatment of cancer, and we would be subject to similar risks if we develop any of our product candidates for use in combination with other drugs or for indications other than cancer. This could result in our own products being removed from the market or being less successful commercially.
We or our collaborators may also evaluate our current or future product candidates in combination with one or more other cancer therapies that have not yet been approved for marketing by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States or with approved cancer therapies at an unapproved dose and/or schedule, and/or with approved cancer therapies in unapproved indications. For example, we plan to provide RMC-4630 to Sanofi to support their evaluation of RMC-4630 in combination with adagrasib and to the Netherlands Cancer Institute to support their evaluation of RMC-4630 in combination with Lilly’s ERK inhibitor LY3214996. We will not be able to market and sell any product candidate we develop in combination with any such cancer therapies, outside existing approved labels that do not ultimately obtain marketing approval.
If the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States do not approve the drugs we choose to evaluate in combination with or any product candidate we develop or revoke their approval of, or if safety, efficacy, manufacturing, or supply issues arise with, these drugs, we may be unable to obtain approval of or market or any product candidate we develop.
In addition, Sanofi primarily controls the research and development activities of our SHP2 inhibitors, including RMC-4630, pursuant to the terms of the Sanofi Agreement, and may disagree with us regarding which other therapies should be evaluated in combination with RMC-4630. As a result of any such disagreement, our completion of a trial in combination with our preferred combination product candidate may be delayed or prevented.
We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop and market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than the product candidates we develop, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted.
The life sciences industry is highly competitive. We are currently developing therapies that will compete, if approved, with other products and therapies that currently exist or are being developed. Products we may develop in the future are also likely to face
41
competition from other products and therapies, some of which we may not currently be aware. We have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing, product development, technical and human resources than we do. Large pharmaceutical companies, in particular, have extensive experience in clinical testing, obtaining marketing approvals, recruiting patients and manufacturing pharmaceutical products. These companies also have significantly greater research and marketing capabilities than we do and may also have products that have been approved or are in late stages of development, and collaborative arrangements in our target markets with leading companies and research institutions. Established pharmaceutical companies may also invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel compounds or to in-license novel compounds that could make the product candidates that we develop obsolete. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. As a result of all of these factors, our competitors may succeed in obtaining patent protection and/or marketing approval or discovering, developing and commercializing products in our field before we do.
There is a large number of companies developing or marketing treatments for cancer, including many major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These treatments consist of small molecule drug products, biologics, cell-based therapies and traditional chemotherapy. Smaller and other early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors. In addition, academic research departments and public and private research institutions may be conducting research on compounds that could prove to be competitive.
There are also several programs in development targeting SHP2, including those clinical programs run by Novartis AG, Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (licensed to AbbVie Inc.), Relay Therapeutics Inc. (licensed to Roche), Erasca, Inc., Navire Pharma, Inc., InnoCare Pharma Ltd., and Genhouse Bio Co. Ltd. There are several RAS pathway mutations programs, including those directed at KRASG12C and KRASG12D mutations, including clinical programs directed at KRASG12C (OFF) being conducted by Amgen Inc., Mirati Therapeutics, Inc., Roche, Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Novartis AG, InventisBio, Eli Lilly, InnoCare Pharma Ltd., Innovent Biologics, Inc. and Genhouse Bio Co. Ltd. Other clinical programs directed at mutant RAS are being conducted, including those by Merck & Co./Moderna Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Smaller and other early-stage companies, such as Frontier Medicines, may also prove to be significant competitors. In addition, academic research departments and public and private research institutions may be conducting research on compounds that could prove to be competitive.
Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe effects, are more convenient, have a broader label, are marketed more effectively, are reimbursed or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other marketing approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Even if the product candidates we develop achieve marketing approval, they may be priced at a significant premium over competitive products if any have been approved by then, resulting in reduced competitiveness.
Third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. If we fail to stay at the forefront of technological change, we may be unable to compete effectively. Technological advances or products developed by our competitors may render our product candidates obsolete, less competitive or not economical.
Even if we are able to commercialize any product candidates, such products may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations or third-party coverage and reimbursement policies, which would harm our business.
The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new products vary widely from country to country. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a product before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product candidate in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product candidate, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product candidate in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval.
Our ability to commercialize any product candidates, whether as a single agent or combination therapy, successfully also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these product candidates and related treatments will be available from
42
government authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels.
It is difficult to predict at this time what government authorities and third-party payors will decide with respect to coverage and reimbursement for our programs.
There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, as the process is time-consuming and costly, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Additionally, no uniform policy requirement for coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors in the United States, which may result in coverage and reimbursement for drug products that can differ significantly from payor to payor. Moreover, eligibility for reimbursement does not imply that any drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may not be made permanent. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement policies.
A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular products and requiring substitutions of generic products and/or biosimilars. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for drugs. We cannot be sure that coverage will be available for any product candidate that we commercialize and, if coverage is available, the level of reimbursement. These third-party payors are also examining the cost-effectiveness of drugs in addition to their safety and efficacy. Reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. If reimbursement is not available or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval.
We may fail to select or capitalize on the most scientifically, clinically and commercially promising or profitable mutant RAS(ON) targets.
We have limited technical, managerial and financial resources to determine which of our lead generation stage RAS(ON) Inhibitors should be advanced into further preclinical development, initial clinical trials, later-stage clinical development and potential commercialization. From our RAS(ON) Inhibitors that have completed our lead optimization phase of preclinical development, we have selected RMC-6291, our inhibitor targeting KRASG12C(ON), RMC-6236, our inhibitor of multiple RAS variants, which we refer to as RASMULTI(ON), RMC-9805, our inhibitor targeting KRASG12D(ON) and RMC-8839, our inhibitor targeting KRASG13C(ON) for IND-enabling preclinical development. In selecting these or other development candidates, we may make incorrect determinations. Our decisions to allocate our research and development, management and financial resources toward particular development candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of viable commercial products and may divert resources from better opportunities. Similarly, our decisions to delay or terminate development programs may also be incorrect and could cause us to miss valuable opportunities.
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify or discover other product candidates and may fail to capitalize on programs or product candidates that may present a greater commercial opportunity or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
The success of our business depends upon our ability to identify, develop and commercialize product candidates. Research programs to identify new product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources, and we may fail to identify potential product candidates for numerous reasons.
Additionally, because we have limited resources beyond those provided by Sanofi on SHP2 and RMC-4630, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with certain programs or product candidates or for indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. However, the advancement of this product candidate may ultimately prove to be unsuccessful or less successful than another program in our pipeline that we might have chosen to pursue on a less aggressive basis. Our estimates regarding the potential market for our product candidates could be inaccurate, and our spending on current and future research and development programs may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate. For example, we licensed worldwide development and commercialization rights with respect to RMC-4630 to Sanofi and will receive only
43
milestone payments, an equal share of profits and losses in the United States and royalties on annual net sales of each product outside the United States. Alternatively, we may allocate internal resources to a product candidate in a therapeutic area in which it would have been more advantageous to enter into a partnering arrangement.
If any of these events occur, we may be forced to abandon or delay our development efforts with respect to a particular product candidate or fail to develop a potentially successful product candidate.
We may need to use existing commercial diagnostic tests or develop, or enter into a collaboration or partnership to develop, novel complementary diagnostics and/or novel companion diagnostics for some of our current or future product candidates. If we or our future partners are unable to successfully develop these companion diagnostics or complementary diagnostics, or experience significant delays in doing so, we may not realize the full commercial potential of our future product candidates.
As one of the key elements of our product development strategy, we seek to identify cancer patient populations that may derive meaningful benefit from our current or future product candidates. Because predictive biomarkers may be used to identify the right patients for our programs and our current or future product candidates, we believe that our success may depend, in part, on our ability to use existing diagnostic tests (such as Foundation Medicine’s FoundationOne®CDX), or develop novel complementary diagnostics and/or novel companion diagnostics in collaboration with partners.
In the event that novel tests will need to be developed, we have little experience in the development of diagnostics. As such, we expect to rely on future partners in developing appropriate diagnostics to pair with our current or future product candidates. We may be unsuccessful in entering into collaborations for the development of companion diagnostics for our programs and our current or future product candidates.
Complementary diagnostics and/or companion diagnostics are subject to regulation by the FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval or clearance prior to commercialization. If we, our partners, or any third parties that we engage to assist us, are unable to successfully develop complementary diagnostics and/or companion diagnostics for our product candidates and any future product candidates, or experience delays in doing so:
We may seek and fail to obtain fast track or breakthrough therapy designations for our current or future product candidates. If we are successful, these programs may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review process, and they do not guarantee we will receive approval for any product candidate. We may also seek to obtain accelerated approval for one or more of our product candidates but the FDA or foreign regulators may disagree that we have met the requirements for such approval.
If a product is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and preclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need for this condition, the product sponsor may apply for fast track designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation, the FDA may reach a different conclusion and not grant it. Even if we do receive fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may rescind the fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.
We may also seek breakthrough therapy designation for any product candidate that we develop. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently approved therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. Like fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe a product candidate we develop meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if a product candidate we develop qualifies as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may later decide that the drug no longer meets the conditions for qualification and rescind the designation.
Drugs designated as fast track products or breakthrough therapies by the FDA are also eligible for accelerated approval if the product has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured
44
earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of accelerated approval, the FDA will generally require the sponsor to perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical studies to verify and describe the anticipated effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. In addition, the FDA requires pre-approval of promotional materials for accelerated approval products, once approved.
We cannot guarantee that the FDA will agree any of our product candidates has met the criteria to receive accelerated approval, which would require us to conduct additional clinical testing prior to seeking FDA approval. Even if any of our product candidates received approval through this pathway, the product may fail required post-approval confirmatory clinical trials, and we may be required to remove the product from the market or amend the product label in a way that adversely impacts its marketing.
Jurisdictions where we may seek to pursue product candidates outside of the United States have processes similar to the breakthrough designation and fast track processes described above, and to the extent we desire to enter these markets, we will face similar risks and challenges as those described in the United States.
We may seek orphan drug designation for product candidates we develop, and we may be unsuccessful or may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.
As part of our business strategy, we may seek orphan drug designation for product candidates we develop. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs or, in Europe, orphan medicinal products. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers.
Similarly, in Europe, the European Commission grants orphan medicinal product designation after receiving the opinion of the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products on an orphan medicinal product designation application. Orphan medicinal product designation is intended to promote the development of drugs that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in Europe and for which no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment has been authorized (or the product would be a significant benefit to those affected). Additionally, designation is granted for drugs intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition and when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in Europe would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the drug. In Europe, Orphan Drug Designation entitles a party to a number of incentives, such as protocol assistance and scientific advice specifically for designated orphan medicines, and potential fee reductions depending on the status of the sponsor.
Generally, if a drug with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the drug is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the EMA or the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug for the same disease or condition for that time period, except in limited circumstances. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in Europe. The European exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable such that market exclusivity is no longer justified.
We may be unsuccessful in obtaining orphan drug designation for our product candidates. In addition, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product candidate, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product candidate from competition because different therapies can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug for the same disease or condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. Moreover, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. While we may seek orphan drug designation for applicable indications for our current and any future product candidates, we may never receive such designations. Even if we do receive such designations, there is no guarantee that we will enjoy the benefits of those designations.
45
If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of any approved products.
We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the clinical testing of product candidates and will face an even greater risk if we commercialize any products. For example, we may be sued if any product candidate we develop causes or is perceived to cause injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during clinical testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability or a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of any approved products. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources.
Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
Our inability to obtain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products we develop, alone or with collaboration partners.
Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise, if at all. Our insurance policy contains various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We may have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts. Even if our agreements with Sanofi or any future collaborator entitle us to indemnification against losses, such indemnification is limited and may not be available or adequate should any claim arise.
Healthcare legislative reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
In the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs. For example, in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act (the ACA) was passed, which substantially changes the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, increases the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and extends the rebate program to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, establishes annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs, and creates a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 70% point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D.
Since its enactment, there have been judicial, executive and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the most recent judicial challenge to the ACA brought by several states without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the ACA. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden issued an executive order initiating a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through August 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The executive order also instructed certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to healthcare. It is unclear how healthcare reform measures enacted by Congress or implemented by the Biden administration, if any, will impact our business.
46
Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, included aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year. These reductions went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022 unless additional congressional action is taken. In addition, in January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers.
Moreover, payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for any product candidate we develop or complementary diagnostics or companion diagnostics or additional pricing pressures.
Additionally, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs.
In addition, FDA regulations and guidance may be revised or reinterpreted by the FDA in ways that may significantly affect our business. Any new regulations or guidance, or revisions or reinterpretations of existing regulations or guidance, may impose additional costs or lengthen FDA review times for our product candidates. We cannot determine how changes in regulations, statutes, policies, or interpretations when and if issued, enacted or adopted, may affect our business in the future.
Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result.
Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, the FDA announced its intention to postpone most inspections of foreign manufacturing facilities and products and, on March 18, 2020, the FDA temporarily postponed routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Subsequently, in July 2020, the FDA resumed certain on-site inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities subject to a risk-based prioritization system. The utilized this risk-based assessment system to assist in determining when and where it is safest to conduct prioritized domestic inspections. Additionally, in April 2021, the FDA issued a guidance document in which the FDA described its plans to conduct voluntary remote interactive evaluations of certain drug manufacturing facilities and clinical research sites, among other facilities. According to this guidance, the FDA may request such remote interactive evaluations in situations where the FDA determines that remote evaluation would be appropriate based on mission needs and travel limitations. In May 2021, the FDA outlined a detailed plan to move toward a more consistent state of operations of domestic facilities and was continuing to maintain this level of operation as of September 2021. More recently, the FDA has continued to monitor and implement changes to its inspectional activities to ensure the safety of its employees and those of the firms it regulates as it adapts to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and may experience delays in their regulatory activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting business as usual or conducting inspections, reviews or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material effect on our business.
47
We are subject to stringent privacy laws, information security policies and contractual obligations governing the use, processing and transfer of personal information.
The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and we are or may become subject to numerous state, federal and foreign laws, requirements and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and security of personal information, such as information that we may collect in connection with clinical trials in the U.S. and abroad. Implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or perception of their requirements may have on our business. This evolution may create uncertainty in our business, affect our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to collect, store, transfer use and share personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulations, our internal policies and procedures or our contracts governing our processing of personal information could result in negative publicity, government investigations and enforcement actions, claims by third parties and damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation, and financial condition.
As our operations and business grow, we may become subject to or affected by new or additional data protection laws and regulations and face increased scrutiny or attention from regulatory authorities. In the U.S., HIPAA imposes, among other things, certain standards relating to the privacy, security, transmission and breach reporting of individually identifiable health information. We may obtain health information from third parties (including research institutions from which we obtain clinical trial data) that are subject to privacy and security requirements under HIPAA. Depending on the facts and circumstances, we could be subject to significant penalties if we violate HIPAA.
Further, various states have implemented certain data privacy and security laws and regulations that impose restrictive requirements regulating the use and disclosure of health-related and other personal information. California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal data. The CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020, and became enforceable by the California Attorney General on July 1, 2020. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) was approved by California voters in the November 3, 2020 election. The CPRA will significantly modify the CCPA and will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. The CPRA also creates a new state agency that will be vested with authority to implement and enforce the CCPA and the CPRA. The majority of the provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes may be required. Similar laws have passed in Virginia and Colorado, and have been proposed in other states and at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. The enactment of such laws could have potentially conflicting requirements that would make compliance challenging. In the event that we are subject to or affected by HIPAA, the CCPA, the CPRA or other domestic privacy and data protection laws, any liability from failure to comply with the requirements of these laws could adversely affect our financial condition.
State laws and regulations are not necessarily preempted by federal laws and regulations, such as HIPAA, particularly if a state affords greater protection to individuals than federal law. Where state laws are more protective, we have to comply with the stricter provisions. In addition to fines and penalties imposed upon violators, some of these state laws also afford private rights of action to individuals who believe their personal information has been misused. The interplay of federal and state laws may be subject to varying interpretations by courts and government agencies, creating complex compliance issues for us and data we receive, use and share, potentially exposing us to additional expense, adverse publicity and liability. Legal requirements relating to the collection, storage, handling, and transfer of personal information and personal data continue to evolve and may result in increased public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement, sanctions and increased costs of compliance.
The collection and use of personal data in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), are governed by the GDPR. The GDPR imposes stringent requirements for controllers and processors of personal data. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the EU and the EEA to the United States and other third countries. In July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) limited how organizations could lawfully transfer personal data from the EU/EEA to the United States by invalidating the Privacy Shield for purposes of international transfers and imposing further restrictions on the use of standard contractual clauses (SCCs). The European Commission issued revised SCCs in June 2021 to account for the decision of the CJEU and recommendations made by the European Data Protection Board. The revised SCCs must be used for relevant new data transfers from September 27, 2021; existing standard contractual clauses arrangements must be migrated to the revised clauses by December 27, 2022. The new SCCs apply only to the transfer of personal data outside of the EEA and not the UK; the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office launched a public consultation on its draft revised data transfers mechanisms in August 2021 and laid its proposal before Parliament, with the UK SCCs expected to come into force in March 2022, with a two-year grace period. There is some uncertainty around whether the revised clauses can be used for all types of data transfers, particularly whether they can be relied on for data transfers to non-EEA entities subject to the GDPR. Further, in September 2020, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and
48
Information Commissioner issued an opinion that stated it no longer considers the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield adequate for the purposes of personal data transfers from Switzerland to the United States. These developments may result in European data protection regulators applying differing standards for, and requiring ad hoc verification of, transfers of personal data from Europe to the United States. To the extent that we engage in such transfers, including through third-party vendors, if we are unable to implement safeguards to ensure that our transfers are lawful or if any safeguards upon which we rely are invalidated, we will face increased exposure to litigation, regulatory actions, fines, and injunctions against data processing. If we are unable to engage in such transfers because there is no lawful mechanism to do so, the functionality or effectiveness of our products and services may decrease and our marketing efforts, plans and activities may be adversely impacted. In addition, the GDPR provides that EU and EEA member states may make their own further laws and regulations limiting the processing of personal data, including biometric or health data.
The GDPR applies extraterritorially, and we may be subject to the GDPR because of our data processing activities that involve the personal data of individuals located in the EEA, such as in connection with any EEA clinical trials. GDPR regulations may impose additional responsibility and liability in relation to the personal data that we process and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the new data protection rules. This may be onerous and may interrupt or delay our development activities.
Other jurisdictions outside the EEA are similarly introducing or enhancing privacy and data security laws, rules and regulations, which could increase our compliance costs and the risks associated with non-compliance. We cannot guarantee that we or our vendors may be in compliance with all applicable international regulations as they are enforced now or as they evolve. For example, our privacy and cybersecurity policies may be insufficient to protect any personal information we collect, or may not comply with applicable laws, in which case we may be subject to regulatory enforcement actions, lawsuits or reputational damage. If we or our vendors fail to comply with the GDPR and the applicable national data protection laws of the EU or EEA member states, or if regulators assert we have failed to comply with these laws, it may lead to regulatory enforcement actions, which can result in monetary penalties of up to €20,000,000 or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, and other administrative penalties. Further, beginning on January 1, 2021, companies have to comply with both the GDPR and the UK GDPR, which together with the UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in United Kingdom national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, i.e. fines up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover. The European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision in favor of the UK, enabling data transfers from EU member states to the UK without additional safeguards. However, the UK adequacy decision will automatically expire in June 2025 unless the European Commission re-assesses and renews/extends that decision, and remains under review by the Commission during this period. The relationship between the UK and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how UK data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term, and how data transfers to and from the UK will be regulated in the long term. These changes could lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure. We may incur liabilities, expenses, costs and other operational losses under the GDPR and privacy laws of the applicable EU and EEA Member States and the United Kingdom in connection with any measures we take to comply with them.
Compliance with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business. Penalties for violations of these laws vary and may be significant. Moreover, complying with these various laws could require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to collect, use and disclose data, or in some cases, impact our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions. In addition, we rely on third-party vendors to collect, process and store data on our behalf and we cannot guarantee that such vendors are in compliance with all applicable data protection laws and regulations. Our or our vendors’ failure to comply with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation and adverse publicity. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights, failed to comply with data protection laws, or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity.
Our business and operations may suffer in the event of computer system failures, cyber-attacks or deficiencies in our cyber-security, which could materially affect our results.
We receive, generate and store significant and increasing volumes of sensitive information, such as health information, insurance information and other potentially personally identifiable information. We face a number of risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate use or disclosure, inappropriate modification and the risk of our being unable to adequately monitor, audit and modify our controls over our critical information. This risk extends to the third-party vendors we use to manage this sensitive data.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our information technology systems, as well as those of third parties with which we have relationships, are vulnerable to attack and damage from computer viruses and malware (e.g., ransomware), unauthorized access, natural and manmade disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures, malfeasance by external or internal
49
parties, and human error (e.g., social engineering, phishing). Attacks upon information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. Furthermore, because the technologies used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage or disrupt, systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may also experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. Even if identified, we may be unable to adequately investigate or remediate incidents or breaches due to attackers increasingly using tools and techniques that are designed to circumvent controls, to avoid detection, and to remove or obfuscate forensic evidence. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may also face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our and our service providers’ employees who are (and may continue to be) working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. The White House, SEC and other regulators have also increased their focus on companies’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities and risks.
We and certain of our service providers are from time to time, subject to cyberattacks and security incidents. While we do not believe that we have experienced any significant system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our or our critical third parties’ operations, it could result in delays and/or material disruptions of our research and development programs, our operations and ultimately, our financial results. For example, the loss of trial data from completed, ongoing or planned 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 data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of personal, confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability due to delays in the development of our product candidates and/or due to reputational harm, litigation, regulatory investigations and enforcement, fines and penalties, or increased costs of compliance and system remediation.
Risks related to reliance on third parties
We are dependent on our collaboration with Sanofi for the development of RMC-4630 and may depend on Sanofi for the development and commercialization of any other future SHP2 inhibitor product candidates. Under certain circumstances, Sanofi may unilaterally terminate the collaboration for convenience, which would materially and adversely affect our business.
In June 2018, we entered into a collaborative research, development and commercialization agreement with Sanofi (the Sanofi Agreement), focused on researching, developing and commercializing SHP2 inhibitors as cancer therapies and potentially other indications. Sanofi primarily controls the research and development activities pursuant to the terms of the Sanofi Agreement, and our lack of control over these activities, including with respect to RMC-4630, could result in delays or other difficulties in the development and commercialization of product candidates, which may prevent completion of intended NDA filings in a timely fashion, if at all. Because of the allocation of responsibilities under the Sanofi Agreement, we are wholly dependent on Sanofi for the success of the RMC-4630 program. Any dispute with Sanofi may result in the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of RMC-4630 or other SHP2 inhibitor product candidates, and may result in costly litigation that diverts management attention and resources away from our day-to-day activities. For example, we plan to evaluate RMC-4630 in combination with other therapies (which may include product candidates from our pipeline), and Sanofi may disagree with us regarding which other therapies should be evaluated in combination with RMC-4630. As a result of this disagreement, our completion of a trial in combination with our preferred combination product candidate may be delayed or prevented.
In addition, Sanofi can terminate the Sanofi Agreement (including for convenience), and in the event Sanofi terminates the Sanofi Agreement, we would be prevented from receiving any research and development funding, milestone payments, profit share payments, royalty payments and other benefits under that agreement. Termination of the Sanofi Agreement could require us to seek additional funding in order to avoid delaying, reducing the scope of, or suspending, one or more of our research and development programs or clinical trials. In addition, any decision by Sanofi to terminate the Sanofi Agreement may negatively impact public perception of RMC-4630, or all of the SHP2 program covered by the Sanofi Agreement. We cannot provide any assurance with respect to the success of the Sanofi collaboration. For more information regarding the Sanofi Agreement, see “Business—Collaboration agreement with Sanofi.”
In addition to our collaboration with Sanofi, we may depend on collaborations with other third parties for the development and commercialization of our product candidates in the future. If our collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of these product candidates.
In the future, we may form or seek other strategic alliances, joint ventures, or collaborations, or enter into additional licensing arrangements with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our development and commercialization efforts with respect to product candidates we develop.
50
Collaborations involving our current and future product candidates, including our collaborations with Sanofi and Amgen, may pose the following risks to us:
As a result, if we enter into additional collaboration agreements and strategic partnerships or license our intellectual property, products or businesses, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations, which could delay our timelines or otherwise adversely affect our business. We also cannot be certain that, following a strategic transaction or license, we will achieve the revenue or specific net income that justifies such transaction. Any delays in entering into new collaborations or strategic partnership agreements related to any product candidate we develop could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates, which would harm our business prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may seek to establish additional collaborations, and, if we are not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans.
The advancement of our product candidates and development programs and the potential commercialization of our current and future product candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. For some of our programs, we may decide to collaborate with additional pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with respect to development and potential commercialization. Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near- and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders, or disrupt our management and business.
We face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for other collaborations will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the progress of our clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our product candidate. Further, we may not be successful in our efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for future product candidates because they may be deemed
51
to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view them as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy.
We may also be restricted under existing collaboration agreements from entering into future agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators. For example, under the Sanofi Agreement, we have granted worldwide exclusive rights under our intellectual property to Sanofi for SHP2 inhibitors, and during the term of the agreement we will be restricted from granting similar rights to other parties. This exclusivity could limit our ability to enter into collaborations with future collaborators.
In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators.
We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.
If conflicts arise between us and our collaborators or strategic partners, these parties may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement our strategies.
If conflicts arise between our corporate or academic collaborators or strategic partners and us, the other party may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement our strategies. Sanofi, Amgen or future collaborators or strategic partners may develop, either alone or with others, products in related fields that are competitive with the products or potential products that are the subject of these collaborations. Competing products, either developed by the collaborators or strategic partners or to which the collaborators or strategic partners have rights, may result in the withdrawal of partner support for our product candidates. Our current or future collaborators or strategic partners may preclude us from entering into collaborations with their competitors, fail to obtain timely regulatory approvals, terminate their agreements with us prematurely, or fail to devote sufficient resources to the development and commercialization of products. Any of these developments could harm our product development efforts.
We rely on third parties to conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials for the product candidates we develop. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain marketing approval for or commercialize our product candidates we develop.
We do not have the ability to independently conduct clinical trials. We rely on medical institutions, clinical investigators, CROs, contract laboratories, and other third parties, including collaboration partners, to conduct or otherwise support ongoing or planned clinical trials for our product candidates. We rely heavily on these parties for execution of clinical trials and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on CROs will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of our clinical trials, we could be subject to untitled and warning letters or enforcement action that may include civil penalties up to and including criminal prosecution.
We and third parties are required to comply with regulations and requirements, including GCP, for conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate, and that the trial patients are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials and their rights are protected. These regulations are enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the EEA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for any drugs in clinical development. The FDA enforces GCP requirements through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. Upon inspection, the FDA may determine that any of our current or future clinical trials do not comply with GCP. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product candidates produced under cGMP regulations. Our failure or the failure of third parties to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the marketing approval process and could also subject us to enforcement action. We also are required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and provide certain information, including information relating to the trial’s protocol, on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within specific timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
52
Although we intend to design the clinical trials for our product candidates, or be involved in the design when other parties sponsor the trials, third parties conduct all or a portion of the clinical trials involving our product candidates. For example, Amgen is conducting the Phase 1b trial evaluating the combination of RMC-4630 and the KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor sotorasib in Amgen’s CodeBreaK 101c study and Sanofi is conducting the Phase 1/2 trial evaluating the combination of RMC-4630 and Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab and the Phase 1/2 study of RMC-4630 in combination with Mirati Therapeutics’ KRASG12C(OFF) inhibitor, adagrasib. In addition, in March 2020, the Pancreatic Cancer Collective (a strategic partnership between Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer) announced that it had awarded funding to the Netherlands Cancer Institute for its study using RMC-4630 in combination with an investigational ERK inhibitor (LY3214996) in patients with pancreatic cancer. We plan to provide RMC-4630 to support this investigator sponsored study. As a result, many important aspects of our clinical development, including their conduct and timing, will be outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct future clinical trials will also result in less direct control over the management of data developed through clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may:
These factors may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. If the CROs do not perform clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development, marketing approval and commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain marketing approval and commercialize our product candidates, or our development program may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on clinical data collected by our CROs, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of, or increase the size of any clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialization and require significantly greater expenditures.
If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain are compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, any clinical trials such CROs are associated with may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain marketing approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates.
The clinical trial sites for our clinical studies may be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 outbreak, travel or quarantine restrictions imposed by governments, and the inability to access sites for initiation and patient monitoring and enrollment. As a result, patient screening, new patient enrollment, monitoring and data collection may be affected or delayed. We are aware that several clinical sites involved in our clinical studies temporarily stopped or delayed enrolling new patients, with exemptions if appropriate, and it is possible that these or other clinical sites may be similarly affected in the future. These developments may delay our clinical trial timelines. Some of our third-party manufacturers which we use for the supply of materials for product candidates or other materials necessary to manufacture product to conduct clinical trials and contract research organizations that we may utilize may be impacted by COVID-19, and should they experience disruptions, such as temporary closures or suspension of services, we would likely experience delays in advancing these trials.
We rely on third parties to manufacture preclinical and clinical drug supplies, and we intend to rely on third parties to produce commercial supplies of any approved product, which increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of these product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of preclinical, clinical or commercial supplies of the product candidates that we are developing or evaluating in our development programs. We have limited personnel with experience in drug manufacturing and lack the resources and the capabilities to manufacture any of our product candidates on a preclinical, clinical or commercial scale. We rely on third parties for supply of our preclinical and clinical drug supplies (including key starting and intermediate materials), and our strategy is to outsource all manufacturing of our product candidates and products to third parties, including Sanofi.
53
In order to conduct clinical trials of product candidates, we will need to have them manufactured in potentially large quantities. Our third-party manufacturers may be unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our clinical drug supplies (including key starting and intermediate materials) in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up activities and at any other time. For example, ongoing data on the stability of our product candidates may shorten the expiry of our product candidates and lead to clinical trial material supply shortages, and potentially clinical trial delays. If these third-party manufacturers are unable to successfully scale up the manufacture of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, the development, testing and clinical trials of that product candidate may be delayed or infeasible, and regulatory approval or commercial launch of that product candidate may be delayed or not obtained.
Our use of new third-party manufacturers increases the risk of delays in production or insufficient supplies of our product candidates (and the key starting and intermediate materials for such product candidates) as we transfer our manufacturing technology to these manufacturers and as they gain experience manufacturing our product candidates (and the key starting and intermediate materials for such product candidates).
Even after a third-party manufacturer has gained significant experience in manufacturing our product candidates (or the key starting and intermediate materials for such product candidates) or even if we believe we have succeeded in optimizing the manufacturing process, there can be no assurance that such manufacturer will produce sufficient quantities of our product candidates (or the key starting and intermediate materials for such product candidates) in a timely manner or continuously over time, or at all.
We may be delayed if we need to change the manufacturing process used by a third party. Further, if we change an approved manufacturing process, then we may be delayed if the FDA or a comparable foreign authority needs to review the new manufacturing process before it may be used.
We do not currently have any agreements with third-party manufacturers for long-term commercial supply. In the future, we may be unable to enter into agreements with third-party manufacturers for commercial supplies of any product candidate that we develop, or may be unable to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish and maintain arrangements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks, including:
Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP requirements or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable requirements could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and/or criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates.
Our future product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP requirements particularly for the development of monoclonal antibodies, and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.
If the third parties that we engage to supply any materials or manufacture product for our preclinical tests and clinical trials should cease to continue to do so for any reason, we likely would experience delays in advancing these tests and trials while we identify and qualify replacement suppliers or manufacturers and we may be unable to obtain replacement supplies on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, if we are not able to obtain adequate supplies of our product candidates or the substances used to manufacture them, it will be more difficult for us to develop our product candidates and compete effectively.
Some of our third-party manufacturers which we use for the supply of materials for product candidates or other materials necessary to manufacture product to conduct clinical trials are located in may be affected by COVID-19, and should they experience disruptions, such as temporary closures or suspension of services, we would likely experience delays in advancing these trials.
Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates (or the key starting and intermediate materials for such product candidates) may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to develop product candidates and commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.
54
Our future relationships with 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, transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens and diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors 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 future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act (FCA), which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we sell, market and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include:
Because of the breadth of the laws described above and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available under them, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of these laws.
55
The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Ensuring that our business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as responding to investigations by government authorities, can be time- and resource-consuming and can divert management’s attention from the business.
If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other government regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in federal and state funded healthcare programs, contractual damages and the curtailment or restricting of our operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, any of which could harm our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Further, if the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. In addition, the approval and commercialization of any product candidate we develop outside the United States will also likely subject us to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above, among other foreign laws.
Risks related to intellectual property
If we and our collaborators are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient patent and other intellectual property protection for our product candidates and technology, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours, and we may not be able to compete effectively in our market or successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop.
Our success depends in significant part on our ability and the ability of our collaborators to obtain, maintain, enforce and defend patents and other intellectual property rights with respect to our product candidates and technology and to operate our business without infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of others. If we and our collaborators are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our product candidates or the product candidates that we may identify, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors and other third parties could develop and commercialize product candidates similar or identical to ours, and our ability (and the ability of our collaborators) to successfully commercialize the product candidates that we (and our collaborators) may pursue may be impaired. Our patent coverage with respect to our clinical and preclinical programs is limited, and we can provide no assurance that any of our current or future patent applications will result in issued patents or that any issued patents will provide us with any competitive advantage. Failure to obtain such issued patents could have a material adverse effect on our and Sanofi’s ability to develop and commercialize SHP2 inhibitor products, including RMC-4630, and on our ability to receive milestone, royalty or other payments from Sanofi pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement or our ability to develop or commercialize any of our other product candidates or technology.
We seek to protect our proprietary positions by, among other things, filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our current product candidates and the product candidates that we may identify. Obtaining, maintaining, defending and enforcing pharmaceutical patents is costly, time consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications, or maintain, enforce and license any patents that may issue from such patent applications, at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. We may not have the right to control the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance of patent applications, or to maintain the rights to patents licensed to or from third parties.
Although we enter into confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, collaborators, CROs, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection. Further, we may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our product candidates. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions.
The patent position of pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal, technological and factual questions and has, in recent years, been the subject of much debate and litigation throughout the world. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, or vice versa. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. The subject matter claimed in a patent
56
application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and its scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Therefore, our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued in relevant jurisdictions that protect our product candidates, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive product candidates, and even if our patent applications issue as patents in relevant jurisdictions, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection for our product candidates or technology, prevent competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Additionally, our competitors may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative product candidates or technologies in a non-infringing manner.
The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. We may be subject to a third-party preissuance submission of prior art to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the USPTO) or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others, or other proceedings in the USPTO or applicable foreign offices that challenge priority of invention or other features of patentability. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate, patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, or limits of the scope or duration of the patent protection of our product candidates, all of which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical product candidates or technology to compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates, or could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise funds necessary to continue our research programs or clinical trials. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our scientists and management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us.
In addition, given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products or technology similar or identical to ours for a meaningful amount of time, or at all. Moreover, some of our owned or licensed patents and patent applications are, and may in the future be, co-owned with third parties. If we are unable to obtain exclusive licenses to any such co-owners’ interest in such patents or patent applications, such co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. In addition, we may need the cooperation of any such co-owners in order to enforce such patents against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We have entered into licensing agreements with third parties. If we or a third party fail to comply with the obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property rights to or from third parties, or these agreements are terminated, or we otherwise experience disruptions to business relationships with our licensors or licensees, competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.
In addition to patent and other intellectual property rights we own or co-own, we have licensed, and may in the future license, patent and other intellectual property rights to and from other parties. Licenses may not provide us with exclusive rights to use the applicable intellectual property and technology in all relevant fields of use and in all territories in which we may wish to develop or commercialize our products and technology in the future. As a result, we may not be able to prevent competitors from developing and commercializing competitive products or technologies.
In addition, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications or to maintain, defend and enforce the patents that we license to or from third parties, and we may have to rely on our partners to fulfill these responsibilities. For example, in June 2018, we entered into the Sanofi Agreement, wherein we exclusively licensed the worldwide rights in our SHP2 inhibitor program, including RMC-4630, to Sanofi. Although we have review and comment rights regarding patent prosecution decisions, Sanofi retains ultimate decision-making control, as well as the sole and exclusive right to enforce infringement of or defend claims against patents that relate to SHP2 inhibitor products licensed to it pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement. Consequently, any such licensed patents and applications may not be prepared, filed, prosecuted, maintained, enforced, and defended in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. If our current or future licensors, licensees or collaborators fail to prepare, file, prosecute, maintain, enforce, and defend licensed patents and other intellectual property rights, such rights may be reduced or eliminated, and our right to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates or technology that are the subject of such licensed rights could be adversely affected. In addition, our licensors may own or control intellectual property that has not been licensed to us and, as a result, we may be subject to claims, regardless of their merit, that we are infringing or otherwise violating the licensor’s rights.
57
If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property rights from third parties, the licensor may have the right to terminate the license. If these agreements are terminated, the underlying patents fail to provide the intended exclusivity or we otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business or be prevented from developing and commercializing our product candidates, and competitors could have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products identical to ours. Termination of these agreements or reduction or elimination of our rights under these agreements may also result in our having to negotiate new or reinstated agreements with less favorable terms, cause us to lose our rights under these agreements, including our rights to important intellectual property or technology, or impede, delay or prohibit the further development or commercialization of one or more product candidates that rely on such agreements. It is possible that we may be unable to obtain any additional licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to redesign our product candidates or the methods for manufacturing them or to develop or license replacement technology, all of which may not be feasible on a technical or commercial basis.
In addition, the research resulting in certain of our owned and in-licensed patent rights and technology was funded in part by the U.S. federal or state governments. As a result, the government may have certain rights, including march-in rights, to such patent rights and technology. When new technologies are developed with government funding, the government generally obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, including a non-exclusive license authorizing the government to use the invention for noncommercial purposes. These rights may permit the government to disclose our confidential information to third parties or allow third parties to use our licensed technology. The government can exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the government-funded technology, because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations, or to give preference to U.S. industry. In addition, our rights in such inventions may be subject to certain requirements to manufacture products embodying such inventions in the United States. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues and certain provisions in intellectual property license agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. Disputes may arise between us and our licensing partners regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:
The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.
In addition, if our licensors or licensees fail to abide by the terms of the license, if the licensors or licensees fail to prevent infringement by third parties or if the licensed patents or other rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable, our business, competitive position, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed. For more information regarding our license agreements, see “Business—Collaboration agreement with Sanofi.”
If we are unable to obtain licenses from third parties on commercially reasonable terms or at all, our business could be harmed.
It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties. The licensing of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. More established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a
58
competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. If we are unable to license needed technology, or if we are forced to license this technology on unfavorable terms, our business could be materially harmed. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product candidates, and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties or other forms of compensation. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us.
We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, which might subject us to infringement claims or adversely affect our ability to develop and market our product candidates.
We cannot guarantee that any of our or our licensors’ patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending patent application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our product candidates in any jurisdiction. For example, U.S. patent applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain U.S. patent applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing for which priority is claimed, with the earliest filing date being commonly referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patent applications covering our product candidates could have been filed by third parties without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications that have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our product candidates or the use of our product candidates. The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to market our product candidates. We may incorrectly determine that our product candidates are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our product candidates. Our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our product candidates.
If we fail to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents, we may be subject to infringement claims. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully settle or otherwise resolve any infringement claims. If we fail in any of these disputes, in addition to being forced to pay damages, which may be significant, we may be temporarily or permanently prohibited from commercializing any of our product candidates that are held to be infringing. We might, if possible, also be forced to redesign product candidates so that we no longer infringe the third-party intellectual property rights. Any of these events, even if we were ultimately to prevail, could require us to divert substantial financial and management resources that we would otherwise be able to devote to our business.
Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates for an adequate amount of time.
Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our product candidates are obtained, once the patent life has expired for a product candidate, we may be open to competition from competitive medications, including generic medications. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such product candidates might expire before or shortly after such product candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing product candidates similar or identical to ours for a meaningful amount of time, or at all.
Depending upon the timing, duration and conditions of any FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, one or more of our owned or licensed U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, and similar legislation in the European Union and certain other countries. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent term extension of up to five years for a patent covering an approved product as compensation for effective patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not receive an extension if we fail to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, fail to apply within applicable deadlines, fail to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise fail to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the length of the extension could be less than we request. Only one patent per approved product can be extended, the extension cannot extend the total patent term beyond 14 years from approval and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for the applicable product candidate will be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval to market competing products sooner. As a result, our revenue
59
from applicable products could be reduced. Further, if this occurs, our competitors may take advantage of our investment in development and trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.
Also, there are detailed rules and requirements regarding the patents that may be submitted to the FDA for listing in the Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (the Orange Book). We may be unable to obtain patents covering our product candidates that contain one or more claims that satisfy the requirements for listing in the Orange Book. Even if we submit a patent for listing in the Orange Book, the FDA may decline to list the patent, or a manufacturer of generic drugs may challenge the listing. If one of our product candidates is approved and a patent covering that product candidate is not listed in the Orange Book, a manufacturer of generic drugs would not have to provide advance notice to us of any abbreviated new drug application filed with the FDA to obtain permission to sell a generic version of such product candidate.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patents on our product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws and enforcement practices of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement rights are not as strong as those in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of some countries do not favor the enforcement or protection of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our intellectual property and proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful.
Many foreign countries, including some European Union countries, India, Japan and China, have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled under specified circumstances to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In those countries, we may have limited remedies if patents are infringed or if we are compelled to grant a license to a third party, which could materially diminish the value of the applicable patents. This could limit our potential revenue opportunities. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.
Changes in patent law could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates.
Obtaining and enforcing patents in the pharmaceutical industry is inherently uncertain, due in part to ongoing changes in the patent laws. For example, in the United States, depending on decisions by Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents, and interpretation thereof, could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ ability to obtain new patents or to enforce existing or future patents. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. Therefore, there is increased uncertainty with regard to our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ ability to obtain patents in the future, as well as uncertainty with respect to the value of patents once obtained.
Patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our or our licensors’ or collaborators’ issued patents. For example, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the Leahy-Smith Act) enacted in September 2011, the United States transitioned to a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first
60
inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. The Leahy-Smith Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to challenge the validity of a patent by USPTO-administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. The USPTO has developed regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, particularly the first inventor-to-file provisions. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our or our licensors’ patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our or our licensors’ issued patents. Similarly, statutory or judicial changes to the patent laws of other countries may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated if we fail to comply with these requirements.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees, and various other fees are required to be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of a patent. In certain circumstances, we rely on our licensors and collaborators to pay these fees. The USPTO and various foreign patent agencies also require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar requirements during the patent application and prosecution process. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include failure to respond to official communications within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. While an inadvertent lapse can in some cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which non-compliance can result in irrevocable abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. If we or our licensors or collaborators fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our product candidates, our competitors might be able to enter the market with similar or identical products or technology, which would harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or other intellectual property, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful, and issued patents covering our technology and product candidates could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged.
Competitors and other third parties may infringe or otherwise violate our issued patents or other intellectual property or the patents or other intellectual property of our licensors. In addition, our patents or the patents of our licensors may become involved in inventorship or priority disputes. Our pending patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless and until a patent issues from such applications. To counter infringement or other unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Our ability to enforce patent rights also depends on our ability to detect infringement. It may be difficult to detect infringers who do not advertise the components or methods that are used in connection with their products and services. Moreover, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain evidence of infringement in a competitor’s or potential competitor’s product or service. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents or that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. In a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent’s claims narrowly or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our owned or licensed patents at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable or interpreted narrowly. We may find it impractical or undesirable to enforce our intellectual property against some third parties.
If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent directed to our product candidates, or one of our future product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement or insufficient written description. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before the USPTO or an equivalent foreign body, even outside the context of litigation. Potential proceedings include re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference proceedings, derivation proceedings and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings). Such proceedings could result in the revocation of, cancellation of, or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our technology or any product candidates that we may develop. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during
61
prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on the applicable product candidates or technology covered by the patent rendered invalid or unenforceable.
Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us or declared by the USPTO may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be materially harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
Some of our competitors are larger than we are and have substantially greater resources. They are, therefore, likely to be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon, misappropriating or otherwise violating our intellectual property. Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims could result in substantial costs and diversion of management resources, which could harm our business. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could compromise our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our internal research programs, or in-license needed technology or other product candidates. There could also be public announcements of the results of the hearing, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive those results to be negative, it could cause the price of shares of our common stock to decline.
Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could negatively impact the success of our business.
Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property and other proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the pharmaceutical industry.