Kodiak Sciences Inc 10-K for FY2023
Kodiak Sciences Inc. (KOD)
About this 10-K
Kodiak Sciences Inc filed this 10-K on March 28, 2024, covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (FY2023).
Headline figures
Fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, as reported in this filing, compared with the same period a year earlier where the filing states it.
- Net loss
- $260.49M
- compared with a net loss of $333.82M a year earlier
- Diluted EPS
- -$4.97
- compared with -$6.39 a year earlier
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended
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The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of a share of the registrant’s common stock on June 30, 2023 as reported by the Nasdaq Global Market on such date, was approximately $
As of February 29, 2024, the registrant had
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement relating to the 2024 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, 2023.
Table of Contents
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023
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PART I. |
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Item 1. |
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Item 1A. |
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Item 1B. |
70 |
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Item 1C. |
70 |
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Item 2. |
71 |
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Item 3. |
71 |
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Item 4. |
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PART II. |
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Item 5. |
72 |
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Item 6. |
72 |
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Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
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Item 7A. |
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Item 8. |
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Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosures |
108 |
Item 9A. |
108 |
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Item 9B. |
108 |
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Item 9C. |
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections |
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PART III. |
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Item 10. |
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Item 11. |
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Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholders Matters |
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Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
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Item 14. |
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PART IV. |
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Item 16. |
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the financial condition of our business. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management’s good faith beliefs as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “objective,” “intend,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “target,” “design,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “plan”, “hope” or the negative of these terms, or similar expressions and comparable terminology intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties, including those set forth under the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:
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All forward-looking statements are based on information available to us on the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and we will not update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, except as required by law. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and other written and oral forward-looking statements made by us from time to time, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, and you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the following discussion and within Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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 Annual Report on Form 10-K, and although 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 a thorough inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
All brand names or trademarks appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective holders. Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “Kodiak” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Kodiak Sciences Inc. and its subsidiaries.
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RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Investing in our common stock involves numerous risks, including the risks described in “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, any one of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. These risks include, among others, the following:
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Since its founding in 2009, Kodiak Sciences Inc. (“Kodiak,” the “Company,” “we” or “our”) has developed a new technology platform, the Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate (“ABC”) Platform, for retinal medicines. Our goal is to prevent and treat the major causes of blindness by developing and commercializing next-generation therapeutics to address multiple unmet needs on the spectrum of retinal diseases.
Kodiak has developed three clinical programs based on its internal discovery and development engine. The lead investigational medicine, tarcocimab tedromer (“KSI-301” or “tarcocimab”), was built from Kodiak’s ABC Platform and has been studied in six pivotal clinical studies across four high prevalence retinal diseases, three of which were successful. The tarcocimab clinical program was designed to target high prevalence retinal diseases that are treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (“anti-VEGF”) therapies and was designed as a package to support a broad product label, which we hope will include the key diseases and the longest dosing intervals among anti-VEGF therapies. Tarcocimab is being developed to become a differentiated, long-interval therapy for use in many patients who may benefit from anti-VEGF therapy.
Kodiak’s second investigational medicine, KSI-501 (formerly KSI-501ABC), is a bispecific antibody biopolymer conjugate targeting the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and VEGF. KSI-501 is built from Kodiak’s ABC Platform and designed to address the underlying inflammatory cascade in addition to vascular permeability in high prevalence retinal diseases. A Phase 1 study was conducted to evaluate KSI-501’s safety, tolerability and bioactivity. Positive results from the Phase 1 study were recently shared. Kodiak expects to advance KSI-501 into pivotal clinical studies in 2024.
Additionally, Kodiak is developing a third investigational medicine, KSI-101 (formerly KSI-501P), an unconjugated bispecific protein targeting IL-6 and VEGF. KSI-101 is being developed for retinal inflammatory conditions, a new market segment separate from the established anti-VEGF market. KSI-101 is a clinical program with opportunities and risks uncoupled from the ABC Platform, and as such is an important part of our portfolio. Kodiak intends to advance KSI-101 into a Phase 1b study in 2024 to evaluate its safety and tolerability and to identify two dose levels to progress into pivotal studies, which are being planned to initiate later in 2024.
Beyond its clinical pipeline, Kodiak is progressing its ABC Platform with “duet” and “triplet” programs that embed small molecules and other bioactive molecules in the biopolymer backbone to provide a high drug-antibody ratio (“DAR”). The diverse bioactives are designed to be released over time to achieve sustained inhibition of targeted biological pathways. We believe this unique combination of high DAR and extended therapeutic benefit offers potential for broad and important utility for multifactorial ophthalmic and systemic diseases.
In addition to advancing our pipeline, we have made important progress in process development and commercial scale manufacturing, including the commissioning and regulatory approval of Ursus, our dedicated commercial-scale drug substance manufacturing facility that was custom-designed and built in collaboration with Lonza. We believe these manufacturing efforts would position Kodiak well for potential market share capture if tarcocimab is approved.
Notably, up to this point, Kodiak has retained all global rights to make, use and sell its product candidates, which we believe preserves future value and allows for agile decision-making.
While engaged in these research and development efforts, we believe we have demonstrated a disciplined and creative approach to building and financing the Company. As of December 31, 2023, we had $285.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Our objective is to develop our retina-focused product candidates, seek FDA approval, and ultimately commercialize our product candidates.
Following from these efforts, we believe Kodiak has the potential to achieve our ambition of becoming an important retinal development and commercialization franchise, but recognize that there are substantial risks to realizing this potential.
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Tarcocimab Clinical Program Summary and Update
Kodiak’s lead clinical program tarcocimab is an investigational anti-VEGF therapy built on Kodiak’s ABC Platform and is designed to maintain potent and effective drug levels in ocular tissues for longer than existing available agents. Kodiak’s objective with tarcocimab is to enable earlier treatment and prevention of vision loss for patients with diabetic retinopathy and to develop a new durability agent to improve outcomes for patients with retinal vascular diseases.
To date, tarcocimab has been studied in six pivotal clinical studies: Phase 3 GLOW1 study in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (“NPDR”), Phase 3 BEACON study in retinal vein occlusion (“RVO”), Phase 3 DAYLIGHT study in wet age-related macular degeneration (“wet AMD”), Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies with identical study design in diabetic macular edema (“DME”), and Phase 2/3 DAZZLE study in wet AMD. Of the six registrational studies, GLOW1, BEACON and DAYLIGHT successfully met the primary endpoint. More information about study design and results from each individual pivotal study are summarized below:
GLOW1 – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy without DME
The Phase 3 GLOW1 study was a global, multi-center, randomized pivotal superiority study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tarcocimab in treatment-naïve patients with moderately severe to severe NPDR. Patients were randomized to receive either tarcocimab every six months after initiating doses given at baseline, 8 weeks and 20 weeks into the study, or to receive sham injections. The primary endpoint was at one year.
On November 6, 2023, Kodiak announced that GLOW1 met its primary endpoint of the proportion of patients with at least a 2-step improvement on the Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale (DRSS) score, a grading system measuring the degree of retinopathy. Tarcocimab achieved a 29-fold increased response rate ratio, with 41.1% of evaluable patients on tarcocimab demonstrating at least 2-step improvement versus 1.4% of evaluable patients in the sham group (p less than 0.0001). Visual acuity and retinal anatomy were improved and stable with tarcocimab on its extended-dosing intervals. At one year, GLOW1 also met its key secondary endpoint of greater reductions in the proportion of patients developing sight-threatening complications (such as diabetic macular edema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy), versus sham, demonstrating an 89% decreased risk, achieving 21.0% versus 2.3% (p less than 0.0001). Tarcocimab also showed a 95% risk reduction in the development of DME, versus sham, from 13.7% on sham versus 0.7% on tarcocimab. The rates of serious ocular adverse events and intraocular inflammation in patients treated with tarcocimab and sham were similar.
BEACON – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Retinal Vein Occlusion
The Phase 3 BEACON study was a randomized, double-masked, multicenter, active comparator-controlled study in treatment naïve patients with vision loss and macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, including both branch ("BRVO") and central ("CRVO") subtypes. In the initial six months of the study, patients received tarcocimab on a fixed every-8-week dosing regimen following 2 monthly loading doses or aflibercept 2mg on a fixed monthly dosing regimen per its label. In the second six months of the study, tarcocimab and aflibercept were tested head-to-head according to a pro re nata (“PRN") protocol in which patients in both groups were treated only when disease reactivated according to matched predefined disease activity criteria.
In August 2022, Kodiak announced that the BEACON study met the primary efficacy endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity change from baseline at week 24 for subjects given tarcocimab every two months after 2 monthly loading doses compared to subjects given monthly aflibercept.
On September 7, 2023, Kodiak announced new one-year results from the BEACON study. Tarcocimab demonstrated matched efficacy with differentiated durability versus aflibercept in the head-to-head comparison. After 4 initiating doses in the first 6 months, 47% of tarcocimab-treated patients required no additional injections in the second 6 months while matching the vision and anatomic outcomes of aflibercept-treated patients. Despite receiving 6 initiating monthly doses, only 37% of aflibercept patients were injection free in the second half of the study. 77% of tarcocimab treated patients received 5 or fewer doses in year one, while 93% of aflibercept treated patients received 6 or more doses. BRVO patients received a median of 4.0 injections on tarcocimab versus 7.0 injections of aflibercept. Despite materially fewer injections in tarcocimab treated patients, vision outcomes favored tarcocimab-treated patients achieving an observed mean of 76.6 letters versus 75.6 letters for aflibercept treated patients. All RVO patients received a median of 5.0 injections on tarcocimab versus 7.0 injections of aflibercept. Despite materially fewer injections in tarcocimab treated patients, vision outcomes favored tarcocimab-treated patients achieving an observed mean of 74.6 letters versus 74.3 letters for aflibercept treated patients.
Safety and tolerability were comparable between tarcocimab and aflibercept. Intraocular inflammation (IOI) rate was comparable between groups (tarcocimab 2.5% vs aflibercept 0.7%). No cases of inflammation associated with vascular occlusion or vasculitis were reported.
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DAYLIGHT – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Wet AMD
The DAYLIGHT study was a randomized, double-masked, active comparator-controlled study evaluating the efficacy and safety of a high intensity dosing regimen of tarcocimab in 557 treatment-naïve subjects with wet AMD. On July 24, 2023, Kodiak announced that the DAYLIGHT study met the primary endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity gains at year 1 for tarcocimab dosed monthly compared to aflibercept dosed every 8 weeks following 3 monthly loading doses. Intraocular inflammation occurred in 3.3% of patients treated with monthly tarcocimab and 0.4% of patients treated with aflibercept with no vasculitis or occlusion.
GLEAM / GLIMMER – Paired Phase 3 Studies in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Diabetic Macular Edema
The GLEAM and GLIMMER studies were identically designed, randomized, double-masked, active comparator-controlled studies evaluating the efficacy, durability and safety of tarcocimab in 460 and 457 treatment-naïve subjects with DME, respectively, run in parallel.
On July 24, 2023, Kodiak announced that although high proportions of patients on meaningfully longer treatment intervals were observed with tarcocimab, with half of patients on every 24-week dosing at the primary endpoint, the GLEAM and GLIMMER studies did not meet their primary efficacy endpoints of showing non-inferior visual acuity gains for tarcocimab dosed every 8 to 24 weeks after 3 monthly loading doses compared to aflibercept given every 8 weeks after 5 monthly loading doses. At the primary efficacy endpoint of the GLEAM study, patients treated with tarcocimab gained an observed average of 6.4 eye chart letters (to 73.1 letters), compared with 10.3 letters for patients treated with aflibercept (to 76.5 letters). In GLIMMER, patients treated with tarcocimab gained an observed average of 7.4 eye chart letters at the primary endpoint (to 72.5 letters) compared with 12.2 letters (to 76.4 letters) for patients treated with aflibercept.
An unexpected increase in cataract adverse events was reported over time in the tarcocimab arms of both GLEAM and GLIMMER, with 19% on tarcocimab versus 9% on aflibercept at the primary endpoint based on the pooled safety population. Kodiak’s evaluation suggested that the decline in visual acuity associated with cataracts likely contributed meaningfully to the failure of each study.
Half of tarcocimab treated patients in the GLEAM and GLIMMER studies were on every 24-week dosing at the primary endpoint, two-thirds achieved at least one 6-month dosing interval during the studies, and three-quarters achieved at least one 5-month or longer treatment interval. Intraocular inflammation was rare, occurring in 1.3% and 0.2% of tarcocimab and aflibercept treated patients, respectively. No cases of intraocular inflammation with vasculitis or vascular occlusion were observed.
DAZZLE – Phase 2b/3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Wet AMD
The DAZZLE study was a global, multi-center, randomized pivotal study designed to evaluate the durability, efficacy and safety of tarcocimab in patients with treatment-naïve wet AMD. In February 2022 Kodiak announced that this initial pivotal study did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity gains for subjects dosed on extended regimens every 12-, 16- or 20 weeks with tarcocimab compared to subjects given aflibercept every 8 weeks. Following this announcement, Kodiak discontinued the study and concluded remaining trial-associated activities.
Given we have three successful Phase 3 studies across three different diseases, an additional successful pivotal study in one of these indications is required for regulatory approval. We believe tarcocimab demonstrated strong and consistent durability of approximately 6 months for the majority of patients and favorable safety across the full pivotal program, and we believe tarcocimab has the potential to become an important medicine for patients and a meaningfully differentiated product in the marketplace. Therefore, we have activated GLOW2, a Phase 3 study in diabetic retinopathy (“DR”). The GLOW2 study has a similar design as GLOW1 with the benefit of an additional, third monthly loading dose (weeks 0, 4 and 8). We discussed the study design with the FDA, and the study is currently recruiting patients.
Additionally, in light of the importance of wet AMD in today’s anti-VEGF market, we also plan to study tarcocimab as a second investigational arm in the KSI-501 Phase 3 DAYBREAK study to evaluate its durability, strengthen its competitive position in wet AMD and bolster our ex-US regulatory dossier. We are discussing the study design of DAYBREAK with the FDA and plan to initiate the study as soon as regulatory alignment is completed, which we hope is mid-2024.
We made adjustments to the tarcocimab product that improve the manufacturability in a prefilled syringe and we believe may also enhance the utility of the product. We believe now is the time to implement these changes given the additional clinical studies we plan to conduct, and the FDA has agreed that these additional clinical studies should be sufficient to bridge the former material to the go-to-market material we would like to commercialize going forward. Both GLOW2 and DAYBREAK will be run using our go-to-market formulation of tarcocimab.
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Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate Drug Substance Manufacturing
In August 2020, we entered into a manufacturing agreement with Lonza Ltd (“Lonza”) for the clinical and commercial supply of the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugate drug substance which included a custom-built manufacturing facility. The manufacturing agreement has an initial term of 8 years, and the Company has the right to extend the term up to a total of 16 years. The Company and Lonza each have the ability to terminate this agreement upon the occurrence of certain events.
In April 2021, the agreement was amended to provide for greater manufacturing flexibility, to define a comprehensive mandate as an antibody biopolymer conjugates manufacturing facility to be used for the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugates pipeline, at clinical as well as commercial scales, across a broad capacity range under the tight quality controls required for ophthalmology and retinal medicines, and to allow for future process and equipment changes as needed.
Under the agreement, Kodiak and Lonza planned a custom-built facility (“Ursus”) dedicated to the commercial-scale manufacturing of Kodiak’s drug substance. In January 2023, the custom-built manufacturing suite Ursus was commissioned as a cGMP facility. Kodiak worked together with Lonza and regulatory authorities to obtain approval for Ursus, and we released our first commercial scale cGMP batch of tarcocimab in July 2023. In October 2023, Kodiak made a final payment of $26.8 million to Lonza for final activation of Ursus. Separately, tarcocimab drug product based on our go-to-market formulation was released in March 2024 and is ready for use in the GLOW2 and DAYBREAK pivotal studies.
KSI-501 Clinical Program Update
KSI-501 is a first-in-class bispecific molecule designed to inhibit two mechanisms implicated in retinal diseases: vascular endothelial growth factor (“VEGF”) and interleukin-6 (“IL-6”). IL-6 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine and growth factor implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple retinal diseases and, in conditions for which anti-VEGF treatment is used, elevated levels of ocular IL-6 have been associated with poor anti-VEGF treatment response. The bispecific mechanism of action of KSI-501 is designed to provide potent inhibition of (i) VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and vascular permeability through a soluble decoy receptor inhibiting the binding of VEGF-A and PLGF to their cognate receptors and (ii) IL-6 mediated inflammation through an antibody that binds soluble interleukin-6, inhibiting its binding to both soluble and membrane-bound IL-6 receptors. In cell-based assays, KSI-501 inhibited angiogenesis and also normalized inner and outer blood retinal barriers; dual inhibition of VEGF and IL-6 by KSI-501 conferred superior normalization of cell morphology and junctional biology compared to either anti-VEGF or anti-IL-6 monotherapy. We believe KSI-501 has the potential to become a new category of retinal medicines with greater therapeutic efficacy than existing therapies.
Kodiak intends to develop KSI-501 as two therapeutic programs in parallel, KSI-501 (formerly KSI-501ABC) and KSI-101 (formerly KSI-501P), to address different unmet needs.
KSI-501
KSI-501 is an anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific antibody biopolymer conjugate built on the ABC platform and is being developed for high prevalence retinal vascular diseases to address the unmet needs of targeting multiple biologies and extended durability. A Phase 1 trial was conducted to evaluate its safety, tolerability and bioactivity in DME patients. In February 2024, the Phase 1 study results were presented at the Angiogenesis, Exudation, and Degeneration 2024 Virtual Meeting. Kodiak believes the Phase 1 study met its objectives: 1) repeated monthly dosing of KSI-501 was safe and well tolerated; 2) KSI-501 demonstrated bioactivity in both functional (vision) and anatomical (OCT CST) measures.
Kodiak intends to advance KSI-501 into a Phase 3 study DAYBREAK in 2024 to evaluate its efficacy, durability and safety in wet AMD. The DAYBREAK study is intended to be a non-inferiority study evaluating KSI-501 dosed every 4 to 24 weeks, compared to aflibercept dosed per label. The DAYBREAK study will use an enhanced formulation of KSI-501 educated from tarcocimab’s commercial manufacturing scale-up. We are in the process of obtaining regulatory feedback on the study design and intend to initiate the study as soon as regulatory alignment is completed, targeting mid-2024.
KSI-101
KSI-101 is the unconjugated protein portion of KSI-501 and is a novel bispecific protein targeting IL-6 and VEGF. We intend to develop KSI-101 for patients who have retinal fluid and inflammation. Currently there are no available intravitreal biologic therapies addressing the spectrum of inflammatory conditions of the retina. We believe that retinal inflammatory conditions represent a new market segment separate from the established anti-VEGF market. KSI-101 is a clinical prospect with opportunities and risks uncoupled from the ABC Platform, and as such is an important part of our late-phase portfolio. We intend to initiate a dose-finding Phase 1b study in the second quarter of 2024 to evaluate its safety and tolerability and identify two dose levels to progress into pivotal studies. We are currently in the process of obtaining regulatory feedback on the design of the pivotal program, and we hope to initiate dual Phase 2b/3 studies later in 2024.
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KSI-501 and KSI-101 manufacturing
We have been progressing the manufacturing of KSI-501 and KSI-101 in preparation for the anticipated clinical studies. Clinical material for both KSI-501 (50 mg/mL strength in our enhanced formulation) and KSI-101 (100 mg/mL strength) were successfully manufactured in the first quarter of 2024.
Technology Platform Development
We continued progressing our technology development with our “duet” and “triplet” inhibitors that embed small molecules and other bioactive molecules in the biopolymer backbone to provide a high drug-antibody ratio ("DAR"). The diverse bioactives are designed to be released over time to achieve sustained inhibition of targeted biological pathways. The biopolymer embedded with its poly-pharmacy payloads is conjugated to a protein therapeutic to form a “triplet” for tissue and cell targeting or omits the protein therapeutic to form a “duet”. We believe this unique combination of high DAR and extended therapeutic benefit offers potential for broad and important utility for multifactorial ophthalmic and systemic diseases.
Digital Health Platform Development
We are developing a visual engagement technology and imager (“VETi”) designed by Kodiak engineers initially to be used by eye care professionals for vision and ophthalmic anatomical examination, diagnosis and monitoring. Our longer-term goal with VETi, built with semiconductor technologies, is to deliver a wearable device for long-term health engagement and monitoring.
We believe the Kodiak VETi platform as a medical engagement and imaging platform has the potential to disrupt ophthalmology clinical trials by enabling new trial endpoints, thereby enabling faster and more cost-effective medicines development in ophthalmic disease, an area that historically requires lengthy and expensive trials. VETi may also aid in market build and shaping for undertreated or underdiagnosed diseases, such as diabetic eye diseases where Kodiak’s product candidates tarcocimab and KSI-501 are being studied and where early treatment and prevention may allow patients to achieve better outcomes.
Competition
The current standard of care for DR (including DME), RVO and wet AMD is intravitreal administration of anti-VEGF monotherapies, principally Avastin, Lucentis and Eylea, which are well-established therapies and are widely accepted by physicians, patients and third-party payors.
In addition, newer competitors have received FDA approval in recent years, such as Vabysmo (faricimab) from Roche. Vabysmo is a bispecific antibody targeting VEGF and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and received FDA approval for the treatment of wet AMD and DME in January 2022 and received FDA approval for RVO in October 2023. Vabysmo demonstrated non-inferiority in visual acuity gains to Eylea in wet AMD and DME, with extended dosing of up to once every 16 weeks for slightly less than half of patients in Phase 3 trials. Vabysmo also demonstrated non-inferiority in visual acuity gains to Eylea in Phase 3 studies in RVO with monthly dosing regimen for both therapies. We believe Vabysmo may be perceived to offer incremental benefit in durability over currently established therapies such as Lucentis and Eylea. Vabysmo has been gaining adoption since launch and we believe it will become an important product in the marketplace.
In August 2023, Regeneron’s product, Eylea HD (high dose aflibercept) gained FDA approval for the treatment of wet AMD, DME and DR. High dose aflibercept demonstrated non-inferior visual acuity gains to Eylea in Phase 3 studies in wet AMD and DME while dosing a majority of patients on an every 3 or 4 month interval compared to Eylea dosed every 8 weeks per its label. We believe high dose aflibercept may become an important therapy in the marketplace given Regeneron’s incumbent position in retinal diseases.
There are also other companies and research organizations developing treatments targeting other molecular targets, potential gene therapy treatments, stem cell transplant treatments, medical devices as well as biosimilars for the treatment of DR, RVO and wet AMD. We believe the therapeutic space of retinal diseases may become increasingly competitive in the future.
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Funding Agreement
Pursuant to a funding agreement, we sold a 4.5% capped royalty on global net sales of tarcocimab (and potentially other products) following marketing approval. Currently, the royalty “caps” or terminates upon the payment of a cumulative amount of $450 million, which is equal to 4.5 times the funding amount received by the Company to date under the funding agreement. For a more detailed description of the funding agreement, please refer to Note 15 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Government Regulation
Government authorities in the United States at the federal, state and local level and in other countries regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, promotion, advertising, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, marketing and export and import of drug and biological products. Generally, before a new drug or biologic can be marketed, considerable data demonstrating its quality, safety and efficacy must be obtained, organized into a format specific for each regulatory authority, submitted for review and approved by the regulatory authority.
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U.S. Drug Development
In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and its implementing regulations, and biologics under the FDCA, the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and their implementing regulations. Both drugs and biologics also are subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or post-market may subject an applicant to administrative or judicial sanctions. These sanctions could include, among other actions, the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, a clinical hold, untitled or warning letters, product recalls or market withdrawals, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement and civil or criminal penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us.
Any future product candidates must be approved by the FDA through either a new drug application, or NDA, or a biologics license application, or BLA, process before they may be legally marketed in the United States. The process generally involves the following:
The data required to support an NDA or BLA are generated in two distinct developmental stages: preclinical and clinical. The preclinical and clinical testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort and financial resources, and we cannot be certain that any approvals for any future product candidates will be granted on a timely basis, or at all.
Preclinical Studies and IND
The preclinical developmental stage generally involves laboratory evaluations of drug chemistry, formulation and stability, as well as studies to evaluate toxicity in animals, which support subsequent clinical testing. The sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical studies, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and a proposed clinical protocol, to the FDA as part of the IND. An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational product to humans, and must become effective before human clinical trials may begin.
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Preclinical studies include laboratory evaluation of product chemistry and formulation, as well as in vitro and animal studies to assess the potential for adverse events and in some cases to establish a rationale for therapeutic use. The conduct of preclinical studies is subject to federal regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations for safety/toxicology studies. An IND sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and plans for clinical studies, among other things, to the FDA as part of an IND. Some long-term preclinical testing, such as animal tests of reproductive adverse events and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted. An IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time, the FDA raises concerns or questions related to one or more proposed clinical trials and places the trial on clinical hold. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. As a result, submission of an IND may not result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to commence.
Clinical Trials
The clinical stage of development involves the administration of the investigational product to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by or under the trial sponsor’s control, in accordance with GCP requirements, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical trial. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria and the parameters to be used to monitor subject safety and assess efficacy. Each protocol, and any subsequent amendments to the protocol, must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an IRB for each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted to ensure that the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also approves the informed consent form that must be provided to each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative, and must monitor the clinical trial until completed. There also are requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries.
A sponsor who wishes to conduct a clinical trial outside of the United States may, but need not, obtain FDA authorization to conduct the clinical trial under an IND. If a foreign clinical trial is not conducted under an IND, the sponsor may submit data from the clinical trial to the FDA in support of an NDA or BLA. The FDA will accept a well-designed and well-conducted foreign clinical study not conducted under an IND if the study was conducted in accordance with GCP requirements and the FDA is able to validate the data through an onsite inspection if deemed necessary.
Clinical trials in the United States generally are conducted in three sequential phases, known as Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, and may overlap.
Post-approval trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted after initial marketing approval. These trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication. In certain instances, the FDA may mandate the performance of Phase 4 clinical trials as a condition of approval of an NDA or BLA.
Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials, among other information, must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and written IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and the investigators for serious and unexpected suspected adverse events, findings from other studies suggesting a significant risk to humans exposed to the drug, findings from animal or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk for human subjects and any clinically important increase in the rate of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure.
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Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all. The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug or biologic has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. Additionally, some clinical trials are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical trial sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or committee. This group provides authorization for whether a trial may move forward at designated check points based on access to certain data from the trial. Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and also must develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug or biologic as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product and, among other things, companies must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that our product candidates do not undergo unacceptable deterioration over their shelf life.
NDA/BLA Review Process
Following completion of the clinical trials, data are analyzed to assess whether the investigational product is safe and effective for the proposed indicated use or uses. The results of preclinical studies and clinical trials are then submitted to the FDA as part of an NDA or BLA, along with proposed labeling, chemistry and manufacturing information to ensure product quality and other relevant data. In short, the NDA or BLA is a request for approval to market the drug or biologic for one or more specified indications and must contain proof of safety and efficacy for a drug or safety, purity and potency for a biologic. The application may include both negative and ambiguous results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well as positive findings. Data may come from company-sponsored clinical trials intended to test the safety and efficacy of a product’s use 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 efficacy of the investigational product to the satisfaction of FDA. FDA approval of an NDA or BLA must be obtained before a drug or biologic may be marketed in the United States.
Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, as amended, each NDA or BLA must be accompanied by a user fee. The FDA adjusts the PDUFA user fees on an annual basis. PDUFA also imposes an annual program fee for approved human drugs and biologics. Fee waivers or reductions are available in certain circumstances, including a waiver of the application fee for the first application filed by a small business. Additionally, no user fees are assessed on NDAs or BLAs for products designated as orphan drugs, unless the product also includes a non-orphan indication.
The FDA reviews all submitted NDAs and BLAs before it accepts them for filing, and may request additional information rather than accepting the NDA or BLA for filing. The FDA must make a decision on accepting an NDA or BLA for filing within 60 days of receipt. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth review of the NDA or BLA. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under PDUFA, the FDA has ten months, from the filing date, in which to complete its initial review of a new molecular-entity NDA or original BLA and respond to the applicant, and six months from the filing date of a new molecular-entity NDA or original BLA designated for priority review. The FDA does not always meet its PDUFA goal dates for standard and priority NDAs or BLAs, and the review process is often extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification.
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Before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA will conduct a pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facilities for the new product to determine whether they comply with cGMP requirements. The FDA will not approve the product 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. The FDA also may audit data from clinical trials to ensure compliance with GCP requirements. Additionally, the FDA may refer applications for novel drug products or drug products which present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee, typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts, for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions, if any. The FDA is not bound by recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations when making decisions on approval. The FDA likely will reanalyze the clinical trial data, which could result in extensive discussions between the FDA and the applicant during the review process. After the FDA evaluates an NDA or BLA, it will 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 usually describes all of the specific deficiencies in the NDA or BLA identified by the FDA. The Complete Response Letter may require additional clinical data, additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial(s) and/or other significant and time-consuming requirements related to clinical trials, preclinical studies or manufacturing. If a Complete Response Letter is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the NDA or BLA, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may decide that the NDA or BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive and the FDA may interpret data differently than we interpret the same data.
Expedited Development and Review Programs
The FDA has a fast track program that is intended to expedite or facilitate the process for reviewing new drugs and biologics that meet certain criteria. Specifically, new drugs and biologics are eligible for fast track designation if they are intended to treat a serious or life threatening condition and preclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the condition. Fast track designation applies to both the product and the specific indication for which it is being studied. The sponsor can request the FDA to designate the product for fast track status any time before receiving NDA or BLA approval, but ideally no later than the pre-NDA or pre-BLA meeting.
Any product submitted to the FDA for marketing, including under a fast track program, may be eligible for other types of FDA programs intended to expedite development and review, such as priority review and accelerated approval. Any product is eligible for priority review if it treats a serious or life-threatening condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety and effectiveness compared to available therapies.
A product may also be eligible for accelerated approval, if it treats a serious or life-threatening condition and generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies. In addition, it must demonstrate 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, or IMM, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a drug or biologic receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical trials. If the FDA concludes that a drug or biologic shown to be effective can be safely used only if distribution or use is restricted, it may require such post-marketing restrictions, as it deems necessary to assure safe use of the product.
Additionally, a drug or biologic may be eligible for designation as a breakthrough therapy if the product is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently approved therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints. The benefits of breakthrough therapy designation include the same benefits as fast track designation, plus intensive guidance from the FDA to ensure an efficient drug development program. Fast track designation, priority review, accelerated approval and breakthrough therapy designation do not change the standards for approval, but may expedite the development or approval process.
Abbreviated Licensure Pathway of Biological Products as Biosimilar or Interchangeable
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products shown to be highly similar to an FDA-licensed reference biological product. An application for licensure of a biosimilar product must include information demonstrating biosimilarity based upon the following, unless the FDA determines otherwise:
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In addition, an application must include information demonstrating that:
Biosimilarity means that the biological product is highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components; and that there are no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of the safety, purity, and potency of the product. In addition, the law provides for a designation of “interchangeability” between the reference and biosimilar products, whereby the biosimilar may be substituted for the reference product without the intervention of the health care provider who prescribed the reference product. The higher standard of interchangeability must be demonstrated by information sufficient to show that:
FDA approval is required before a biosimilar may be marketed in the United States. In addition, as with BLAs, biosimilar product applications will not be approved unless the product is manufactured in facilities designed to assure and preserve the biological product’s safety, purity and potency.
The timing of final FDA approval of a biosimilar for commercial distribution depends on a variety of factors, including whether the manufacturer of the branded product is entitled to one or more statutory exclusivity periods, during which time the FDA is prohibited from approving any products that are biosimilar to the branded product. The FDA cannot approve a biosimilar application for twelve years from the date of first licensure of the reference product. Additionally, a biosimilar product sponsor may not submit an application for four years from the date of first licensure of the reference product. A reference product may also be entitled to exclusivity under other statutory provisions. For example, a reference product designated for a rare disease or condition (an “orphan drug”) may be entitled to seven years of exclusivity, in which case no product that is biosimilar to the reference product may be approved until either the end of the twelve-year period provided under the biosimilarity statute or the end of the seven-year orphan drug exclusivity period, whichever occurs later. In certain circumstances, a regulatory exclusivity period can extend beyond the life of a patent, and thus block biosimilarity applications from being approved on or after the patent expiration date. In addition, the FDA may under certain circumstances extend the exclusivity period for the reference product by an additional six months if the FDA requests, and the manufacturer undertakes, studies on the effect of its product in children, a so-called pediatric extension.
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Post-Approval Requirements
Following approval of a new product, the manufacturer and the approved product are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, monitoring and record-keeping requirements, requirements to report adverse experiences, and comply with promotion and advertising requirements, which include restrictions on promoting drugs for unapproved uses or patient populations (known as “off-label use”) and limitations on industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities. Although physicians may prescribe legally available drugs for off-label uses, manufacturers may not market or promote such uses. Prescription drug promotional materials must be submitted to the FDA in conjunction with their first use. Further, if there are any modifications to the drug or biologic, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, the applicant may be required to submit and obtain FDA approval of a new NDA/BLA or NDA/BLA supplement, which may require the development of additional data or preclinical studies and clinical trials.
The FDA may also place other conditions on approvals including the requirement for a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to assure the safe use of the product. A REMS could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Any of these limitations on approval or marketing could restrict the commercial promotion, distribution, prescription or dispensing of products. Product approvals may be withdrawn for non-compliance with regulatory standards or if problems occur following initial marketing.
The FDA may withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards 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:
The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising, and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Drugs and biologics may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. 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.
Other U.S. Regulatory Laws
Manufacturing, sales, promotion and other activities following product approval are also subject to regulation by numerous regulatory authorities in the United States in addition to the FDA, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, other divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and state and local governments.
For example, in the United States, our business operations, including any sales, marketing and scientific and educational programs, also must comply with state and federal fraud and abuse laws, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statue and false claims laws; federal data privacy and security laws; and federal transparency laws related to payments and/or other transfers of value made to physicians and other healthcare professionals and teaching hospitals. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute makes it illegal for any person, including a prescription drug manufacturer (or a party acting on its behalf), to knowingly and willfully solicit, receive, offer or pay any remuneration that is intended to induce or reward referrals, including the purchase, recommendation, order or prescription of a particular drug, for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. Moreover, the ACA provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. Federal false claims laws, including the False Claims Act, prohibit individuals or entities from, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, false or fraudulent claims for payment of federal funds, and knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government.
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The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud any healthcare benefit program or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of the payor (e.g., public or private), and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services relating to healthcare matters. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
Many states have similar laws and regulations that may differ from federal law in significant ways, thus complicating compliance efforts. For example, states have anti-kickback and false claims laws that may be broader in scope than analogous federal laws and may apply regardless of payer. In addition, the federal physician payment transparency requirements, sometimes referred to as the “Physician Payments Sunshine Act,” created under the ACA and its implementing regulations, require 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 certain 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), other healthcare professionals (such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members.
HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH) and their respective implementing regulations, impose requirements on certain covered healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses and their respective business associates that perform services for them that involve the use, or disclosure of, individually identifiable health information as well as their covered subcontractors, relating to the privacy, security, and transmission of such individually identifiable health information. In addition, state data privacy laws that protect the security of health information may differ from each other and may not be preempted by federal law.
Moreover, several states and local jurisdictions have enacted legislation requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to, among other things, establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, make periodic public disclosures on sales and marketing activities, report information related to drug pricing, require the registration of sales representatives, and prohibit certain other sales and marketing practices. In addition, the approval and commercialization of any of our product candidates outside the United States will also likely subject us to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above.
Pricing and rebate programs must comply with the Medicaid rebate requirements of the U.S. Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and more recent requirements in the ACA. If products are made available to authorized users of the Federal Supply Schedule of the General Services Administration, additional laws and requirements apply. Products must meet applicable child-resistant packaging requirements under the U.S. Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Manufacturing, sales, promotion and other activities also are potentially subject to federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.
The distribution of biologic and pharmaceutical products is subject to additional requirements and regulations, including extensive record-keeping, licensing, storage and security requirements intended to prevent the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical products.
Failure to maintain compliance with these healthcare laws could result in the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.
Data Privacy
Privacy laws in the U.S. are also increasingly complex and changing rapidly. For example, the California legislature enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which took effect on January 1, 2020 and it has been subsequently amended. The CCPA requires covered companies to provide certain disclosures to California residents, and afford them certain rights such as to access, delete and opt-out of certain sharing of their personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations. Since the enactment of the CCPA, new or revised privacy and data security laws have been proposed in many states and in the U.S. Congress, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the U.S.
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In addition, the processing of personal data in connection with clinical trials in the EU must comply with comprehensive data protection requirements imposed by EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or EU GDPR. The EU GDPR, which took effect on May 25, 2018, imposes stringent data protection requirements and provides for penalties for noncompliance that can include bans on processing personal data and fines of up to the greater of 20 million euros or four percent of worldwide annual revenues. The EU GDPR requires organizations to give detailed disclosures about how they collect, use and share personal data; under certain conditions, obtain explicit consent to process sensitive personal data, such as health or genetic information; contractually require vendors to meet data protection requirements; maintain adequate data security measures; notify regulators and affected individuals of certain data breaches; meet extensive privacy governance and documentation requirements; and afford individuals’ data protection rights, including their rights to access, correct and delete their personal data.
European data protection laws, generally restrict the transfer of personal data from Europe, including from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, to the U.S. and most other countries unless the parties to the transfer have implemented specific safeguards to protect the transferred personal data. Legal challenges, in the past and future, may be successful in limiting the mechanisms available to transfer personal data across national borders.
The failure to comply with any of these laws or regulatory requirements may result in legal and regulatory actions. Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet applicable regulatory requirements can result in significant penalties, including administrative, civil, and criminal penalties, fines, imprisonment, disgorgement, injunctions, exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, requests for recall, seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of product approvals or refusal to allow a firm to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. Prohibitions or restrictions on sales or withdrawal of future products marketed by us could materially affect our business in an adverse way.
U.S. Health Care Reform
Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (1) changes to our manufacturing arrangements; (2) additions or modifications to product labeling; (3) the recall or discontinuation of our products; or (4) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business. Further, the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of healthcare-related legislative initiatives that have significantly affected the healthcare industry. For example, on June 17, 2021 the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge on procedural grounds that argued the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the “individual mandate” was repealed by Congress. Further, prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order that initiated a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through May 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. In addition, on August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or IRA, into law, which among other things, extends enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in ACA marketplaces through plan year 2025. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost and creating a new manufacturer discount program. It is unclear how any additional challenges and healthcare form measures of the Biden administration will impact the ACA and our business.
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 federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. For example, in July 2021, the Biden administration released an executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” with multiple provisions aimed at prescription drugs. In response to Biden’s executive order, on September 9, 2021, HHS released a Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices that outlines principles for drug pricing reform and sets out a variety of potential legislative policies that Congress could pursue as well as potential administrative actions HHS can take to advance these principles. In addition, the IRA, among other things, (i) directs HHS to negotiate the price of certain high-expenditure, single-source drugs and biologics covered under Medicare, and subject drug manufacturers to civil monetary penalties and a potential excise tax by offering a price that is not equal to or less than the negotiated “maximum fair price” for such drugs and biologics under the law, and (ii) imposes rebates with respect to certain drugs and biologics covered under Medicare Part B or Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation. The IRA permits HHS to implement many of these provisions through guidance, as opposed to regulation, for the initial years. These provisions take effect progressively starting in fiscal year 2023. On August 29, 2023, HHS announced the list of the first ten drugs that will be subject to price negotiations, although the Medicare drug price negotiation program is currently subject to legal challenges. It is currently unclear how the IRA will be implemented but is likely to have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry. In response to the Biden administration’s October 2022 executive order, on February 14, 2023, HHS released a report outlining three new models for testing by the CMS Innovation Center which will be evaluated on their ability to lower the cost of drugs, promote accessibility, and improve quality of care. It is unclear whether the models will be utilized in any health
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reform measures in the future. Further, on December 7, 2023, the Biden administration announced an initiative to control the price of prescription drugs through the use of march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act. On December 8, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology published for comment a Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights which for the first time includes the price of a product as one factor an agency can use when deciding to exercise march-in rights. While march-in rights have not previously been exercised, it is uncertain if that will continue under the new framework.
At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented 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, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. For example, on January 5, 2024, the FDA approved Florida’s Section 804 Importation Program (SIP) proposal to import certain drugs from Canada for specific state healthcare programs. It is unclear how this program will be implemented, including which drugs will be chosen, and whether it will be subject to legal challenges in the United States or Canada. Other states have also submitted SIP proposals that are pending review by the FDA.
U.S. Patent-Term Restoration and Marketing Exclusivity
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA approval of any future product candidates, some of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits restoration of the patent term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and FDA regulatory review process. Patent-term restoration, however, cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. The patent-term restoration period is generally one-half the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of an NDA or BLA plus the time between the submission date of an NDA or BLA and the approval of that application, except that the review period is reduced by any time during which the applicant failed to exercise due diligence. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug is eligible for the extension and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent. The USPTO, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration. In the future, we may apply for restoration of patent term for our currently owned or licensed patents to add patent life beyond its current expiration date, depending on the expected length of the clinical trials and other factors involved in the filing of the relevant NDA or BLA.
Market exclusivity provisions under the FDCA also can delay the submission or the approval of certain applications. The FDCA provides a five-year period of non-patent marketing exclusivity within the United States to the first applicant to gain approval of a NDA for a new chemical entity. A drug is a new chemical entity if the FDA has not previously approved any other new drug containing the same active moiety, which is the molecule or ion responsible for the action of the drug substance. During the exclusivity period, the FDA may not accept for review an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, or a 505(b)(2) NDA submitted by another company for another version of such drug where the applicant does not own or have a legal right of reference to all the data required for approval. However, an application may be submitted after four years if it contains a certification of patent invalidity or non-infringement. The FDCA also provides three years of marketing exclusivity for a NDA, 505(b)(2) NDA or supplement to an existing NDA if new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability studies, that were conducted or sponsored by the applicant are deemed by the FDA to be essential to the approval of the application, for example, new indications, dosages or strengths of an existing drug. This three-year exclusivity covers only the conditions of use associated with the new clinical investigations and does not prohibit the FDA from approving ANDAs for drugs containing the original active agent. Five-year and three-year exclusivity will not delay the submission or approval of a full NDA. However, an applicant submitting a full NDA would be required to conduct or obtain a right of reference to all of the preclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials necessary to demonstrate safety and effectiveness.
A reference biological product is granted twelve years of data exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, and the FDA will not accept an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until four years after the date of first licensure of the reference product. “First licensure” typically means the initial date the particular product at issue was licensed in the United States. Date of first licensure does not include the date of licensure of (and a new period of exclusivity is not available for) a biological product if the licensure is for a supplement for the biological product or for a subsequent application by the same sponsor or manufacturer of the biological product (or licensor, predecessor in interest, or other related entity) for a change (not including a modification to the structure of the biological product) that results in a new indication, route of administration, dosing schedule, dosage form, delivery system, delivery device or strength, or for a modification to the structure of the biological product that does not result in a change in safety, purity, or potency. Therefore, one must determine whether a new product includes a modification to the structure of a previously licensed product that results in a change in safety, purity, or potency to assess whether the licensure of the new product is a first licensure that triggers its own period of exclusivity. Whether a subsequent application, if approved, warrants exclusivity as the “first licensure” of a biological product is determined on a case-by-case basis with data submitted by the sponsor.
European Union Drug Development
As in the United States, medicinal products can be marketed only if a marketing authorization from the competent regulatory agencies has been obtained.
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Similar to the United States, the various phases of preclinical and clinical research in the European Union are subject to significant regulatory controls. Although the EU Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC has sought to harmonize the EU clinical trials regulatory framework, setting out common rules for the control and authorization of clinical trials in the EU, the EU Member States have transposed and applied the provisions of the Directive differently. This has led to significant variations in the member state regimes. Under the current regime, before a clinical trial can be initiated it must be approved in each of the EU countries where the trial is to be conducted by two distinct bodies: the National Competent Authority, or NCA, and one or more Ethics Committees, or ECs. Under the current regime all suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions to the investigated drug that occur during the clinical trial have to be reported to the NCA and ECs of the Member State where they occurred.
The EU clinical trials legislation currently is undergoing a transition process mainly aimed at harmonizing and streamlining clinical-trial authorization, simplifying adverse-event reporting procedures, improving the supervision of clinical trials and increasing their transparency. Recently enacted Clinical Trials Regulation EU No 536/2014 ensures that the rules for conducting clinical trials in the EU will be identical. In the meantime, Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC continues to govern all clinical trials performed in the EU.
European Union Drug Review and Approval
In the European Economic Area, or EEA, which is comprised of the 27 Member States of the European Union (including Norway and excluding Croatia), Iceland and Liechtenstein, medicinal products can only be commercialized after obtaining a Marketing Authorization, or MA. There are two types of marketing authorizations.
Under the above described procedures, before granting the MA, the EMA or the competent authorities of the Member States of the EEA make an assessment of the risk-benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.
Coverage and Reimbursement
Sales of our products will depend, in part, on the extent to which our products will be covered by third-party payors, such as government health programs, commercial insurance and managed healthcare organizations. In the United States no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug or biological products exists. Accordingly, decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided for any of our products will be made on a payor-by-payor basis. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained.
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The U.S. government, state legislatures and foreign governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid health care costs, including price-controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs. For example, the ACA contains provisions that may reduce the profitability of drug products through increased rebates for drugs reimbursed by Medicaid programs, extension of Medicaid rebates to Medicaid managed care plans, mandatory discounts for certain Medicare Part D beneficiaries and annual fees based on pharmaceutical companies’ share of sales to federal health care programs. Adoption of general controls and measures, coupled with the tightening of restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could limit payments for pharmaceutical drugs.
The Medicaid Drug Rebate Program requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to enter into and have in effect a national rebate agreement with the Secretary of HHS as a condition for states to receive federal matching funds for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs furnished to Medicaid patients. The ACA made several changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, including increasing pharmaceutical manufacturers’ rebate liability by raising the minimum basic Medicaid rebate on most branded prescription drugs from 15.1% of average manufacturer price, or AMP, to 23.1% of AMP and adding a new rebate calculation for “line extensions” (i.e., new formulations, such as extended release formulations) of solid oral dosage forms of branded products, as well as potentially impacting their rebate liability by modifying the statutory definition of AMP. The ACA also expanded the universe of Medicaid utilization subject to drug rebates by requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay rebates on Medicaid managed care utilization and by enlarging the population potentially eligible for Medicaid drug benefits. CMS has proposed to expand Medicaid rebate liability to the territories of the United States as well.
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, or the MMA, established the Medicare Part D program to provide a voluntary prescription drug benefit to Medicare beneficiaries. Under Part D, Medicare beneficiaries may enroll in prescription drug plans offered by private entities that provide coverage of outpatient prescription drugs. Unlike Medicare Part A and B, Part D coverage is not standardized. While all Medicare drug plans must give at least a standard level of coverage set by Medicare, Part D prescription drug plan sponsors are not required to pay for all covered Part D drugs, and each drug plan can develop its own drug formulary that identifies which drugs it will cover and at what tier or level. However, Part D prescription drug formularies must include drugs within each therapeutic category and class of covered Part D drugs, though not necessarily all the drugs in each category or class. Any formulary used by a Part D prescription drug plan must be developed and reviewed by a pharmacy and therapeutic committee. Government payment for some of the costs of prescription drugs may increase demand for products for which we receive marketing approval. However, any negotiated prices for our products covered by a Part D prescription drug plan likely will be lower than the prices we might otherwise obtain. Moreover, while the MMA applies only to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own payment rates. Any reduction in payment that results from the MMA may result in a similar reduction in payments from non-governmental payors.
For a drug product to receive federal reimbursement under the Medicaid or Medicare Part B programs or to be sold directly to U.S. government agencies, the manufacturer must extend discounts to entities eligible to participate in the 340B drug pricing program. The required 340B discount on a given product is calculated based on the AMP and Medicaid rebate amounts reported by the manufacturer. In 2010, the ACA expanded the types of entities eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing, although, under the current state of the law, with the exception of children’s hospitals, these newly eligible entities will not be eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing on orphan drugs. In addition, as 340B drug prices are determined based on AMP and Medicaid rebate data, the revisions to the Medicaid rebate formula and AMP definition described above could cause the required 340B discount to increase.
As noted above, the marketability of any products for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale may suffer if the government and third-party payors fail to provide adequate coverage and reimbursement. An increasing emphasis on cost containment measures in the United States has increased and we expect will continue to increase the pressure on pharmaceutical pricing. Coverage policies and third-party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future.
In addition, in most foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing and reimbursement vary widely from country to country. 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. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our products. Historically, products launched in the European Union do not follow price structures of the United States and generally prices tend to be significantly lower.
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Intellectual Property
We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements that are commercially important to our business, including seeking, maintaining, and defending patent rights. We seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing patent applications in the United States and in jurisdictions outside of the United States related to our proprietary technology, inventions, improvements, and product candidates that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trade secrets and know-how relating to our proprietary technology and product candidates and continuing innovation to develop, strengthen, and maintain our proprietary position in the field. Although we are not party to any material in-license agreements as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we may in the future pursue in-licensing opportunities to strengthen our proprietary position in the field. We additionally rely on data exclusivity, market exclusivity, and patent term extensions when available, and may seek and rely on regulatory protection afforded through orphan drug designations. Our commercial success may depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for our technology, inventions, and improvements; to preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets; to defend and enforce our proprietary rights, including our patents; and to operate without infringing the valid and enforceable patents and other proprietary rights of third parties.
We have prosecuted numerous patents and patent applications and possess know-how and trade secrets relating to the development and commercialization of our ABC Platform and product candidates, including related manufacturing processes and technology. As of December 31, 2023, we were the assignee of record for approximately 11 U.S. issued patents, and the applicant for approximately 20 U.S. pending patent applications and 4 pending PCT applications directed to certain of our proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements and our most advanced product candidates, as well as 48 patents issued in jurisdictions outside of the United States and 59 patent applications pending in jurisdictions outside of the United States that, in many cases, are counterparts to the foregoing U.S. patents and patent applications. For example, these patents and patent applications include claims directed to:
The following patents and patent applications (including anticipated 20-year expiration dates, which could be altered by, for example, a disclaimer, patent term adjustment or patent term extension) relate to tarcocimab, KSI-501, and/or ABC Platform:
Patent and Patent Application Numbers |
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Anticipated U.S. Expiration Date |
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Description of Representative U.S. Claims |
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US 8,846,021, US Appl. No. 17/553,605, EP Patent No. 1988910, JP Patent No. 5528710, JP Patent No. 5745009, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2007/005372 |
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2/28/2027 |
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Representative claims include conjugates |
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US Appl. No. 17/409,578, AU Patent No. 2011239434, AU Patent No. 2017201930, BR Patent No. 11 2012 0261185, CA Patent No. 2795667, EP Patent No. 2558538, EP Patent No. 3549963, HK Patent No. 40015590, JP Patent No. 6568748, JP Patent No. 6754749, KR Patent No. 10-2416359, MX Patent No. 365521, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2011/032768 |
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4/15/2031 |
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Representative claims include conjugates |
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US 8,765,432, US 11,819,531, AU Patent No. 2010330727, BR Patent No. 1120120145568, CA Patent No. 2783615, CA Patent No. 3039426, EP Patent No. 2512462, EP Patent No. 3254678, EP Patent No. 3659591, CN Patent No. ZL201080062252.7, HK Patent No. 1247828, IN Patent No. 319269, JP Patent No. 5760007, JP Patent No. 5990629, JP Patent No. 6416832, JP Patent No. 6777706, MX Patent No. 346423, MX Patent No. 374020, KR Patent No. 10-1852044, MO Patent No. J/002943, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2010/061358 |
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5/10/2030 |
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Representative claims include copolymers and methods of making copolymers (ABC Platform specifically) |
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US 10,702,608, US 11,590,235, EP Patent No. 3041513, JP Patent No. 6463361, JP Patent No. 6732056, JP Patent No. 7232796, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2014/054622 |
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12/21/2034 |
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Representative claims include polymers and method of making polymers |
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US 11,066,465, US Appl. No. 17/301599, JP Patent No. 7088454, MX Patent No. 407292, RU Patent No. 2744860, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2016/069336 |
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12/29/2036 |
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Representative claims include antibody and antibody conjugate, and methods of making and using the conjugates |
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US Appl. No. 17/066856, US Appl. No. 18/504723, and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2020/055074 |
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10/9/2040 |
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Representative claims include method of treating an eye disorder using the antibody conjugates |
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US Appl. No. 18/555122 and EP application claiming priority to PCT/US2022/024598 |
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4/13/2042 |
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Representative claims include method of treating an eye disorder using the antibody conjugates |
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US Appl. No. 18/166755 and PCT Application No. PCT/US2023/062322 |
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2/9/2043 |
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Representative claims include method of purifying the antibody conjugates |
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PCT Application No. PCT/US2023/074805 |
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9/21/2043 |
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Representative claims include methods of preparing a protein solution or therapeutic formulation |
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US Appl. No. 16/290128 and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2019/020418 |
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3/1/2039 |
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Representative claims include fusion proteins and conjugates thereof, and methods of making and using the fusion proteins and the conjugates |
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US Appl. No. 17/997866 and foreign applications in certain jurisdictions claiming priority to PCT/US2021/031194 |
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5/6/2041 |
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Representative claims include method of treating a disorder related to an infection or a systemic inflammatory condition using fusion proteins and conjugates thereof |
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PCT Application No. PCT/US2023/082545 |
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12/5/2043 |
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Representative claims include formulations of a fusion protein and conjugates thereof, and methods of producing the same |
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In the normal course of business, we intend to pursue, when possible, composition, method of use, dosing and formulation patent protection, as well as manufacturing and drug development processes and technology. The patents and patent applications we have filed outside of the United States are in Europe, Japan, and various other jurisdictions.
Individual patents extend for varying periods of time, depending upon the date of filing of the patent application, the date of patent issuance, and the legal term of patents in the countries in which they are obtained. Generally, patents issued for applications filed in the United States are effective for 20 years from the earliest effective filing date. In addition, in certain instances, a patent term can be extended to recapture a portion of the term effectively lost as a result of the FDA regulatory review period. The restoration period cannot be longer than five years and the total patent term, including the restoration period, must not exceed 14 years following FDA approval. The duration of patents outside of the United States varies in accordance with provisions of applicable local law, but typically is also 20 years from the earliest effective filing date.
Our issued U.S. patents will expire on dates ranging from 2027 to 2038. If patents are issued on our pending patent applications, the resulting patents are projected to expire on dates ranging from 2027 to 2043. However, the actual protection afforded by a patent varies on a product-by-product basis, from country-to-country, and depends upon many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory-related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular country, and the validity and enforceability of the patent.
As of December 31, 2023, we have a total of 33 pending trademark applications and issued trademark registrations. These include two trademark registrations and three pending trademark applications in the United States, and 24 trademark registrations and three pending trademark applications in jurisdictions outside of the United States. Of the trademark registrations in jurisdictions outside of the United States, 17 are in China and one is in each of Canada, the European Union, India, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Of the pending trademark applications in jurisdictions outside of the United States, one in each of Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan. We also may rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets to protect our technology. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We seek to protect our technology and product candidates, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with those who have access to our confidential information, including our employees, contractors, consultants, collaborators, and advisors. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our proprietary technology and processes by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Although we have confidence in these individuals, organizations, and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or may be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, contractors, consultants, collaborators, and advisors use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions. For this and more comprehensive risks related to our proprietary technology, inventions, improvements and products, please see the section on “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Intellectual Property.”
Human Capital Management
As of December 31, 2023, we had 111 employees worldwide, of whom 14 were based outside of the United States. Of these employees, 76 employees were engaged in or support research, development and clinical activities, 27 of whom hold a Ph.D. degree or M.D. (or equivalent) degree. None of our employees is subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We continually assess employee turnover, recruitment initiatives, compensation and benefits programs, safety in performing critical laboratory work, diversity and other matters relevant to human capital management, and we review results with our Board of Directors on a periodic basis. We aim to offer competitive compensation (including salary, incentive bonus, and equity) and benefits packages in each of our locations and in each of employee groups at each level around the globe as assessed with internal and external benchmarking data.
Legal Proceedings
As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are not a party to any material legal proceedings. In the normal course of business, we may be named as a party to various legal claims, actions and complaints. We cannot predict whether any resulting liability would have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Additional Information
We maintain an internet website at the following address: https://kodiak.com. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
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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. In addition, the SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should consider carefully the following risk factors, together with all the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section and our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto. The occurrence of any events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K could harm our business, operating results, financial condition, and/or growth prospects or cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements that we have made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and those may make from time to time. You should consider all of the risk factors described when evaluating our business.
Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
We are in the clinical stage of drug development and have a very limited operating history and no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability.
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat high prevalence retinal diseases. We commenced operations in June 2009, have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue. Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We have conducted clinical trials, including Phase 3 pivotal clinical trials, of tarcocimab in patients with wet AMD, DME, NPDR and RVO. Certain of our trials did not meet their primary efficacy endpoints, and in July 2023 we announced a business decision to wind-down development of tarcocimab. Following additional positive results from other on-going tarcocimab clinical trials, we plan to resume the tarcocimab development program.
To date, we have not obtained marketing approval for any product candidates, including tarcocimab and KSI-501, our dual inhibitor antibody biopolymer conjugate targeting both IL-6 (anti-IL-6 antibody) and VEGF (VEGF-trap), manufactured a commercial scale product, or conducted sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Our limited operating history as a company and early stage of drug development make any assessment of our future success and viability subject to significant uncertainty. We will encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by early-stage biopharmaceutical companies in rapidly evolving fields, and we have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome such risks and difficulties. If we do not address these risks and difficulties successfully, our business will suffer.
Our prospects are heavily dependent on our tarcocimab and KSI-501 product candidates, which are currently in clinical development for multiple indications.
Our prospects will be heavily dependent on our tarcocimab and KSI-501 product candidates and the results of planned or pending clinical studies. We cannot be certain that our product candidates will be successful in any of the planned or pending clinical trials.
Our early preclinical and Phase 1/1b clinical trial results are not necessarily predictive of the results of our ongoing or future discovery programs or any future preclinical or clinical studies. Our ability to demonstrate efficacy, safety and clinical durability in pivotal studies may be affected by the patient populations sampled and the design of our pivotal studies. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical studies after achieving positive results in early-stage development, including early-stage clinical studies, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical findings made while clinical studies were underway or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical studies, including previously unreported or unobserved adverse events as more patients are treated and followed for longer periods of time.
For example, in our Phase 2b/3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy, durability and safety of tarcocimab in treatment-naïve subjects with neovascular wet AMD and in our Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies, tarcocimab did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of showing non-inferior visual acuity gains.
There can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical studies of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in study procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the clinical study protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical study participants. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical studies nonetheless failed to obtain FDA approval. If approved, clinical study designs and data are not necessarily predictive of the final marketed product label. FDA may not approve a label for a particular dosing frequency, even if we believe the data demonstrate support for that dosing.
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While a Phase 1 study of KSI-501 has completed the dosing phase in patients in the United States to evaluate the safety, tolerability and bioactivity of KSI-501 in DME, it may be years before a registrational-type trial is completed, if at all. We may in the future develop other product candidates, advance additional product candidates into clinical trials and terminate such trials prior to their completion. It will take additional investment and time for such programs to reach the same stage of development as tarcocimab and KSI-501.
Our plan for the development of tarcocimab may be unsuccessful.
We discontinued further development of tarcocimab in mid-2023 pending the outcomes of two other trials that were then underway. While those other trials produced favorable results and we have resumed development of tarcocimab, that development may not be successful. In connection with our development program, we developed an enhanced, commercial formulation of tarcocimab to improve manufacturability and usability by reducing injection time from 7-10 seconds to 2-3 seconds. While we believe that doing so does not affect the applicability of prior test results, we cannot be sure that the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities would agree or accept our planned BLA even if our planned additional trial is successful.
The failure of pivotal studies of tarcocimab to meet their primary efficacy endpoints may lead us to pause, change or discontinue development of other product candidates based on our ABC Platform.
In July 2023, we announced that two of our pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials of tarcocimab did not meet their primary efficacy endpoints and, as a result, we paused further development of tarcocimab pending review of data from the BEACON study in patients with macular edema due to RVO and the GLOW1 study patients with diabetic retinopathy. Although we have resumed the development of tarcocimab, we may again determine to discontinue development of tarcocimab or our ABC Platform or other product candidates using our ABC Platform based on future information or trials results, which could prevent us from, or significantly delay, achieving profitability and could result in disruptions to our business including potential impairment charges, restructuring costs, or costs that are greater than expected.
Research and development of biopharmaceutical products is inherently risky. We cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory, including marketing, approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.
We are at an early stage of development of our product candidates. Our future success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize our product candidates, and we may fail to do so for many reasons, including the following:
If any of these events occurs, we may be forced to abandon our development efforts for a product candidate or candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could potentially cause us to cease operations.
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Failure of a product candidate may occur at any stage of preclinical or clinical development, and, because our product candidates and our ABC Platform are in development, there is a relatively higher risk of failure and we may never succeed in developing marketable products or generating product revenue.
Further, we may not be successful in our efforts to further develop our product candidates in time to meet the current and identified market opportunity. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. Each of our product candidates is in various stages of development and will require significant additional clinical development, management of preclinical, clinical, and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval, adequate manufacturing supply, a commercial organization, and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenue from product sales, if at all. Any clinical studies that we may conduct may not demonstrate the efficacy and safety necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. If the results of our on-going or future clinical studies are inconclusive with respect to the efficacy of our product candidates or if we do not meet the clinical endpoints with statistical significance or if there are safety concerns or adverse events associated with our product candidates, we may be prevented or delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates.
If any of our product candidates successfully completes clinical trials, we generally plan to seek regulatory approval to market our product candidates in the United States, the EU, and in additional foreign countries where we believe there is a viable commercial opportunity. We have never commenced, compiled or submitted an application seeking regulatory approval to market any product candidate in any jurisdiction. We may never receive regulatory approval to market any product candidates even if such product candidates successfully complete clinical trials, which would adversely affect our viability. To obtain regulatory approval in countries outside the United States, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such other countries regarding safety, efficacy, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, clinical trials, commercial sales, pricing, and distribution of our product candidates. We may also rely on our collaborators or partners to conduct the required activities to support an application for regulatory approval, and to seek approval, for one or more of our product candidates. We cannot be sure that our collaborators or partners will conduct these activities successfully or do so within the timeframe we desire. Even if we (or our collaborators or partners) are successful in obtaining approval in one jurisdiction, we cannot ensure that we will obtain approval in any other jurisdictions. If we are unable to obtain approval for our product candidates in multiple jurisdictions, our revenue and results of operations could be negatively affected.
Even if we receive regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, we cannot assure you that any such product candidate will be successfully commercialized, widely accepted in the marketplace or more effective than other commercially available alternatives. That approval may be for indications, dosage and administration or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired or may require labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings. We may also be required to perform additional or unanticipated clinical studies to obtain approval or be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements to maintain regulatory approval. In addition, regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of a product or impose restrictions on its distribution, such as in the form of a modified Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS. The failure to obtain timely regulatory approval of product candidates, any product marketing limitations or a product withdrawal would negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Investment in biopharmaceutical product development involves significant risk that any product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval, and become commercially viable. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to successfully advance any of our product candidates through the development process or, if approved, successfully commercialize any of our product candidates.
We may encounter substantial delays in our clinical trials, or may not be able to conduct or complete our clinical trials on the timelines we expect, if at all.
Clinical testing is expensive, time consuming, and subject to uncertainty. We cannot guarantee that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. We cannot be sure that submission of an IND application or a clinical trial application, or CTA, will result in the FDA, European Medicines Agency, or EMA or any other regulatory authority as applicable, allowing clinical trials to begin in a timely manner, if at all. Moreover, even if these trials begin, issues may arise that could suspend or terminate such clinical trials. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing, and our future clinical trials may not be successful. For example, in July 2023 we announced a business decision to wind-down development of tarcocimab after certain of our trials did not meet their primary efficacy endpoints. Events that may prevent successful or timely initiation or completion of clinical trials include:
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Any inability to successfully initiate or complete clinical trials could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenue. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may be required to or we may elect to conduct additional studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions. Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which our products have patent protection and may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which could impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.
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We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the data safety monitoring board for such trial or by the FDA, EMA or any other regulatory authority, or if the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted suspend or terminate the participation of their clinical investigators and sites subject to their review. Regulatory authorities may suspend or terminate a clinical trial 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, EMA 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 candidate, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. We may also face delays if we are unable to reach agreement with the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities regarding CMC matters, including methodologies for, and assessment of, comparability of manufacturing procedures and lots.
Delays in the commencement, conduct or completion of any clinical trial of our product candidates will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and delay or potentially jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue. In addition, 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 regulatory approval of our product candidates.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their clinical development, prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences.
Adverse events or other undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could 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 regulatory approval by the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities.
During the conduct of clinical trials, patients report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries, and discomforts, to their study doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as use of these product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were not observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by patients. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational products are tested in large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients on a commercial scale after approval. If additional clinical experience indicates that any of our product candidates has side effects or causes serious or life-threatening side effects, the development of the product candidate may fail or be delayed, or, if the product candidate has received regulatory approval, such approval may be revoked, which would severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. For example, in the tarcocimab arms of our completed GLEAM AND GLIMMER clinical trials, we observed an unexpected increase in cataracts, which we believe may have contributed meaningfully to the failure of each study to meet its primary efficacy endpoint.
Our most advanced product candidate, tarcocimab, is an anti-VEGF biologic that we have studied in wet AMD, DME, NPDR and RVO. KSI-501 is our investigational medicine and is a first-in-class bispecific antibody conjugate designed to inhibit two mechanisms implicated in retinal diseases: interleukin-6 (IL-6) and vascular endothelial growth factor ("VEGF"). There are some potential side effects associated with intravitreal anti-VEGF therapies such as intraocular hemorrhage, intraocular pressure elevation, retinal detachment, inflammation, vasculitis, artery occlusion or infection inside the eye, progression of cataract, and over-inhibition of VEGF, as well as the potential for potential systemic side effects such as heart attack, stroke, wound healing problems and high blood pressure. Recent trends in the development of anti-VEGF therapies have favored increased molar dosages, as compared to currently marketed treatments. To date these heightened dosages have not exhibited a safety profile significantly worse than that of current treatments, as attributable to molar dose. However, anti-VEGF product candidates featuring higher molar dosages, including tarcocimab and KSI-501 may heighten the risk of adverse effects associated with anti-VEGF treatments generally, both in the eye and in the rest of the body. There are risks inherent in the intravitreal injection procedure of drugs like tarcocimab and KSI-501 which can cause injury to the eye and other complications including conjunctival hemorrhage, punctate keratitis, eye pain, conjunctival hyperemia, intra-ocular inflammation and endophthalmitis. Any additional toxicology signal observed, be it real or perceived, may negatively impact perceptions of utilization of tarcocimab and KSI-501 in broader populations and impact clinical trial enrollment, regulatory approval and commercial success.
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Drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment, the ability of enrolled patients to complete the study and/or result in potential product liability claims. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in impairment of our business reputation, withdrawal of clinical trial participants, costs due to related litigation, distraction of management’s attention from our primary business, initiation of investigations by regulators, substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants, the inability to commercialize our product candidates and decreased demand for our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale.
Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects or adverse events caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including but not limited to:
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations, and prospects.
We may encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, and our clinical development activities could thereby be delayed or otherwise 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, including:
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Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials could result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates, delay or halt the development of and approval processes for our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence sales of and generate revenues from our product candidates, which may harm our business and results of operation.
Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate substantial evidence of the durability, efficacy and safety of our product candidates, which would prevent, delay or limit the scope of regulatory approval and commercialization.
Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. For those product candidates that are subject to regulation as biological drug products, we will need to demonstrate that they are safe, pure, and potent for use in their target indications. Each product candidate must demonstrate an adequate risk versus benefit profile in its intended patient population and for its intended use. This is especially true for anti-VEGF biologic agents, where Lucentis, Eylea and Avastin are established products with accepted safety profiles.
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. The results of preclinical studies of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of early-stage or later-stage clinical trials, and results of early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. The results of clinical trials in one set of patients or disease indications may not be predictive of those obtained in another. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety, efficacy or durability results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety, efficacy and durability profile despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or unacceptable safety issues, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. For example, in our Phase 2b/3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy, durability and safety of tarcocimab in treatment-naïve subjects with neovascular wet AMD and in our Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies, tarcocimab did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of showing non-inferior visual acuity gains. Most product candidates that begin clinical trials are never approved by regulatory authorities for commercialization.
We may be unable to design and execute clinical trials that support marketing approval. We cannot be certain that our planned clinical trials or any other future clinical trials will be successful. Additionally, any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates in those and other indications, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, even if such clinical trials are successfully completed, we cannot guarantee that the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do, and more trials or trials of a different design could be required before we submit our product candidates for approval. To the extent that the results of trials are not satisfactory to the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities for support of a marketing application, we may be required to expend significant resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates. Even if regulatory approval is secured for any of our product candidates, the terms of such approval may limit the scope and use of our product candidate, which may also limit its commercial potential. Even if trial results are successful at the primary endpoint, clinical trial results may be different or worse in the extended treatment periods following the primary endpoint, and such data may negatively impact perceptions by regulatory authorities, the clinical community or commercial payors of the benefits of our product candidates.
We may not be successful in our efforts to continue to create a pipeline of product candidates or to develop commercially successful products. If we fail to successfully identify and develop additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity may be limited.
Our research methodology may be unsuccessful in identifying potential product candidates, or our potential product candidates may be shown to have harmful side effects or may have other characteristics that may make them unmarketable or unlikely to receive marketing approval. Identifying, developing, obtaining regulatory approval and commercializing additional product candidates for the treatment of retinal diseases will require substantial additional funding and is prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. If we are unable to successfully identify, acquire, develop and commercialize additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity may be limited.
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One of our strategies is to identify and pursue clinical development of product candidates based on our ABC Platform. Our ABC Platform may not produce a pipeline of viable product candidates, or our competitors may develop platform technologies that render our ABC Platform obsolete or less attractive.
We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological and scientific change, and there is a possibility that our competitors may retain their market share with existing drugs, or achieve regulatory approval before us or develop therapies that are safer, more advanced or more effective than ours, which may negatively impact our ability to successfully market or commercialize any product candidates we may develop and ultimately harm our financial condition.
The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We may face competition with respect to any product candidates that we seek to develop or commercialize in the future from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies, and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection, and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization.
There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are currently pursuing the development of products for the treatment of the retinal diseases for which we have product candidates. Certain of our competitors have commercially approved products for the treatment of retinal diseases that we are pursuing or may pursue in the future, including Roche, Regeneron and Novartis for the treatment of wet AMD, DME, DR and RVO. These drugs are well established therapies and are widely accepted by physicians, patients and third-party payors, which may make it difficult to educate these parties on the benefits of switching to any product candidates developed by us. Companies that we are aware are developing and / or commercializing therapeutics in the retinal disease area include large companies with significant financial resources, such as Roche, Novartis, Bayer and Regeneron, AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, and Samsung Bioepis. In addition to competition from other companies targeting retinal indications, any products we may develop may also face competition from other types of therapies, such as gene-editing therapies and drug delivery devices.
Two Lucentis biosimilars were approved in the United States in 2022, and their approval may impact market dynamics and payor policies negatively for our product candidates. Roche’s product, Vabysmo (faricimab) received FDA approval for the treatment of wet AMD and DME in January 2022 and received FDA approval for RVO in October 2023. Vabysmo has gained rapid adoption since launch, and we believe it will become an important product in the marketplace. Regeneron’s product, Eylea HD (high dose aflibercept) gained FDA approval for the treatment of wet AMD, DME and DR in August 2023. We believe it will become an important therapy in the marketplace given Regeneron’s incumbent position in retinal diseases. Even if our product candidates present a compelling clinical profile, we may not be able to market our product candidates as effectively as our competitors. For example, entrenched franchises may seek to impede adoption of our product candidates through significant discounts or rebates.
Many of our current or potential competitors, either alone or with their strategic partners, 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. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. 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 and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our product candidates. 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 side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Furthermore, currently approved products could be discovered to have application for treatment of retinal disease indications, which could give such products significant regulatory and market timing advantages over any of our product candidates. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours. Additionally, products or technologies developed by our competitors may render our potential product candidates uneconomical or obsolete, and we may not be successful in marketing any product candidates we may develop against competitors.
In addition, we could face litigation or other proceedings with respect to the scope, ownership, validity and/or enforceability of our patents relating to our competitors’ products and our competitors may allege that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property. For more information regarding potential disputes concerning intellectual property, see the subsection of this Annual Report on Form 10-K titled “Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”
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The manufacture of our product candidates is highly complex and requires substantial lead time to produce.
Manufacturing our product candidates involves complex processes, including developing cells or cell systems to produce the biologic, growing large quantities of such cells, and harvesting and purifying the biologic produced by them. These processes require specialized facilities, highly specific raw materials and other production constraints. As a result, the cost to manufacture a biologic is generally far higher than traditional small molecule chemical compounds, and the biologics manufacturing process is less reliable and is difficult to reproduce. Because of the complex nature of our products, we need to oversee the manufacture of multiple components that require a diverse knowledge base and specialized personnel. Commercial manufacturing scale-up timelines may be negatively affected by material shortages, construction delays and supply chain challenges due to, among other factors, global supply chain shortages due to health epidemics, on-going geopolitical conflicts, global macroeconomic conditions, bank failures or other reasons.
Moreover, unlike chemical pharmaceuticals, the physical and chemical properties of a biologic such as our product candidates generally cannot be adequately characterized prior to manufacturing the final product. As a result, an assay of the finished product is not sufficient to ensure that the product will perform in the intended manner. Accordingly, we expect to employ multiple steps to attempt to control our manufacturing process to assure that the process works, and the product or product candidate is made strictly and consistently in compliance with the process.
Manufacturing biologics is highly susceptible to product loss due to contamination, equipment failure, improper installation or operation of equipment, vendor or operator error, improper storage or transfer, inconsistency in yields and variability in product characteristics. Even minor deviations from normal manufacturing, distribution or storage processes could result in reduced production yields, product defects and other supply disruptions. Some of the raw materials required in our manufacturing process are derived from biological sources. Such raw materials are difficult to procure and may also be subject to contamination or recall. A material shortage, contamination, recall or restriction on the use of biologically derived substances in the manufacture of our product candidates could adversely impact or disrupt commercialization. Production of additional drug substance and drug product for any of our product candidates may require substantial lead time. In the event of significant product loss and materials shortages, we may be unable to produce adequate amounts of our product candidates or products for our operational needs.
Further, as product candidates are developed through preclinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives, and any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials.
We rely on third parties for raw materials needed for manufacturing our product candidates. We may not be able to obtain adequate amounts in the future. These challenges are magnified by the international nature of our supply chain, which, for tarcocimab and KSI-501, requires drug substance and drug product sourced from single source suppliers from China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland.
We have limited experience manufacturing any of our product candidates at a commercial scale. If we or any of our third-party manufacturers encounter difficulties in production, or fail to meet rigorously enforced regulatory standards, our ability to provide supply of our product candidates for clinical trials, or our ability to supply our products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or stopped, or we may be unable to establish a commercially viable cost structure.
In order to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates, or supply commercial products, if approved, we will need to manufacture them in small and large quantities. Our third-party manufacturer has made only a limited number of commercial scale lots of tarcocimab based on our ABC Platform. Our manufacturing partners may be unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up activities. If our manufacturing partners are unable to successfully scale up the manufacture of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, the development, testing and clinical trials of our product candidates may be delayed or become infeasible, and regulatory approval or commercial launch of any resulting product may be delayed or not obtained, which could significantly harm our business. The same risks would apply to any internal manufacturing facilities, should we in the future decide to build internal manufacturing capacity.
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In addition, the manufacturing process for any products that we may develop is subject to FDA, EMA and foreign regulatory authority approval processes and continuous oversight. We will need to contract with manufacturers who can meet all applicable FDA, EMA and foreign regulatory authority requirements, including complying with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, on an on-going basis. If we or our third-party manufacturers are unable to reliably produce products to specifications acceptable to the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities, we may not obtain or maintain the approvals we need to commercialize such products. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, there is no assurance that either we or our CMOs will be able to manufacture the approved product to specifications acceptable to the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities, to produce it in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential launch of the product, or to meet potential future demand. For example, our manufacturers are also engaged in the manufacturing of vaccines and other therapeutic treatments, and the success of and demand for these vaccines and other therapeutic treatments means we and our programs are competing for scarce manufacturing resources. We hope to distribute tarcocimab in a prefilled syringe early in our commercial rollout. We may not be able to complete our prefilled syringe activities in a timely manner, or we may fail technically to design and develop a prefilled syringe for tarcocimab. Any of these challenges could delay completion of clinical trials, require bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidate, impair commercialization efforts, increase our cost of goods, and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
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Changes in methods of manufacturing or formulation of product candidates may result in additional costs or delay.
As product candidates proceed through preclinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards potential approval and commercialization, our manufacturing methods and formulation of product candidates may be altered in an effort to optimize manufacturing processes and results. For example, we have recently created a scale-up formulation of tarcocimab in a manner that we believe may improve manufacturability and usability. However, these changes could cause tarcocimab to perform differently and affect the results of on-going clinical trials or other future clinical trials, and we may need to revert to a prior formulation and may be unable to recover the manufacturing costs of the drug product. In addition, changes to commercial formulations from those studied clinically could also lead regulatory authorities to delay the approval of our marketing applications until we can demonstrate through additional clinical data that there is comparability in the bioavailability of the two different formulations, or they may require us to revert to the prior formulation evaluated clinically. This could delay completion of clinical trials, require the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of tarcocimab or any future product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence sales and generate revenue.
If, in the future, we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market any product candidates we may develop, we may not be successful in commercializing those product candidates if and when they are approved.
We do not have a sales or marketing infrastructure and have no experience in the sale, marketing or distribution of pharmaceutical products. To achieve commercial success for any approved product for which we retain sales and marketing responsibilities, we must either develop a sales and marketing organization or outsource these functions to third parties. In the future, we may choose to build a focused sales, marketing and commercial support infrastructure to sell, or participate in sales activities with our collaborators for, some of our product candidates if and when they are approved.
There are risks involved with both establishing our own commercial capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, recruiting and training a sales force or reimbursement specialists is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing and other commercialization capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our commercialization personnel.
Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize any approved product on our own include:
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If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing, commercial support and distribution services, our product revenue or the profitability of product revenue may be lower than if we were to market and sell any products we may develop ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to commercialize our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We may have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively. If we do not establish commercialization capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates if approved.
Even if any product candidates we develop receive marketing approval, they may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.
The commercial success of any of our product candidates will depend upon its degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. Even if any product candidates we may develop receive marketing approval, they may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors, and others in the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of any product candidates we may develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
If any product candidates we develop do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue, and we may not become profitable.
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Even if we are able to commercialize any product candidates, such products may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives, which would harm our business.
Drug pricing and access policies in the United States and internationally may change and negatively impact the commercial viability of our product candidates. Proposed policy changes, including the potential for Medicare to negotiate with drug manufacturers under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or the IRA, may limit our ability to competitively price our product candidates, if approved. Further, commercial insurers may limit patient access to our product candidates, if approved and other branded therapies. The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new drugs vary widely from country to country. In the United States, recently enacted legislation may significantly change the approval requirements in ways that could involve additional costs and cause delays in obtaining approvals. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing 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 in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenue we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if any product candidates we may develop obtain marketing approval.
Our ability to successfully commercialize any products that we may develop also will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration 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. 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 medications. Government authorities currently impose mandatory discounts for certain patient groups, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Affairs, or VA, hospitals, and may seek to increase such discounts at any time. Future regulation may negatively impact the price of our products, if approved. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for any product candidate that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, that the level of reimbursement will be sufficient.
Reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. In order to get reimbursement, physicians may need to show that patients have superior treatment outcomes with our products compared to standard of care drugs, including lower-priced generic versions of standard of care drugs. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. In the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors and coverage and reimbursement levels for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time consuming and costly process that may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance.
There may be significant delays in obtaining reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the medicine is approved by the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities. 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. Further, coverage policies and third-party payor reimbursement rates may change at any time. Therefore, even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Our inability to promptly obtain and maintain coverage and profitable payment rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved products we may develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize product candidates, and our overall financial condition.
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Our product candidates may face competition from biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with our product candidates sooner than anticipated.
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of their product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation and meaning are subject to uncertainty.
We believe that any of our product candidates approved as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our product candidates to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, will be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.
The development program and timeline of tarcocimab may impact our ability to use the Ursus facility as intended, which could result in an excess of capital expenditures.
In August 2020, we, together with our wholly owned subsidiary Kodiak Sciences GmbH, entered into a manufacturing agreement with Lonza Ltd for the clinical and commercial supply of the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugate drug substance, which included a custom-built manufacturing facility for the potential clinical and commercial supply of tarcocimab, or the Ursus facility. Fixed assets of $81.7 million, consisting of leasehold improvements and machinery and equipment, were placed in service and capitalized as of January 31, 2023. In October 2023, payment was made for the remaining $26.8 million of these fixed assets. In July 2023, we announced a decision to pause further development of tarcocimab, and then in November 2023, following additional positive clinical trial results, we announced a decision to resume the development of tarcocimab. The development plan, and any further changes thereto, as well as the timeline and success of tarcocimab, may impact our ability to fully utilize the Ursus facility. We may not realize any benefit from the capital expenditures to date, and we may incur substantial additional expenses and capital expenditures to repurpose the Ursus facility for our other product candidates or for use by third parties, any of which may negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.
Even if we are successful utilizing the Ursus facility, our manufacturing capabilities could be affected by cost-overruns, additional changes in our development plans, unexpected delays, equipment failures, labor shortages, natural disasters, power failures and numerous other factors that could prevent us from realizing the intended benefits of our manufacturing strategy and have a material adverse effect on our business. Any problems in our manufacturing process or facilities could make us a less attractive collaborator for potential partners, including larger pharmaceutical companies and academic research institutions, which could limit our access to additional attractive development programs.
If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.
We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the clinical testing of our product candidates and will face an even greater risk when and if we commercialize any products. For example, we may be sued if our product candidates cause or are perceived to cause injury or are 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 testing and commercialization of our product candidates. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
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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 collaborators. Our insurance policies may have 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 any future corporate collaborators entitle us to indemnification against losses, such indemnification may not be available or adequate should any claim arise.
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval and Other Legal Compliance Matters
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities are lengthy, time consuming, and inherently unpredictable. If we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will be unable to generate product revenue and our business will be substantially harmed.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable, typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. 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, which may cause delays in the approval or the decision not to approve an application. Regulatory authorities 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. We have not submitted for or obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate, and it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Applications for our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:
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This lengthy approval process, as well as the unpredictability of the results of clinical trials, may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations, and prospects.
We have conducted clinical trials for our product candidates outside the United States (or the respective jurisdictions of other regulatory authorities), and the FDA (or EMA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities) may not accept data from such trials.
We have conducted one or more of our clinical trials outside the United States, including Europe and other foreign countries. The acceptance of study data from global clinical trials by the FDA, EMA or applicable foreign regulatory authority may be subject to certain conditions. In cases where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (1) the data are applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice and (2) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and pursuant to GCP regulations. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical trial requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical powering, must be met. Many foreign regulatory bodies have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA, EMA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of their respective jurisdiction. If the FDA, EMA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming, would delay aspects of our business plan and which may result in our product candidates not receiving approval or clearance for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA, EMA or grants marketing approval of a product candidate, we would not be permitted to manufacture, market or promote the product candidate in other countries unless and until comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions had approved the candidate for use in their countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials. There can be no assurance that any clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction will be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we or any collaborator we work with fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets or fail to receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval for a product candidate, our products will remain subject to extensive regulatory scrutiny.
If any of our product candidates are approved, they will be subject to on-going regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies and submission of safety, efficacy and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities.
Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive requirements imposed by the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any BLA or marketing authorization application, or MAA. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.
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Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates will be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed and promoted or to the conditions of approval (including the requirement to implement a REMS), or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing. We will be required to report certain adverse reactions and production problems, if any, to the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Any new legislation addressing drug safety issues could result in delays in product development or commercialization, or increased costs to assure compliance. The FDA and other agencies, including the Department of Justice, closely regulate and monitor the post-approval marketing and promotion of products to ensure that they are manufactured, marketed and distributed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. We will have to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for our products. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote our products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval. The holder of an approved BLA or MAA must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. We could also be asked to conduct post-marketing clinical trials to verify the safety and efficacy of our products in general or in specific patient subsets. If original marketing approval was obtained via the accelerated approval pathway, we could be required to conduct a successful post-marketing clinical trial to confirm clinical benefit for our products. An unsuccessful post-marketing study or failure to complete such a study could result in the withdrawal of marketing approval.
If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of a product, such regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other things:
Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with on-going regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our products. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected.
Healthcare legislative measures aimed at reducing healthcare costs may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Third-party payors, whether domestic or foreign, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In both the United States and certain international jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably. In particular, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the ACA, was enacted, which, among other things, subjected biologic products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars, addressed a methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, subjected manufacturers to annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs, and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research.
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Since the ACA’s enactment, there have been numerous challenges to the ACA. For example, President Trump signed several Executive Orders and other directives designed to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the ACA. Concurrently, Congress considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of the ACA. While Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, it has enacted laws that modify certain provisions of the ACA such as removing penalties, starting January 1, 2019, for not complying with the ACA’s individual mandate to carry health insurance and delaying the implementation of certain ACA-mandated fees. On June 17, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge on procedural grounds that argued that the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the individual mandate was repealed by Congress. Further, prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order that initiated a special enrollment period 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. It is possible that the ACA will be subject to judicial or Congressional challenges in the future. Further, on August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the IRA into law, which among other things, extends enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in ACA marketplaces through plan year 2025. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost through a newly established manufacturer discount program. It is unclear how any such challenges and any additional healthcare reform measures of the Biden administration will impact the ACA and our business.
In addition, 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, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in 2013, and due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, will remain in effect until 2032 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. Further, on March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law, which eliminates the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap for single source and innovator multiple source drugs, beginning January 1, 2024.
There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the foreign, federal and state levels directed at containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare and/or impose price controls may adversely affect:
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Moreover, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the United States of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs and biologics. Such scrutiny has resulted in several recent congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies. At the federal level, in July 2021, the Biden administration released an executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” with multiple provisions aimed at prescription drugs. In response to Biden’s executive order, on September 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS released a Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices that outlines principles for drug pricing reform and sets out a variety of potential legislative policies that Congress could pursue as well as potential administrative actions HHS can take to advance these principles. In addition, the IRA, among other things, (i) directs HHS to negotiate the price of certain high-expenditure, single-source drugs and biologics covered under Medicare, and subject drug manufacturers to civil monetary penalties and a potential excise tax by offering a price that is not equal to or less than the negotiated “maximum fair price” for such drugs and biologics under the law, and (ii) imposes rebates with respect to certain drugs and biologics covered under Medicare Part B or Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation. The IRA permits HHS to implement many of these provisions through guidance, as opposed to regulation, for the initial years. HHS has and will continue to issue and update guidance as these programs are implemented. These provisions take effect progressively starting in fiscal year 2023. On August 29, 2023, HHS announced the list of the first ten drugs that will be subject to price negotiations, although the Medicare drug price negotiation program is currently subject to legal challenges. It is currently unclear how the IRA will be implemented but is likely to have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry. In response to the Biden administration’s October 2022 executive order, on February 14, 2023, HHS released a report outlining three new models for testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation which will be evaluated on their ability to lower the cost of drugs, promote accessibility, and improve quality of care. It is unclear whether the models will be utilized in any health reform measures in the future. Further, on December 7, 2023, the Biden administration announced an initiative to control the price of prescription drugs through the use of march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act. On December 8, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology published for comment a Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights which for the first time includes the price of a product as one factor an agency can use when deciding to exercise march-in rights. While march-in rights have not previously been exercised, it is uncertain if that will continue under the new framework.
At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. For example, on January 5, 2024, the FDA approved Florida’s Section 804 Importation Program (SIP) proposal to import certain drugs from Canada for specific state healthcare programs. It is unclear how this program will be implemented, including which drugs will be chosen, and whether it will be subject to legal challenges in the United States or Canada. Other states have also submitted SIP proposals that are pending review by the FDA.
We expect that the ACA, the IRA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, lower reimbursement and new payment methodologies. This could lower the price that we receive for any approved product. Any denial in coverage or reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government-funded programs may result in a similar denial or reduction in payments from private payors, which may prevent us from being able to generate sufficient revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidates, if approved.
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Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements or insider trading violations, which could significantly harm our business.
We are exposed to the risk of fraud, misconduct or other illegal activity by our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and negligent conduct that fails to: comply with the laws of the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities; provide true, complete and accurate information to the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities; comply with manufacturing standards we have established; comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws in the United States and similar foreign fraudulent misconduct laws; or report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. If we obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our potential exposure under such laws will increase significantly, and our costs associated with compliance with such laws are also likely to increase. In particular, research, sales, marketing, education and other business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, educating, marketing and promotion, sales and commission, certain customer incentive programs and other business arrangements generally. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of patient recruitment for clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of, including improper trading based upon, information obtained in the course of clinical studies, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation.
We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to all our employees, including management, and our directors. However, it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
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If we fail to comply with healthcare laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial conditions could be adversely affected.
Our current and future arrangements with healthcare providers, third-party payors, customers, and others may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we research, as well as, sell, market and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. The laws that may impact our operations include:
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Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could, despite our efforts to comply, be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements will comply with applicable healthcare laws may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. In addition, the approval and commercialization of any of our product candidates outside the United States will also likely subject us to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above, among other foreign laws.
We are subject to stringent and evolving obligations related to data privacy and security. These obligations include U.S. and foreign laws, regulations and rules; contractual obligations; industry standards; and policies. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could lead to regulatory investigations and actions; litigation (including class claims) and arbitration; fines and penalties; disruptions of our business operations; reputational harm; loss of revenue and profits; loss of sales; and other adverse business consequences.
In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (commonly known as processing) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, data we collect about trial participants in connection with clinical trials, and sensitive third-party data. Our data processing activities subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations such as various provincial, state, national, and foreign laws and regulations, as well as policies, contracts and other obligations. Data privacy and security laws and regulations are evolving and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.
In the United States, federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, consumer protection laws and other similar laws. In the past few years, numerous U.S. states — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Virginia — have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include, in relation to their personal data, the right to access, correct, delete and opt-out of certain data processing activities (such as targeted advertising, profiling and automated decision-making). The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. Certain states also impose stricter requirements for processing certain personal data, including sensitive information, such as conducting data privacy impact assessments. Certain of these state laws allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the CCPA) provides for civil penalties for violations (up to $7,500 per violation) and a private right of action for certain data breaches(which could lead to the recovery of significant statutory damages). Although these laws may exempt some data processed in the context of clinical trials, these laws increase compliance costs and potential liability in the general data processing industry. Similar laws are being considered in other states as well as at the federal and local levels. We expect more laws to apply to our data processing activities. These laws will further complicate our compliance efforts and increase our legal risks and compliance costs (including of third parties upon whom we rely).
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Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards apply to data privacy and security. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or EU GDPR, and the United Kingdom’s GDPR, or UK GDPR, impose strict requirements for processing personal data. Violators of these laws face significant penalties. For example, government regulators may impose temporary or definitive bans on data processing, as well as fines of up to 20 million Euros (under the EU GDPR) or 17.5 million pounds sterling (under the UK GDPR), or 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater, under either law. Further, the EU and UK GDPR also provide for private litigation related to the processing of personal data that can be brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent the data subjects’ interests.
In addition, we may be unable to transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries due to data localization requirements or limitations on cross-border data transfers. Although there are various mechanisms (such as the European Economic Area standard contractual clauses, the UK’s International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension), that may be used in some cases to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States or other countries, these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges and may not be available to us. An inability or material limitation on our ability to transfer personal data to the United States or other countries could materially impact our business operations. If we cannot implement a valid compliance mechanism for cross-border data transfers, we may face increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines, and injunctions against processing or transferring personal data from Europe and other foreign jurisdictions. The inability to import personal data to the United States could significantly and negatively impact our business operations by limiting our ability to conduct clinical trial activities in Europe and elsewhere; limiting our ability to collaborate with parties that are subject to such cross-border data transfer or localization laws; or requiring us to increase our personal data processing capabilities and infrastructure in foreign jurisdictions at significant expense. Additionally, entities that transfer personal data across borders are subject to increased regulator, individual and activist group scrutiny. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to suspend or permanently cease certain data transfers out of Europe for allegedly violating the GDPR’s cross-border data transfer requirements.
We are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. We also publish privacy policies and other statements regarding data privacy and security. If these policies or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions and other adverse consequences.
Obligations related to data privacy and security (and individuals’ data privacy and security expectations) are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent and creating uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources, which may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. In addition, these obligations may require us to change our business model.
We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties upon whom we rely may fail to comply with such obligations which could negatively impact our business. If we or any third party on which we rely fail or are perceived to have failed to address or comply with applicable obligations relating to data privacy and security, we could face significant consequences including but not limited to: regulatory fines and bans on processing personal data; investigations and enforcement actions, penalties and other liabilities, litigation (including class action claims and mass arbitration demands); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; orders to destroy or not use personal data; interruptions to our development process; and damage to our reputation, any of which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
If we or any contract manufacturers and suppliers we engage fail to comply with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.
We and any contract manufacturers and suppliers we engage are subject to numerous federal, state and local environmental, health, and safety laws, regulations, and permitting requirements, including those governing laboratory procedures; the generation, handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous and regulated materials and wastes; the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air and water; and employee health and safety. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. Under certain environmental laws, we could be held responsible for costs relating to any contamination at our current or past facilities and at third-party facilities. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties.
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Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, product development and manufacturing efforts. In addition, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or wastes. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not carry specific biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage, and our property, casualty, and general liability insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for damages and fines arising from biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or be penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Our business activities may be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws.
Our business activities may be subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate or may operate in the future, including the UK Bribery Act. The FCPA generally prohibits offering, promising, giving or authorizing others to give anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to a non-U.S. government official in order to influence official action, or otherwise obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials, including officials of non-U.S. governments. Additionally, in many other countries, the health care providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the FCPA. Recently the SEC and Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. There can be no assurance that all of our employees, agents, contractors or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, the closing down of our facilities, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
We expect to rely on third parties to conduct many aspects of our clinical trials and some aspects of our research and preclinical testing, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research or testing.
We currently rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct some aspects of our research, preclinical testing and clinical trials. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us or be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it would delay our product development activities.
Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities reduces our control over these activities, but does not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with GCPs for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible, reproducible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. We are also required to register on-going clinical trials and to post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for any product candidates we may develop and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our medicines.
We also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop or commercialization of our medicines, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.
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We contract with third parties for the manufacture of materials for our product candidates and preclinical studies and clinical trials and for commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop. This reliance on third parties carries and may increase the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of such materials, product candidates or any medicines that we may develop and commercialize, or that such supply will not be available to us at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We do not have any manufacturing facilities. We currently rely exclusively on a third-party manufacturer, Lonza AG, for the manufacture of our materials for preclinical studies and clinical trials and expect to continue to do so for preclinical studies, clinical trials and for commercial supply of any product candidates that we may develop.
We may be unable to establish any further agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:
Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in clinical holds on our trials, sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocations, seizures or recalls of product candidates or medicines, operating restrictions, and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our medicines and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Any medicines 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 regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.
Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or marketing approval. We do not currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply for any of our product candidates. If any one of our current contract manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace that manufacturer and may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement. Furthermore, securing and reserving production capacity with contract manufacturers may result in significant costs.
Our current and anticipated future reliance upon others for the manufacture of any product candidates we may develop or medicines may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any medicines that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.
Reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.
Reliance on third parties to conduct clinical trials, assist in research and development and to manufacture our product candidates, will at times require us to share trade secrets with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology by in part entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our trade secrets. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know-how and trade secrets, a competitor’s independent discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business.
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We rely on third-party suppliers for key raw materials used in our manufacturing processes, and the loss of these third-party suppliers or their inability to supply us with adequate raw materials could harm our business.
We rely on third-party suppliers for the raw materials required for the production of our product candidates. Our reliance on these third-party suppliers and the challenges we may face in obtaining adequate supplies of raw materials involve several risks, including limited control over pricing, availability, quality and delivery schedules. As a small company, our negotiation leverage is limited and we are likely to get lower priority than our competitors who are larger than we are. We cannot be certain that our suppliers will continue to provide us with the quantities of these raw materials that we require or satisfy our anticipated specifications and quality requirements. Any supply interruption in limited or sole sourced raw materials could materially harm our ability to manufacture our product candidates until a new source of supply, if any, could be identified and qualified. We may be unable to find a sufficient alternative supply channel in a reasonable time or on commercially reasonable terms. Any performance failure on the part of our suppliers could delay the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates, including limiting supplies necessary for clinical trials and regulatory approvals, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may depend on collaborations with third parties for the research, development and commercialization of certain of the product candidates we may develop. If any such collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to realize the market potential of those product candidates.
We may seek third-party collaborators for the research, development and commercialization of certain of the product candidates we may develop. Our likely collaborators for any other collaboration arrangements include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and academic institutions. If we enter into any such arrangements with any third parties, we will likely have shared or limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators dedicate to the development or potential commercialization of any product candidates we may seek to develop with them. Our ability to generate revenue from these arrangements with commercial entities will depend on our collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. We cannot predict the success of any collaboration that we enter into.
Collaborations involving our product candidates we may develop, pose the following risks to us:
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We may face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborations. Recent business combinations among biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have resulted in a reduced number of potential collaborators. In addition, the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex, and 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 or 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 product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.
If we enter into collaborations to develop and potentially commercialize any product candidates, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we or our collaborator elect not to exercise the rights granted under the agreement or if we or our collaborator are unable to successfully integrate a product candidate into existing operations and company culture. In addition, if our agreement with any of our collaborators terminates, our access to technology and intellectual property licensed to us by that collaborator may be restricted or terminate entirely, which may delay our continued development of our product candidates utilizing the collaborator’s technology or intellectual property or require us to stop development of those product candidates completely. We may also find it more difficult to find a suitable replacement collaborator or attract new collaborators, and our development programs may be delayed or the perception of us in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected. Any collaborator may also be subject to many of the risks relating to product development, regulatory approval, and commercialization described in this “Risk Factors” section, and any negative impact on our collaborators may adversely affect us.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for any product candidates we develop or for our ABC Platform, our competitors could develop and commercialize products or technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop, and our technology may be adversely affected.
Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our ABC Platform and any proprietary product candidates and other technologies we may develop. We seek to protect our proprietary position by in-licensing intellectual property and filing patent applications in the United States and abroad relating to our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies that are important to our business.
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Given that the development of our technology and product candidates is at an early stage, our intellectual property portfolio directed to certain aspects of our technology and product candidates is also at an early stage. We have filed or intend to file patent applications on core aspects of our technology and product candidates; however, there can be no assurance that any such patent applications will issue as granted patents. Furthermore, in some cases, we only have filed provisional patent applications on certain aspects of our technology and product candidates, and none of these provisional patent applications is eligible to become an issued patent until, among other things, we file a non-provisional patent application within 12 months of the filing date of the applicable provisional patent application. Any failure to file a non-provisional patent application within this timeline could cause us to lose the ability to obtain patent protection for the inventions disclosed in the associated provisional patent applications. Furthermore, in some cases, we may not be able to obtain issued claims covering compositions relating to our ABC Platform and product candidates, as well as other technologies that are important to our business, and instead may need to rely on filing patent applications with claims covering a method of use and/or method of manufacture for protection of such ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies. There can be no assurance that any such patent applications will issue as granted patents, and even if they do issue, such patent claims may be insufficient to prevent third parties, such as our competitors, from utilizing our technology. Any failure to obtain or maintain patent protection with respect to our ABC Platform and product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
If any of our patent applications does not issue as a patent in any jurisdiction, we may not be able to compete effectively.
Changes in either the patent laws or their interpretation in the United States and other countries may diminish our ability to protect our inventions, and obtain, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights and, more generally, could affect the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our owned and licensed patents. We cannot predict whether the patent applications we are currently pursuing will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any issued patents will provide sufficient protection from competitors or other third parties.
The patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce or license all necessary or desirable 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 in time to obtain patent protection. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific 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. In addition, our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents depends on whether the differences between our inventions and the prior art allow our inventions to be patentable over the prior art. In addition, our own fixed applications may become prior art against our current or future patent applications. Furthermore, 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, and in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in any of our patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions.
If the scope of any patent protection we obtain is not sufficiently broad, or if we lose any of our patent protection, our ability to prevent our competitors from commercializing similar or identical technology and product candidates would be adversely affected.
The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been the subject of much litigation in recent years. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued that protect our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies or that effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and product candidates.
Moreover, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and its scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Even if patent applications we license or own currently or in the future issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Any patents may be challenged, narrowed, circumvented, rendered unenforceable or invalidated by third parties. Consequently, we do not know whether our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies will be protectable or remain protected by valid and enforceable patents. Our competitors or other third parties may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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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 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, reexamination, post-grant and inter partes review, or interference proceedings or other similar proceedings challenging our patent rights. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. Moreover, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention or in post-grant challenge proceedings, such as oppositions and other challenges in a foreign patent office or administrative tribunal, that challenge our or our licensor’s priority of invention or other features of patentability with respect to our owned or in-licensed patents and patent applications. Such challenges may result in loss of patent rights, loss of exclusivity, or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies. 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 product candidates might expire before or shortly after such product candidates are commercialized. As a result, our intellectual property may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents relating to our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. 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, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products, 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 certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology products, which could make it difficult, costly or impossible 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 and proprietary 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, could put 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. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.
Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we are forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.
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Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by government patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on patents and applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside of the United States over the lifetime of our owned or licensed patents and applications. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In some cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. Payment within these late fee windows may be employed in order to simplify the payment of these fees generally. There are situations, however, in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in a partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market with similar or identical products or technology, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, while not relevant for tarcocimab and KSI-501, if we rely on a different product, its development could involve the use of government funds, which can require additional compliance aspects to make certain all rights are transferred to or remain with us.
Issued patents may be challenged or invalidated, and relatively recent changes in U.S. patent law have diminished and may further diminish the value of patents in general. We rely on patents to protect our products, and any diminishment in the scope or value of our patents would adversely affect our business.
If we initiated legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent directed to our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies, the defendant could allege that such patent is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge include alleged failures to meet any of several statutory requirements, including obviousness, lack of novelty, lack of written description, or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability challenge include an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld material information from the USPTO with an intent to deceive the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. The filing of a legal proceeding could also result in the third party challenging the patent at the USPTO, such as in post-grant and inter partes review.
Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. For patent filings beginning in March 2013, the United States employs a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first 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. Under the current patent laws, a third party that files a patent application in the USPTO before us could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third party. This will require us to be cognizant going forward of the time from invention to filing of a patent application. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we were the first to either (1) file any patent application related to our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies or (2) invent any of the inventions claimed in our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications.
Changes to U.S. patent laws since 2011 also include allowing third party submissions of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures for attacking the validity of a patent through USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference proceedings and derivation proceedings. Some of these changes apply to patents issued prior to 2011. These and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings) could result in the revocation of, cancellation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standards applied in United States federal courts that apply to actions seeking to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if challenged in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our patent claims that would not otherwise have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action.
As compared to intellectual property-reliant companies generally, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. These rulings have created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents, even once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our existing patent portfolio and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property in the future.
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Any future changes to patent laws could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned or in-licensed patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our owned or in-licensed issued patents. If a third party 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 our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. Increased uncertainty with respect to, or loss of, patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we do not obtain patent term extension and data exclusivity for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop, one or more of our owned or in-licensed U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent term extension of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it, or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Similar extensions as compensation for patent term lost during regulatory review processes are also available in certain foreign countries and territories, such as in Europe under a Supplementary Patent Certificate. Patent term extension in the United States and/or foreign countries and territories may not be available if, among other things, 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 the expiration of relevant patents, or otherwise fail to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension received is shorter than what we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.
We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.
We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our owned or in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor or owner or co-owner. For example, we may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, collaborators, consultants or others who are involved in developing our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or our ownership of our owned or in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
In addition to seeking patents for our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies, we also rely on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information and to maintain our competitive position. Trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect. Over time, we expect our trade secrets and know-how to be disseminated within the industry through independent development, the publication of journal articles describing the methodology and the movement of personnel from academic to industry scientific positions.
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We seek to protect these trade secrets and other proprietary technology, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, CROs, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants, train our employees not to bring or use proprietary information or technology from former employers to us or in their work and remind former employees when they leave their employment of their confidentiality obligations to us. We cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or proprietary technology and processes. Despite our efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to contain such breaches or disclosures or obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed without the protection of a confidentiality agreement found unenforceable by relevant courts or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, our competitive position would be materially and adversely harmed.
We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants, or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.
Many of our employees, consultants and advisors are currently or were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors and potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and advisors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these individuals have improperly used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such individual’s current or former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Such claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. Where post-filing date patent assignments are not executed by an inventor, it is our practice to employ and record the assignment provision that can be found in the employee’s employment agreement. This is done when possible, and when the intellectual property is of interest to us.
Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us or our collaborators may prevent or delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates, the ABC Platform and other technologies.
The field of discovering treatments for retinal diseases is highly competitive and dynamic. Due to the focused research and development that is taking place in this field by several companies, including us and our competitors, the intellectual property landscape is in flux, and it may remain uncertain in the future. As such, there may be significant intellectual property related litigation and proceedings relating to our owned, and other third party, intellectual property and proprietary rights in the future.
Our commercial success depends in part on our and our collaborators’ ability to avoid infringing, misappropriating and otherwise violating the patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of complex litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as administrative proceedings challenging patents, including interference, derivation and reexamination proceedings before the USPTO or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. As discussed above, due to changes in U.S. law referred to as patent reform, new procedures including inter partes review and post-grant review have been implemented. As stated above, this reform adds uncertainty to the possibility of challenge to our patents in the future.
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Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications owned by third parties exist relating to ABC technology and in the fields in which we are developing our product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. We cannot assure you that our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies that we have developed, are developing or may develop in the future will not infringe existing or future patents owned by third parties. We may not be aware of patents that have already been issued or that a third party, including a competitor in the fields in which we are developing our ABC Platform, product candidates and other technologies, might assert are infringed by our current or future ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. Such a dispute may concern claims to compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods of use or treatment that cover our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. It is also possible that patents owned by third parties of which we are aware, but which we do not believe are relevant to our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies, could be found to be infringed by our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that later result in issued patents that our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies may infringe.
Third parties may have patents or obtain patents in the future and claim that the manufacture, use or sale of our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies infringes these patents. If a third party alleges that we infringe their patents or that we are otherwise employing their proprietary technology without authorization and initiates litigation against us, a court of competent jurisdiction could hold that such patents are valid, enforceable and infringed by our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies, even if we believe such claims are without merit. In that event, the successful plaintiff may be able to impede our ability to commercialize the applicable product candidate or technology unless we obtain a license under the applicable patents, or such patents expire or are finally determined to be invalid or unenforceable. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license would likely obligate us to pay license fees, royalties or both. Any license granted to us might be nonexclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, we may be unable to commercialize our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies, or our commercialization efforts may be significantly delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business.
We are aware of a number of patents and patent applications that are directed to one or more aspects of tarcocimab and KSI-501. Our intent is to maintain our development efforts under 35 U.S.C. Section 271(e)(1) (which provides a safe harbor from patent infringement claims related to certain drug development activities) through to at least the launch of any tarcocimab and KSI-501 product. We are aware of at least one pending patent application with claims that are directed to some aspect of tarcocimab and KSI-501, and that could, if issued, result in a patent term beyond a potential launch date for tarcocimab or KSI-501. If this were to occur, we may be required to challenge the validity of the claims, obtain a license, modify tarcocimab or KSI-501, or delay launch. We are also aware of at least one issued patent family with claims that may be related to some potential future aspect(s) of KSI-501 and that has a patent term beyond a potential launch date for KSI-501. If this or any other patent family were perceived relevant, we may be required to challenge the validity of the claims, obtain a license, modify KSI-501, or delay launch.
If we choose to further the pipeline and develop a different product, such a product would be delayed until the expiration of any valid patent that is still in force on such product. Alternatively, our options for addressing any such patents relating to these non- tarcocimab and KSI-501 products would include the following: challenge the validity of the claims, obtain a license, or modify the non- tarcocimab and non-KSI-501 products.
Defending against infringement claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense, would be a substantial diversion of management and other employee resources from our business and may adversely impact our reputation. We may be subject to an injunction that prevents or delays us from commercializing our ABC Platform technology, product candidates or other technologies during on-going litigation even if we ultimately prevail in the litigation proceedings or the litigation is settled in our favor. We may be subject to an injunction that prevents or delays us from commercializing our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies during on-going litigation even if we ultimately prevail in the litigation proceedings or the litigation is settled in our favor. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be enjoined from further developing or commercializing our infringing ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies. In addition, we may have to pay substantial damages (including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement) obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties and/or redesign our infringing product candidates or technologies, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. If we were unable to further develop and commercialize our ABC Platform, product candidates or other technologies, it would harm our business significantly.
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Engaging in litigation to defend against third parties alleging that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their patents or other intellectual property rights is very expensive, particularly for a company of our size, and time-consuming. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of litigation or administrative proceedings more effectively than we can because of greater financial resources. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings against us could impair our ability to compete in the marketplace. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensing partners, or we may be required to defend against claims of infringement. If we assert our intellectual property against others, it could increase the likelihood that our patents or the patents of our licensing partners become involved in inventorship, priority or validity disputes. As discussed above, countering or defending against such claims can be expensive and time consuming. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned or in-licensed by us is invalid or unenforceable, the other party’s use of our patented technology falls under the safe harbor to patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §271(e)(1), or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our owned and in-licensed patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our owned or in-licensed patents at risk of being invalidated, rendered unenforceable or interpreted narrowly. 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.
Even if we prevail in asserting our intellectual property, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately or to assert all claims we believe to be viable. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.
We rely on trademarks, service marks, tradenames and brand names. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, any registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we currently have or may in the future acquire may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. We own a registered trademark for the mark “KODIAK” and “KODIAK SCIENCES” in the United States. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.
The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example:
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Should any of these events occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Our Operations
We are highly dependent on our key personnel, and if we are not successful in attracting, motivating and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy.
Developing and commercializing new medicines is a challenging exercise and requires diverse expertise in a variety of scientific, clinical, manufacturing, commercial, financial, people and legal functions. Failure to adequately develop these functions will hurt our ability to compete effectively.
Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries depends upon our ability to attract, motivate and retain highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. We are highly dependent on our management, particularly our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Victor Perlroth, and our scientific and medical personnel. The loss of the services provided by any of our executive officers, other key employees, and other scientific and medical advisors, and our inability to find suitable replacements, could result in delays in the development of our product candidates and harm our business.
We conduct our U.S. operations at our facilities in Palo Alto, California, in a region that is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and many academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel is intense and the turnover rate can be high, which may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all. We expect that we may need to recruit talent from outside of our region and doing so may be costly and difficult.
To induce valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided restricted stock and stock option grants, including early exercise stock options exercisable for restricted stock that vest over time. The value to employees of these equity grants that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in our stock price that are beyond our control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Although we have employment agreements with our key employees, these employment agreements provide for at-will employment, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on the lives of all of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees. If we are unable to attract, incentivize and retain quality personnel on acceptable terms, or at all, it may cause our business and operating results to suffer.
We will need to grow the size and capabilities of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.
As of December 31, 2023, we had 111 employees. As our development plans and strategies develop, and as we continue operating as a public company, we must add a significant number of additional managerial, operational, financial and other personnel. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:
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Our future financial performance and our ability to continue to develop and, if approved, commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth. Our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to manage these growth activities.
We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on certain independent organizations, advisors and consultants to provide certain services. There can be no assurance that the services of these independent organizations, advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed, or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates or otherwise advance our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our existing consultants or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, if at all.
If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development, and commercialization goals.
If we engage in acquisitions, in-licensing or strategic partnerships, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.
We may engage in various acquisitions and strategic partnerships in the future, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses. Any acquisition or strategic partnership may entail numerous risks, including:
In addition, if we undertake such a transaction, we may incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense.
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If our security measures, or those maintained on our behalf by CROs, service providers or other third parties, are compromised now, or in the future, or the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of our or others' information technology, software, services, networks, communications or data is compromised, limited or fails, this could result in significant fines or other liability, interrupt our development programs, harm our reputation, or otherwise adversely affect our business.
In the ordinary course of our business, we and others upon which we rely process personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, data collected about trial participants in connection with clinical trials, and sensitive third-party data. We rely upon third-party service providers and technologies to operate critical business systems to process sensitive information in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, and other functions. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place.
Cyberattacks, malicious internet-based activity, and online and offline fraud are prevalent and continue to increase. These threats are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. The information and data processed and stored in our technology systems, and those of our research collaborators, CROs, contractors, consultants, and other third parties on which we depend to operate our business, may be vulnerable to these threats. These threats come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer “hackers,” threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), sophisticated nation-states, and nation-state-supported actors. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third parties upon which we rely may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of attacks, including cyber-attacks that could materially disrupt our systems and operations and supply chain. We and the third parties upon which we rely may be subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through deep fakes and phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (such as credential stuffing), personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, attacks enhanced or facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI), and other similar threats. Ransomware attacks, including by organized criminal threat actors, nation-states, and nation-state-supported actors, are becoming increasingly prevalent and severe and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments. Similarly, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our supply chain or our third-party partners’ supply chains have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our information technology systems or the third-party information technology systems that support us.
Additionally, certain personnel may remain in a remote work environment and outside of our corporate network security protection boundaries, which imposes additional risks to our business, including increased risk of industrial espionage, phishing and other cybersecurity attacks, and unauthorized dissemination of proprietary or confidential information, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Any of the previously identified or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption. A security incident or other interruption could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, access to our sensitive information, or interruptions or stoppages in our business operations (including our clinical trials). Although to our knowledge, we have not experienced a material system failure or security incident to date, if such an event were to occur, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of trade secrets or other proprietary information or other similar disruptions. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, on-going or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on third-party research institution collaborators, CROs, other contractors and consultants for many aspects of our business, including research and development activities and manufacturing of our product candidates, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business.
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While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality and security of the sensitive information under our control, we cannot assure you that our security measures or those of the third parties we depend on will be effective in preventing security incidents. There are many different and rapidly evolving cybercrime and hacking techniques, and we may be unable to anticipate attempted security incidents, identify them before our information is exploited, or react in a timely manner. We may be unable to detect vulnerabilities in our information technology systems and software because such threats and techniques change frequently, are often sophisticated in nature, and may not be detected until after a security incident has occurred. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities. We may expend significant resources or modify our business activities (including our clinical trial activities) to try to protect against security incidents. Certain data privacy and security obligations may require us to implement and maintain specific security measures, industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive information.
Additionally, applicable data protection requirements, including, without limitation, laws, regulations, guidance as well as our internal and external policies and our contractual obligations, may require us to notify relevant stakeholders of security incident, including affected individuals, partners, collaborators, regulators, law enforcement agencies, and others. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to litigation or other liability, fines, harm to our reputation, significant costs, or other materially adverse effects. Any limitations or exclusions of liability in our contracts may not be enforceable or adequate or protect us from liability or damages.
Our insurance coverage may not be adequate for cybersecurity liabilities, may not continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, and insurers could deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.
Our operations, and those of our CROs, CMOs, suppliers, and other contractors and consultants, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are partly uninsured. In addition, we rely on our third-party research institution collaborators for conducting research and development of our product candidates, and they may be affected by government shutdowns or withdrawn funding. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. For example, in connection to health epidemics, the various quarantines, shelter-in-place and similar government orders, or the perception that such orders, shutdowns or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations could occur, related to infectious diseases, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations by limiting our ability to manufacture product, forcing temporary closure of facilities that we rely upon or increasing the costs associated with obtaining clinical supplies of our product candidates. The extent to which health epidemics could impact our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including the severity and the actions to contain or treat such outbreaks, epidemics, or pandemics, among others.
Our operations are located at facilities in Palo Alto, California and Switzerland. Damage or extended periods of interruption to our corporate, development or research facilities due to fire, natural disaster, power loss, communications failure, unauthorized entry or other events could cause us to cease or delay development of some or all of our product candidates. Although we maintain property damage and business interruption insurance coverage on these facilities, our insurance might not cover all losses under such circumstances and our business may be seriously harmed by such delays and interruption.
We implemented a new enterprise resource planning, or ERP, system as well as other systems as part of our on-going technology and process improvements. Our ERP system is critical to our ability to accurately maintain books and records and prepare our financial statements. If we encounter unforeseen problems with our ERP system or other systems and infrastructure, our business, operations, and financial results could be adversely affected.
Our business is subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.
Our business is subject to risks associated with conducting business internationally. Some of our suppliers and collaborative relationships are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:
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Other international, geo-political, and macroeconomic events could also have an adverse impact on our business. The United States and certain other countries may impose significant sanctions, trade restrictions, and other retaliatory actions in response to these events. While we cannot predict the broader consequences of these types of events, the conflict and retaliatory and counter-retaliatory actions could materially adversely affect global trade, currency exchange rates, inflation, regional economies, and the global economy, which in turn may increase our costs, disrupt our supply chain, or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, increasing inflation rates and the responses by central banking authorities to control such inflation have contributed to uncertainty and volatility in U.S. and global markets. Rising inflation rates in the United States have begun to affect businesses across many industries, including ours, by increasing costs of operations such as labor.
These and other risks associated with our planned international operations may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and ability to attain profitable operations.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected in the future by the effects of disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics, as well as the business or operations of our manufacturers, CROs or other third parties with whom we conduct business.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected by health epidemics in regions where we have concentrations of clinical trial sites or other business operations and could cause significant disruption in the operations of third-party manufacturers and CROs upon whom we rely.
In addition, our current and future clinical trials may be materially and adversely affected by health epidemics in the future. Site initiation and patient enrollment may be further delayed due to prioritization of hospital resources toward health epidemics. Some patients may not be able to comply with clinical trial protocols if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services. Our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure during health epidemics, and may adversely impact our clinical trial operations. Kodiak staff and/or our CRO partners may not be able to travel to study sites, impacting further site initiations and in-person monitoring of study data quality. Other Kodiak vendors on whom we depend, such as supply chain and logistics partners and our image reading centers may be disrupted, and our operations could be affected. Our clinical studies enroll patients who have underlying risk factors such as advanced age, hypertension and/or diabetes which could lead to higher than expected study discontinuation rates and/or missed visit rates if these patients are adversely affected by health epidemics. To date, we continue to see low levels of patient missed visits.
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The extent to which the risks and evolving effects of health epidemics impact our business and our clinical development and regulatory efforts will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the ultimate duration and severity of the pandemic, government actions, such as travel restrictions, quarantines and social distancing requirements, business closures or business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and in other countries to contain and treat the disease, including the effectiveness and timing of vaccine programs in the United States and worldwide. Health epidemics may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.
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Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $83.8 million of federal and $616.3 million of state net operating loss, or NOLs, that may be available to offset future taxable income. A portion of the federal NOL carryforwards begin to expire in 2035 and the state NOL carryforwards begin to expire in 2035, if not utilized. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50-percentage-point cumulative change (by value) in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period), the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOL carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change taxable income or taxes may be limited. We may also experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which are outside our control. As a result, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset post-change taxable income or taxes may be subject to limitation.
U.S. federal tax legislation enacted in 2017, informally titled The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the Tax Act, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, enacted in March 2020, among other things, includes changes to U.S. federal tax rates and the rules governing NOL carryforwards. Federal NOLs arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 are permitted to be carried forward indefinitely, but carryback of such NOLs is generally permitted to the prior five taxable years only for NOLs arising in taxable years beginning before 2021. In addition, under the Tax Act, as modified by the CARES Act, the deductibility of federal NOLs incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 is limited in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020. For state income tax purposes, there may be periods during which the use of net operating loss carryforwards is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. The new limitations on use of NOLs may significantly impact our ability to utilize our NOLs to offset taxable income in the future.
Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us or our customers may have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations.
New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could adversely affect our business operations and financial performance. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For example, the Tax Act enacted many significant changes to the U.S. tax laws. Future guidance from the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities with respect to the Tax Act may affect us, and certain aspects of the Tax Act could be repealed or modified in future legislation. For example, the CARES Act, modified certain provisions of the Tax Act. More recently, the IRA was enacted which includes provisions that will impact the U.S. federal income taxation of corporations, including imposing a minimum tax on the book income of certain large corporations and an excise tax on certain corporate stock repurchases that would be imposed on the corporation repurchasing such stock. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act, the CARES Act, the IRA, or any newly enacted federal tax legislation. Changes in corporate tax rates, the realization of net deferred tax assets relating to our operations, the taxation of foreign earnings, and the deductibility of expenses under the Tax Act or future reform legislation could have a material impact on the value of our net deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges, and could increase our future U.S. tax expense.
Risks Related to Our Business, Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
Unfavorable U.S. and global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the U.S. and global economies, the U.S. and global financial markets and adverse geopolitical and macroeconomic developments. U.S. and global market and economic conditions have been, and continue to be, disrupted and volatile due to many factors, including increasing inflation rates and the responses by central banking authorities to control such inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and bank failures, among others. General business and economic conditions that could affect our business, financial condition or results of operations include fluctuations in economic growth, debt and equity capital markets, liquidity of the global financial markets, access to our liquidity within the U.S. banking system, the availability and cost of credit, investor and consumer confidence, and the strength of the economies in which we, our manufacturers and our suppliers operate.
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A severe or prolonged global economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business. For example, inflation rates, particularly in the United States, have increased recently to levels not seen in years, and increased inflation may result in increases in our operating costs (including our labor costs), reduced liquidity and limits on our ability to access credit or otherwise raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation, which, coupled with reduced government spending and volatility in financial markets may have the effect of further increasing economic uncertainty and heightening these risks. Risks of a prolonged global economic downturn are particularly true in Europe, which is undergoing a continued severe economic crisis. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers and manufacturers, possibly resulting in supply disruption. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation only insures amounts up to $250,000 per depositor. Recently, we have seen the abrupt failure of more than one regional bank. We may from time to time have balances in bank accounts that are in excess of insured deposit limits, and could be subject to risks of bank failures. Similar bank failures could significantly impair our access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize our current and projected future business operations and could negatively impact the financial institutions with which we have direct arrangements, or the financial services industry or economy in general.
Additionally, financial markets around the world experienced volatility following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Further, a weak or declining economy could strain our suppliers and manufacturers. As a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected by the on-going conflict between Ukraine and Russia and related sanctions, particularly to the extent it escalates to involve additional countries, further economic sanctions or wider military conflict.
We have operations, as well as current and potential new suppliers and manufacturers, throughout Europe. If economic conditions in Europe and other key markets for our business remain uncertain or deteriorate further, we could experience adverse effects on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We have incurred significant net losses in each period since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant and increasing net losses for the foreseeable future.
We have incurred net losses in each reporting period since our inception, including net losses of $260.5 million, $333.8 million and $267.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $1,152.5 million.
We have invested significant financial resources in research and development activities, including for our product candidates and our ABC Platform. We do not expect to generate revenue from product sales for several years, if at all. The amount of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the level of our future expenditures and our ability to generate revenue. Moreover, our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indication of our future performance.
We expect to continue to incur significant and increasingly higher expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
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Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital. In any particular quarter or quarters, our operating results could be below the expectations of securities analysts or investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.
Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We have never generated any revenue from product sales, and we may never generate revenue or be profitable.
We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales. We do not anticipate generating any revenue from product sales until after we have successfully completed clinical development and received regulatory approval for the commercial sale of a product candidate, if ever.
Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends significantly on many factors, including:
Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with drug development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of our expenses, or when we will be able to generate any meaningful revenue or achieve or maintain profitability, if ever. In addition, our expenses could increase beyond our current expectations if we are required by the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies, to perform studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate, or if there are any delays in any of our or our future collaborators’ clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates. Even if one or more of our product candidates is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate and on-going compliance efforts.
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Even if we are able to generate revenue from the sale of any approved products, we may not become profitable, and we will need to obtain additional funding through one or more debt or equity financings in order to continue operations. Revenue from the sale of any product candidate for which regulatory approval is obtained will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval, the accepted price for the product, the ability to get reimbursement at any price and whether we own the commercial rights for that territory. If the number of addressable patients is not as significant as we anticipate, the indication approved by regulatory authorities is narrower than we expect, or the reasonably accepted population for treatment is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products, even if approved. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
Our failure to become and remain profitable could decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our pipeline of product candidates or continue our operations and cause a decline in the value of our common stock, all or any of which may adversely affect our viability.
If we fail to obtain additional financing, we may be unable to complete the development and, if approved, commercialization of our product candidates.
Our operations have required substantial amounts of cash since inception. To date, we have funded our operations primarily through the sale of equity securities. Developing our product candidates is expensive, and we expect to continue our spending as we advance our product candidate development efforts. Even if we are successful in developing our product candidates, obtaining regulatory approvals and launching and commercializing any product candidate will require substantial additional funding.
Our estimate as to how long we expect our existing cash to be available to fund our operations is based on assumptions that may prove inaccurate, and we could deplete our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. In addition, changing circumstances may cause us to increase our spending significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to spend more money than currently expected because of circumstances beyond our control. We may need to raise additional funds sooner than we anticipate if we choose to expand more rapidly than we presently anticipate.
We will require additional capital for the further development and, if approved, commercialization of our product candidates. Additional capital may not be available when we need it, on terms acceptable to us or at all. For example, recent geopolitical conflicts in Europe and the Middle East created extreme volatility in the global capital markets and are expected to have further global economic consequences, including disruptions of the global supply chain. Further, inflation rates, particularly in the United States, have increased recently to levels not seen in decades, and the Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates. These conditions of economic uncertainty and market volatility could limit additional capital available to us, if and when needed, and increase its cost if available. In addition, it is possible that we may not be able to access a portion of our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments due to unforeseen market conditions. For example, on March 10, 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), took control and was appointed receiver of Silicon Valley Bank. If other banks and financial institutions enter receivership or become insolvent in the future in response to financial conditions affecting the banking system and financial markets, our ability to access our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments may be threatened and could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. We currently have no committed source of additional capital. If adequate capital is not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue our research and development programs or the commercialization of any product candidates, if approved, or be unable to continue or expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.
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Due to the significant resources required for the development of our product candidates, and depending on our ability to access capital, we must prioritize development of certain product candidates. Moreover, we may expend our limited resources on product candidates that do not yield a successful product and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Due to the significant resources required for the development of our product candidates, we must decide which product candidates and indications to pursue and advance and the amount of resources to allocate to each. Our decisions concerning the allocation of research, development, collaboration, management and financial resources toward particular product candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of any viable commercial product and may divert resources away from better opportunities. If any of our future investments or allocations of research and development financial resources result in failed product candidates, our financial condition and business prospects may be significantly adversely impacted and we may never become profitable. Similarly, our potential decisions to delay, terminate or collaborate with third parties in respect of certain product candidates may subsequently also prove to be suboptimal and could cause us to miss valuable opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the viability or market potential of any of our product candidates or misread trends in the biopharmaceutical industry, in particular for retinal diseases, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or other diseases and disease pathways that may later prove to have greater commercial potential than those we choose to pursue, or relinquish valuable rights to such product candidates through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to invest additional resources to retain sole development and commercialization rights.
Foreign currency exchange rate risk may impact our financial position and results.
We use foreign currency forward contracts to protect against changes in anticipated foreign currency cash flows resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates, primarily associated with non-functional currency denominated expenses. We regularly monitor our foreign currency exchange rate exposures to ensure the overall effectiveness of its foreign currency exposures. While we engage in foreign currency hedging activity to reduce our risk, for accounting purposes, none of its foreign currency forward contracts are designated as hedges.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares.
The market price of our common stock may be volatile. For example, the closing price of our common stock from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023 ranged from a low of $1.40 to a high of $9.48 and from January 1, 2024 to February 29, 2024, ranged from a low of $3.01 to a high of $6.14. As a result, shareholders may not be able to sell their common stock at or above the price that they paid for such shares. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:
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In recent years, the stock market in general, and the market for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular, has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations, including recently in connection with health epidemics, bank failures, broader macroeconomic conditional and/or geopolitical instability, which has resulted in decreased market prices, notwithstanding the lack of a fundamental change in the underlying business models or prospects of those companies. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In this regard, worsening economic conditions, interest rate increases and/or other tapering policies from the government, and other adverse effects or developments relating to health epidemics or general economic environment may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. Following periods of such volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.
We will seek additional capital through one or a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances or licensing arrangements. We, and indirectly, our stockholders, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of any future offerings. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Additionally, any future collaborations we enter into with third parties may provide capital in the near term but limit our potential cash flow and revenue in the future. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to us.
Our principal stockholders own a significant percentage of our common stock, which could limit your ability to affect the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.
Our directors, executive officers, significant holders of outstanding common stock and their respective affiliates beneficially own a significant amount of our common stock. As a result, these stockholders, if they act together, will be able to influence our management and affairs and all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company and might affect the market price of our common stock.
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Delaware law and provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws might discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may discourage, delay, or prevent a merger, acquisition, or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares of our common stock. These provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management. Therefore, these provisions could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Among other things, our charter documents:
In addition, Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or DGCL, prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person which together with its affiliates owns, or within the last three years has owned, 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner.
Any provision of our certificate of incorporation, bylaws, or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our capital stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
Our bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for:
Our bylaws further provide that the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
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These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business. Our bylaws further provide that unless we otherwise consent in writing, the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.
General Risk Factors
If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.
Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our share price to decline, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock. All of our outstanding shares of common stock are available for sale in the public market, subject only to the restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act in the case of our affiliates. In addition, the shares of common stock subject to outstanding options under our equity incentive plans and the shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans, as well as shares issuable upon vesting of restricted stock unit awards, will become eligible for sale in the public market in the future, subject to certain legal and contractual limitations. In addition, certain holders of our common stock have the right, subject to various conditions and limitations, to request we include their shares of our common stock in registration statements we may file relating to our securities. If any of these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline.
A failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements of our financial statements in future periods and may impair our ability to comply with the accounting and reporting requirements applicable to public companies. Furthermore, our business, financial position, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
As a public company, we are subject to reporting and other obligations under the Exchange Act, including the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or SOX, Section 404, which require annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.
The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to determine that our internal control over financial reporting is effective are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation to meet the detailed standards under the rules. During the course of its testing, our management may identify material weaknesses or deficiencies which may not be remedied in time to meet the deadline imposed by SOX. These reporting and other obligations place significant demands on our management and administrative and operational resources, including accounting resources.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could also have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.
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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY
Risk Management and Strategy
We have implemented and maintain various information security processes designed to identify, assess and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats to our critical computer networks, third party hosted services, hardware, software, and our high value data, including intellectual property, trade secrets, confidential and sensitive information (collectively, "Information Systems and Data").
Our Chief Information Officer (“CIO") helps identify, assess and manage the Company's cybersecurity threats and risks. Depending on the environment, we implement and maintain various technical, physical and organizational measures, processes, standards and policies designed to manage, mitigate and remediate material risk from cybersecurity threats to our Information Systems and Data. Our Information Security and Privacy Policy includes standards for incident response, vulnerability management, data protection and logical access controls.
Our assessment and management of material risks from cybersecurity threats are integrated into our Company's overall risk management process, which, in part, establishes intended uses of our computerized systems and identifies critical and/or material risks. After a system reaches operation, the risk management approach continues following standard processes for change control, system maintenance, logical access control, discrepancy management and periodic review.
We use independent service providers to assist us from time to time in an effort to identify, assess, and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats.
We have a vendor management process to manage cybersecurity risks associated with our use of independent service providers. Depending on the nature of the services provided, the sensitivity of the Information Systems and Data at issue, and the identity of the provider, our vendor management process may involve varying methods of assessment designed to help identify cybersecurity risks associated with a provider and impose contractual obligations related to cybersecurity on the provider.
For a description of the risks from cybersecurity threats that may materially affect the Company and how they may do so, see our risk factors under Part 1. Item 1A. Risk Factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “If our security measures, or those maintained on our behalf by CROs, service providers or other third parties, are compromised now, or in the future, or the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of our or others’ information technology, software, services, networks, communications or data is compromised, limited or fails, this could result in significant fines or other liability, interrupt our development programs, harm our reputation, or otherwise adversely affect our business.”
Governance
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing cybersecurity risk management processes, including oversight and mitigation of risk from cybersecurity threats. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives reports from the CIO, Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) or their designee concerning the Company’s material cybersecurity risks and the processes the Company has implemented in an effort to mitigate them.
Our cybersecurity risk assessment and management processes are implemented and maintained by the CIO. The CIO and the CFO are responsible for overall cybersecurity risk management strategy and communicating material cybersecurity priorities to the responsible board committee. The CIO has relevant cybersecurity expertise such as: leading the enterprise IT Security program for 7 years and Supply Chain Cybersecurity efforts for 6 years at a large commercial stage biopharmaceutical company. The CIO and CFO undertake efforts to learn about the Company’s cybersecurity threats by reviewing security assessments and other security-related reports.
Our cybersecurity incident response and vulnerability management follow our Information Security and Privacy Policy framework. This framework is designed to escalate certain cybersecurity incidents to certain management members (including the CIO and CFO) depending upon the circumstances. In addition, depending upon an incident’s particular facts, the CIO, CFO or their designee report to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors for certain cybersecurity incidents.
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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our corporate offices are located in Palo Alto, California, where we lease approximately 155,000 square feet of office, research and development, engineering and laboratory space pursuant to lease agreements that commenced in June 2020. The initial lease term for 1200 Page Mill Road is 6.5 years, with an option to extend the lease term for a period of 6.5 years. The initial lease term for 1250 Page Mill Road is 13 years, with two options to extend the lease term for a period of 5 years each. Our corporate offices in Palo Alto, California house substantially all of our personnel.
In April 2020, we entered into a lease agreement for office and laboratory space at Rottenstrasse 5 in Visp, Switzerland. The space is approximately 1,000 square meters. The initial lease term is 5 years, with automatic renewals every 5 years for a maximum lease term of 15 years.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We are not a party to any material legal proceedings at this time. From time to time, we may be subject to various legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of our business activities. Although the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not believe we are party to any claim or litigation the outcome of which, if determined adversely to us, would individually or in the aggregate be reasonably expected to have a material adverse effect on our business. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
None.
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PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Market under the trading symbol “KOD”.
Holders of Common Stock
As of February 29, 2024, there were approximately 23 holders of record of our common stock. The approximate number of holders is based upon the actual number of holders registered in our records at such date and excludes holders in “street name” or persons, partnerships, associations, corporations or other entities identified in security positions listings maintained by depository trust companies.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchases
None.
ITEM 6. RESERVED
Not applicable.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis and other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K contain forward-looking statements based upon current beliefs, plans and expectations related to future events and our future financial performance that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, such as statements regarding our intentions, plans, objectives, expectations, forecasts and projections. Our actual results and the timing of selected events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including those set forth under the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
Kodiak Sciences (“we,” the “Company” or "Kodiak") is a biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing, and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat a broad spectrum of retinal diseases. We are focused on bringing new science to the design and manufacture of next generation retinal medicines to prevent and treat the leading causes of blindness globally. Our ABC Platform™ uses molecular engineering to merge the fields of protein-based and chemistry-based therapies and has been at the core of Kodiak's discovery engine. We are developing a portfolio of three late-stage clinical programs, two of which are late-stage today and derived from our ABC Platform and one which is platform-independent and which we believe can progress rapidly into pivotal studies.
Kodiak's lead investigational medicine, tarcocimab, is a novel anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate under development for the treatment of high prevalence retinal vascular diseases including diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age patients in the developed world, and wet age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in elderly patients in the developed world.
KSI-501 is our second investigational medicine, a first-in-class anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific antibody biopolymer conjugate designed to inhibit both IL-6 mediated inflammation and VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and vascular permeability. KSI-501 is being developed for the treatment of high prevalence retinal vascular diseases to address the unmet needs of targeting multiple biologies and extended durability.
Additionally, Kodiak is developing a third investigational medicine, KSI-101, a novel anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific protein, the unconjugated protein portion of KSI-501. Kodiak intends to develop KSI-101 for the treatment of retinal inflammatory diseases, as currently there are no available intravitreal biologic therapies addressing the spectrum of inflammatory conditions of the retina.
Kodiak has expanded its early research pipeline of duet and triplet inhibitors that embed small molecules and other bioactive molecules in the biopolymer backbone to provide a high drug-antibody ratio (“DAR”). The diverse bioactives are designed to be released over time to achieve sustained inhibition of targeted biological pathways. We believe this unique combination of high DAR and extended therapeutic benefit offers potential for broad and important utility for multifactorial ophthalmic and systemic diseases.
Recent Updates
Tarcocimab Clinical Program Summary and Update
Kodiak’s lead clinical program tarcocimab is an investigational anti-VEGF therapy built on Kodiak’s Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate (“ABC”) Platform and is designed to maintain potent and effective drug levels in ocular tissues for longer than existing available agents. Kodiak’s objective with tarcocimab is to enable earlier treatment and prevention of vision loss for patients with diabetic retinopathy and to develop a new durability agent to improve outcomes for patients with retinal vascular diseases.
To date, tarcocimab has been studied in six pivotal clinical studies: Phase 3 GLOW1 study in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (“NPDR”), Phase 3 BEACON study in retinal vein occlusion (“RVO”), Phase 3 DAYLIGHT study in wet age-related macular degeneration (“wet AMD”), Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies with identical study design in diabetic macular edema (“DME”), and Phase 2/3 DAZZLE study in wet AMD. Of the six registrational studies, GLOW1, BEACON and DAYLIGHT successfully met the primary endpoint. More information about study design and results from each individual pivotal study are summarized below:
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GLOW1 – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy without DME
The Phase 3 GLOW1 study was a global, multi-center, randomized pivotal superiority study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tarcocimab in treatment-naïve patients with moderately severe to severe NPDR. Patients were randomized to receive either tarcocimab every six months after initiating doses given at baseline, 8 weeks and 20 weeks into the study, or to receive sham injections. The primary endpoint was at one year.
On November 6, 2023, Kodiak announced that GLOW1 met its primary endpoint of the proportion of patients with at least a 2-step improvement on the Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale (DRSS) score, a grading system measuring the degree of retinopathy. Tarcocimab achieved a 29-fold increased response rate ratio, with 41.1% of evaluable patients on tarcocimab demonstrating at least 2-step improvement versus 1.4% of evaluable patients in the sham group (p less than 0.0001). Visual acuity and retinal anatomy were improved and stable with tarcocimab on its extended-dosing intervals. At one year, GLOW1 also met its key secondary endpoint of greater reductions in the proportion of patients developing sight-threatening complications (such as diabetic macular edema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy), versus sham, demonstrating an 89% decreased risk, achieving 21.0% versus 2.3% (p less than 0.0001). Tarcocimab also showed a 95% risk reduction in the development of DME, versus sham, from 13.7% on sham versus 0.7% on tarcocimab. The rates of serious ocular adverse events and intraocular inflammation in patients treated with tarcocimab and sham were similar.
BEACON – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Retinal Vein Occlusion
The Phase 3 BEACON study was a randomized, double-masked, multicenter, active comparator-controlled study in treatment naïve patients with vision loss and macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, including both branch ("BRVO") and central ("CRVO") subtypes. In the initial six months of the study, patients received tarcocimab on a fixed every-8-week dosing regimen following 2 monthly loading doses or aflibercept 2mg on a fixed monthly dosing regimen per its label. In the second six months of the study, tarcocimab and aflibercept were tested head-to-head according to a pro re nata (“PRN") protocol in which patients in both groups were treated only when disease reactivated according to matched predefined disease activity criteria.
In August 2022, Kodiak announced that the BEACON study met the primary efficacy endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity change from baseline at week 24 for subjects given tarcocimab every two months after 2 monthly loading doses compared to subjects given monthly aflibercept.
On September 7, 2023, Kodiak announced new one-year results from the BEACON study. Tarcocimab demonstrated matched efficacy with differentiated durability versus aflibercept in the head-to-head comparison. After 4 initiating doses in the first 6 months, 47% of tarcocimab-treated patients required no additional injections in the second 6 months while matching the vision and anatomic outcomes of aflibercept-treated patients. Despite receiving 6 initiating monthly doses, only 37% of aflibercept patients were injection free in the second half of the study. 77% of tarcocimab treated patients received 5 or fewer doses in year one, while 93% of aflibercept treated patients received 6 or more doses. BRVO patients received a median of 4.0 injections on tarcocimab versus 7.0 injections of aflibercept. Despite materially fewer injections in tarcocimab treated patients, vision outcomes favored tarcocimab-treated patients achieving an observed mean of 76.6 letters versus 75.6 letters for aflibercept treated patients. All RVO patients received a median of 5.0 injections on tarcocimab versus 7.0 injections of aflibercept. Despite materially fewer injections in tarcocimab treated patients, vision outcomes favored tarcocimab-treated patients achieving an observed mean of 74.6 letters versus 74.3 letters for aflibercept treated patients.
Safety and tolerability were comparable between tarcocimab and aflibercept. Intraocular inflammation (IOI) rate was comparable between groups (tarcocimab 2.5% vs aflibercept 0.7%). No cases of inflammation associated with vascular occlusion or vasculitis were reported.
DAYLIGHT – Phase 3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Wet AMD
The DAYLIGHT study was a randomized, double-masked, active comparator-controlled study evaluating the efficacy and safety of a high intensity dosing regimen of tarcocimab in 557 treatment-naïve subjects with wet AMD. On July 24, 2023, Kodiak announced that the DAYLIGHT study met the primary endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity gains at year 1 for tarcocimab dosed monthly compared to aflibercept dosed every 8 weeks following 3 monthly loading doses. Intraocular inflammation occurred in 3.3% of patients treated with monthly tarcocimab and 0.4% of patients treated with aflibercept with no vasculitis or occlusion.
GLEAM / GLIMMER – Paired Phase 3 Studies in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Diabetic Macular Edema
The GLEAM and GLIMMER studies were identically designed, randomized, double-masked, active comparator-controlled studies evaluating the efficacy, durability and safety of tarcocimab in 460 and 457 treatment-naïve subjects with DME, respectively, run in parallel.
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On July 24, 2023, Kodiak announced that although high proportions of patients on meaningfully longer treatment intervals were observed with tarcocimab, with half of patients on every 24-week dosing at the primary endpoint, the GLEAM and GLIMMER studies did not meet their primary efficacy endpoints of showing non-inferior visual acuity gains for tarcocimab dosed every 8 to 24 weeks after 3 monthly loading doses compared to aflibercept given every 8 weeks after 5 monthly loading doses. At the primary efficacy endpoint of the GLEAM study, patients treated with tarcocimab gained an observed average of 6.4 eye chart letters (to 73.1 letters), compared with 10.3 letters for patients treated with aflibercept (to 76.5 letters). In GLIMMER, patients treated with tarcocimab gained an observed average of 7.4 eye chart letters at the primary endpoint (to 72.5 letters) compared with 12.2 letters (to 76.4 letters) for patients treated with aflibercept.
An unexpected increase in cataract adverse events was reported over time in the tarcocimab arms of both GLEAM and GLIMMER, with 19% on tarcocimab versus 9% on aflibercept at the primary endpoint based on the pooled safety population. Kodiak’s evaluation suggested that the decline in visual acuity associated with cataracts likely contributed meaningfully to the failure of each study.
Half of tarcocimab treated patients in the GLEAM and GLIMMER studies were on every 24-week dosing at the primary endpoint, two-thirds achieved at least one 6-month dosing interval during the studies, and three-quarters achieved at least one 5-month or longer treatment interval. Intraocular inflammation was rare, occurring in 1.3% and 0.2% of tarcocimab and aflibercept treated patients, respectively. No cases of intraocular inflammation with vasculitis or vascular occlusion were observed.
DAZZLE – Phase 2b/3 Study in Patients with Treatment-Naïve Wet AMD
The DAZZLE study was a global, multi-center, randomized pivotal study designed to evaluate the durability, efficacy and safety of tarcocimab in patients with treatment-naïve wet AMD. In February 2022 Kodiak announced that this initial pivotal study did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint of non-inferior visual acuity gains for subjects dosed on extended regimens every 12-, 16- or 20 weeks with tarcocimab compared to subjects given aflibercept every 8 weeks. Following this announcement, Kodiak discontinued the study and concluded remaining trial-associated activities.
Given we have three successful Phase 3 studies across three different diseases, an additional successful pivotal study in one of these indications is required for regulatory approval. We believe tarcocimab demonstrated strong and consistent durability of approximately 6 months for the majority of patients and favorable safety across the full pivotal program, and we believe tarcocimab has the potential to become an important medicine for patients and a meaningfully differentiated product in the marketplace. Therefore, we have activated GLOW2, a Phase 3 study in diabetic retinopathy (“DR”). The GLOW2 study has a similar design as GLOW1 with the benefit of an additional, third monthly loading dose (weeks 0, 4 and 8). We discussed the study design with the FDA, and the study is currently recruiting patients.
Additionally, in light of the importance of wet AMD in today’s anti-VEGF market, we also plan to study tarcocimab as a second investigational arm in the KSI-501 Phase 3 DAYBREAK study to evaluate its durability, strengthen its competitive position in wet AMD and bolster our ex-US regulatory dossier. We are discussing the study design of DAYBREAK with the FDA and plan to initiate the study as soon as regulatory alignment is completed, which we hope is mid-2024.
We made adjustments to the tarcocimab product that improve the manufacturability in a prefilled syringe and we believe may also enhance the utility of the product. We believe now is the time to implement these changes given the additional clinical studies we plan to conduct, and the FDA has agreed that these additional clinical studies should be sufficient to bridge the former material to the go-to-market material we would like to commercialize going forward. Both GLOW2 and DAYBREAK will be run using our go-to-market formulation of tarcocimab.
Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate Drug Substance Manufacturing
In August 2020, we entered into a manufacturing agreement with Lonza Ltd (“Lonza”) for the clinical and commercial supply of the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugate drug substance which included a custom-built manufacturing facility. The manufacturing agreement has an initial term of 8 years, and the Company has the right to extend the term up to a total of 16 years. The Company and Lonza each have the ability to terminate this agreement upon the occurrence of certain events.
In April 2021, the agreement was amended to provide for greater manufacturing flexibility, to define a comprehensive mandate as an antibody biopolymer conjugates manufacturing facility to be used for the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugates pipeline, at clinical as well as commercial scales, across a broad capacity range under the tight quality controls required for ophthalmology and retinal medicines, and to allow for future process and equipment changes as needed.
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Under the agreement, Kodiak and Lonza planned a custom-built facility (“Ursus”) dedicated to the commercial-scale manufacturing of Kodiak’s drug substance. In January 2023, the custom-built manufacturing suite Ursus was commissioned as a cGMP facility. Kodiak worked together with Lonza and regulatory authorities to obtain approval for Ursus, and we released our first commercial scale cGMP batch of tarcocimab in July 2023. In October 2023, Kodiak made a final payment of $26.8 million to Lonza for final activation of Ursus. Separately, tarcocimab drug product based on our go-to-market formulation was released in March 2024 and is ready for use in the GLOW2 and DAYBREAK pivotal studies.
KSI-501 Clinical Program Update
KSI-501 is a first-in-class bispecific molecule designed to inhibit two mechanisms implicated in retinal diseases: vascular endothelial growth factor (“VEGF”) and interleukin-6 (“IL-6”). IL-6 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine and growth factor implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple retinal diseases and, in conditions for which anti-VEGF treatment is used, elevated levels of ocular IL-6 have been associated with poor anti-VEGF treatment response. The bispecific mechanism of action of KSI-501 is designed to provide potent inhibition of (i) VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and vascular permeability through a soluble decoy receptor inhibiting the binding of VEGF-A and PLGF to their cognate receptors and (ii) IL-6 mediated inflammation through an antibody that binds soluble interleukin-6, inhibiting its binding to both soluble and membrane-bound IL-6 receptors. In cell-based assays, KSI-501 inhibited angiogenesis and also normalized inner and outer blood retinal barriers; dual inhibition of VEGF and IL-6 by KSI-501 conferred superior normalization of cell morphology and junctional biology compared to either anti-VEGF or anti-IL-6 monotherapy. We believe KSI-501 has the potential to become a new category of retinal medicines with greater therapeutic efficacy than existing therapies.
Kodiak intends to develop KSI-501 as two therapeutic programs in parallel, KSI-501 (formerly KSI-501ABC) and KSI-101 (formerly KSI-501P), to address different unmet needs.
KSI-501
KSI-501 is an anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific antibody biopolymer conjugate built on the ABC platform and is being developed for high prevalence retinal vascular diseases to address the unmet needs of targeting multiple biologies and extended durability. A Phase 1 trial was conducted to evaluate its safety, tolerability and bioactivity in DME patients. In February 2024, the Phase 1 study results were presented at the Angiogenesis, Exudation, and Degeneration 2024 Virtual Meeting. Kodiak believes the Phase 1 study met its objectives: 1) repeated monthly dosing of KSI-501 was safe and well tolerated; 2) KSI-501 demonstrated bioactivity in both functional (vision) and anatomical (OCT CST) measures.
Kodiak intends to advance KSI-501 into a Phase 3 study DAYBREAK in 2024 to evaluate its efficacy, durability and safety in wet AMD. The DAYBREAK study is intended to be a non-inferiority study evaluating KSI-501 dosed every 4 to 24 weeks, compared to aflibercept dosed per label. The DAYBREAK study will use an enhanced formulation of KSI-501 educated from tarcocimab’s commercial manufacturing scale-up. We are in the process of obtaining regulatory feedback on the study design and intend to initiate the study as soon as regulatory alignment is completed, targeting mid-2024.
KSI-101
KSI-101 is the unconjugated protein portion of KSI-501 and is a novel bispecific protein targeting IL-6 and VEGF. We intend to develop KSI-101 for patients who have retinal fluid and inflammation. Currently there are no available intravitreal biologic therapies addressing the spectrum of inflammatory conditions of the retina. We believe that retinal inflammatory conditions represent a new market segment separate from the established anti-VEGF market. KSI-101 is a clinical prospect with opportunities and risks uncoupled from the ABC Platform, and as such is an important part of our late-phase portfolio. We intend to initiate a dose-finding Phase 1b study in the second quarter of 2024 to evaluate its safety and tolerability and identify two dose levels to progress into pivotal studies. We are currently in the process of obtaining regulatory feedback on the design of the pivotal program, and we hope to initiate dual Phase 2b/3 studies later in 2024.
KSI-501 and KSI-101 manufacturing
We have been progressing the manufacturing of KSI-501 and KSI-101 in preparation for the anticipated clinical studies. Clinical material for both KSI-501 (50 mg/mL strength in our enhanced formulation) and KSI-101 (100 mg/mL strength) were successfully manufactured in the first quarter of 2024.
76
Technology Platform Development
We continued progressing our technology development with our “duet” and “triplet” inhibitors that embed small molecules and other bioactive molecules in the biopolymer backbone to provide a high drug-antibody ratio ("DAR"). The diverse bioactives are designed to be released over time to achieve sustained inhibition of targeted biological pathways. The biopolymer embedded with its poly-pharmacy payloads is conjugated to a protein therapeutic to form a “triplet” for tissue and cell targeting or omits the protein therapeutic to form a “duet”. We believe this unique combination of high DAR and extended therapeutic benefit offers potential for broad and important utility for multifactorial ophthalmic and systemic diseases.
Digital Health Platform Development
We are developing a visual engagement technology and imager (“VETi”) designed by Kodiak engineers initially to be used by eye care professionals for vision and ophthalmic anatomical examination, diagnosis and monitoring. Our longer-term goal with VETi, built with semiconductor technologies, is to deliver a wearable device for long-term health engagement and monitoring.
We believe the Kodiak VETi platform as a medical engagement and imaging platform has the potential to disrupt ophthalmology clinical trials by enabling new trial endpoints, thereby enabling faster and more cost-effective medicines development in ophthalmic disease, an area that historically requires lengthy and expensive trials. VETi may also aid in market build and shaping for undertreated or underdiagnosed diseases, such as diabetic eye diseases where Kodiak’s product candidates tarcocimab and KSI-501 are being studied and where early treatment and prevention may allow patients to achieve better outcomes.
Financial Operations Overview
Since inception in June 2009, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to discovering and developing product candidates and manufacturing processes, building our ABC Platform and assembling our core capabilities in drug development for high prevalence retinal diseases. We plan to continue to use third-party contract research organizations, or CROs, to carry out our preclinical and clinical development. We rely on third-party contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, to manufacture and supply our preclinical and clinical materials to be used during the development of our product candidates. We continue to invest in commercial manufacturing capacity. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product revenue since inception.
We have funded our operations primarily through the sale and issuance of equity securities. In October 2018, we completed our initial public offering, or IPO. In December 2019, we completed a follow-on offering. In November 2020, we completed a second follow-on offering.
We have incurred significant operating losses to date and expect that our operating losses will increase significantly as we advance our product candidates, through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval, prepare for and, if approved, proceed to commercialization; broaden and improve our platform; acquire, discover, validate and develop additional product candidates; obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property portfolio; and hire additional personnel. We expect to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Our net loss was $260.5 million, $333.8 million and $267.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $1,152.5 million.
Our ability to generate product revenue will depend on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings or other capital sources, including potential collaborations with other companies or other strategic transactions. Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back, or discontinue the development and commercialization of tarcocimab for RVO, wet AMD, or DR or delay our efforts to advance and expand our product pipeline.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $285.5 million.
77
Components of Operating Results
Research and Development Expenses
Substantially all of our research and development expenses consist of expenses incurred in connection with the development of our product candidates and ABC Platform. These expenses include certain payroll and personnel expenses, including stock-based compensation, for our research and product development employees; laboratory supplies and facility costs; consulting costs; contract manufacturing and fees paid to CROs to conduct certain research and development activities on our behalf; and allocated overhead, including rent, equipment, depreciation and utilities. We expense both internal and external research and development expenses as they are incurred. Costs of certain activities, such as manufacturing and preclinical and clinical studies, are generally recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks. Nonrefundable payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services that will be used or rendered for future research and development activities are deferred and capitalized. The capitalized amounts are recognized as expense as the goods are delivered or the related services are performed.
We are focusing substantially all of our resources and development efforts on the development of our product candidates. Predicting the timing or the final cost to complete our clinical program or validation of our commercial manufacturing and supply processes is difficult and delays may occur because of many factors, including factors outside of our control. For example, if the FDA or other regulatory authorities were to require us to conduct clinical trials beyond those that we currently anticipate, or if we experience significant delays in enrollment in any of our clinical trials, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time on the completion of clinical development. Furthermore, we are unable to predict when or if our drug candidates will receive regulatory approval with any certainty.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist principally of payroll and personnel expenses, including stock-based compensation; professional fees for legal, consulting, accounting and tax services; compliance costs associated with being a public company; allocated overhead, including rent, equipment, depreciation and utilities; and other general operating expenses not otherwise classified as research and development expenses.
Interest Income
Interest income consists primarily of interest income earned on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net consists primarily of the change in fair value and settlement of derivative contracts, tax expense and the amortized issuance costs from the liability related to the future sale of royalties to Baker Bros. Advisors, LP ("BBA") in 2019.
Results of Operations
The following table summarizes the results of our operations for the periods indicated (in thousands, except percentages):
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
||||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
Dollar |
|
|
Percent |
|
||||
Operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Research and development |
|
$ |
206,298 |
|
|
$ |
267,591 |
|
|
$ |
(61,293 |
) |
|
|
(23 |
%) |
General and administrative |
|
|
71,023 |
|
|
|
73,788 |
|
|
|
(2,765 |
) |
|
|
(4 |
%) |
Loss from operations |
|
|
(277,321 |
) |
|
|
(341,379 |
) |
|
|
64,058 |
|
|
|
(19 |
%) |
Interest income |
|
|
16,733 |
|
|
|
7,071 |
|
|
|
9,662 |
|
|
|
137 |
% |
Interest expense |
|
|
(13 |
) |
|
|
(18 |
) |
|
|
5 |
|
|
* |
|
|
Other income (expense), net |
|
|
110 |
|
|
|
503 |
|
|
|
(393 |
) |
|
* |
|
|
Net loss |
|
$ |
(260,491 |
) |
|
$ |
(333,823 |
) |
|
$ |
73,332 |
|
|
|
(22 |
%) |
* Change is not meaningful
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses decreased $61.3 million, or 23%, during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022.
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The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the periods indicated (in thousands):
|
|
Year Ended |
Change |
|
||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
Dollar |
|
|||
Tarcocimab program expenses |
|
$ |
90,513 |
|
|
$ |
132,953 |
|
|
$ |
(42,440 |
) |
KSI-501 program expenses |
|
|
7,264 |
|
|
|
6,964 |
|
|
|
300 |
|
ABC Platform and other |
|
|
20,997 |
|
|
|
27,409 |
|
|
|
(6,412 |
) |
Payroll and personnel expenses |
|
|
65,382 |
|
|
|
79,314 |
|
|
|
(13,932 |
) |
Facilities and other research and |
|
|
22,142 |
|
|
|
20,951 |
|
|
|
1,191 |
|
Total research and development |
|
$ |
206,298 |
|
|
$ |
267,591 |
|
|
$ |
(61,293 |
) |
Tarcocimab program expenses decreased $42.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily driven by the wind-down of the pivotal clinical studies in the tarcocimab development program.
The Phase 1 study of KSI-501 began enrolling patients with DME in the beginning of the second quarter of 2023. KSI-501 program expenses increased $0.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to clinical trial progression, partially offset by a decrease in manufacturing activities.
ABC Platform and other program expenses decreased $6.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to timing of manufacturing runs.
Payroll and personnel expenses decreased $13.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily driven by forfeitures related to stock-based compensation expense.
Facilities and other research and development expenses increased $1.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, due to a variety of activities including the expense related to the lease component of the Ursus manufacturing facility, which commenced in 2023.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses decreased $2.8 million, or 4%, during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily driven by a decrease in professional fees for consulting, legal and accounting expenses.
Interest Income
Interest income increased $9.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, which was mainly attributable to higher interest rates earned in 2023.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net decreased $0.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, which was mainly attributable to gain from settlement of foreign currency forward contracts in 2022.
Comparison of the Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023.
Liquidity and Capital Resources; Plan of Operations
Sources of Liquidity
We have funded our operations primarily through the sale and issuance of common stock, redeemable convertible preferred stock, convertible notes, warrants and the sale of royalties. As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $285.5 million. We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to support our operations into 2026.
79
Future Funding Requirements
We have incurred net losses since our inception. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we had net losses of $260.5 million, $333.8 million, and $267.0 million, of which $88.6 million, $106.0 million, and $61.4 million related to non-cash stock-based compensation expense, respectively. We expect to continue to incur additional losses in future periods. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $1,152.5 million. We believe that the cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated operating and capital expenditure requirements at least 12 months following the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could deplete our available capital resources sooner than we expect. Because of the risks and uncertainties associated with research, development and commercialization of product candidates, we are unable to estimate the exact amount of our working capital requirements. Our future funding requirements will depend on and could increase significantly as a result of many factors.
To date, we have not generated any product revenue. We do not expect to generate any product revenue unless and until we obtain regulatory approval of and commercialize any of our product candidates or enter into collaborative agreements with third parties, and we do not know when, or if, either will occur. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect our losses to increase as we continue the development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates, and begin to commercialize any approved products. We are subject to all of the risks typically related to the development of new product candidates, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business.
We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could deplete our capital resources sooner than we expect. The timing and amount of our operating expenditures and capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
A change in the outcome of any of these or other variables with respect to the development of any of our product candidates could significantly change the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate. Furthermore, our operating plans may change in the future, and we will continue to require additional capital to meet operational needs and capital requirements associated with such operating plans. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Any future debt financing into which we enter may impose upon us additional covenants that restrict our operations, including limitations on our ability to incur liens or additional debt, pay dividends, repurchase our common stock, make certain investments and engage in certain merger, consolidation or asset sale transactions. Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce, or terminate some or all of our development programs and clinical trials. We may also be required to sell or license rights to our product candidates in certain territories or indications to others that we would prefer to develop and commercialize ourselves.
The significant uncertainties caused by any public health crises, the on-going geopolitical conflicts, inflation, rising interest rates, bank failures, ongoing supply chain disruptions and volatile equity capital markets may also negatively impact our operations and capital resources. We and our key clinical and manufacturing partners have been able to continue to advance our operations, and we continue to monitor the impact of the aforementioned events on our ability to continue the
80
development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates, and begin to commercialize any approved products. One or more of these events may ultimately have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and operating plans.
Adequate additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategies. See the section titled “Risk Factors” for additional risks associated with our substantial capital requirements.
Summary Statement of Cash Flows
The following table sets forth the primary sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented below (in thousands):
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
||
Net cash provided by (used in): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating activities |
|
$ |
(154,183 |
) |
|
$ |
(206,459 |
) |
Investing activities |
|
|
249,226 |
|
|
|
(336,513 |
) |
Financing activities |
|
|
31 |
|
|
|
1,895 |
|
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash |
|
$ |
95,074 |
|
|
$ |
(541,077 |
) |
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities decreased to $154.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, primarily attributable to a decrease in net loss during the year driven by the maturation of the tarcocimab clinical program and timing of manufacturing activities. Cash used in operating activities was also driven by changes in operating assets and liabilities.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Net cash provided by investing activities was $249.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, primarily related to net maturities of marketable securities of $290.7 million, partially offset by capital expenditures of $41.4 million during the year.
Material Cash Requirements and Material Known Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Operating Leases
Operating lease payments represent our commitment for future minimum rent made under non-cancelable leases for our corporate offices in Palo Alto, California, office and laboratory space in Visp, Switzerland, and related to our Ursus facility. Total future undiscounted payments for our operating lease obligations as of December 31, 2023 were $105.0 million, of which $14.8 million is due in the next twelve months.
Manufacturing Agreements
The Company has entered into service and equipment purchase agreements in the normal course of business with various providers, which can contain minimum commitments or other noncancelable obligations.
As of December 31, 2023, future contractual obligations related to these manufacturing agreements that may be subject to cancellation fees was $15.4 million, of which $11.0 million is expected to be due in the next twelve months.
In addition, future manufacturing contractual obligations totaling approximately 123.0 million Swiss Francs may be incurred for the potential clinical and commercial supply of tarcocimab and other antibody biopolymer conjugates medicines based on the agreements with Lonza for production at the Ursus Facility.
For further information on our leases and manufacturing agreements, refer to Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Clinical Agreements
The Company may incur potential contingent payments upon our achievement of clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, as applicable. Due to the uncertainty of the achievement and timing of the events requiring payment under these agreements, the amounts to be paid by us are not fixed or determinable at this time.
81
Critical Accounting Policies, Significant Judgments and Use of Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, as well as the reported expenses incurred during the reporting periods. Our estimates are based on our historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.
Accrued Research and Development
Our accrued research and development costs are estimated based on the level of services performed, including the phase or completion of events, and contracted costs. Accrued clinical trial and related costs are estimated using data such as patient enrollment, clinical site activations or information provided by outside service providers regarding their actual costs incurred. Management determined accrual estimates through reports from and discussions with clinical personnel and outside service providers as to the progress of trials, or the services completed. The estimated costs of research and development provided, but not yet invoiced, are included in accrued liabilities and other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from the original estimates, we will adjust the accrual accordingly. Payments made to third parties under these arrangements in advance of the performance of the related services are recorded as prepaid expenses and other assets until the services are rendered.
Stock-Based Compensation
We measure and recognize compensation expense for all stock‑based awards made to employees, directors and non‑employees, based on estimated fair values of the awards on the grant date and recognized using the straight‑line method over the requisite service period.
The fair value of options is estimated on the grant date using the Black‑Scholes option valuation model or Monte Carlo simulation model. The calculation of stock‑based compensation expense requires that we make certain assumptions and judgments about a number of complex and subjective variables used in the valuation model, including the expected term, expected volatility of the underlying common stock and risk‑free interest rate. Our stock-based awards are subject to either service, performance-based or market-based vesting conditions. We evaluate whether achievement of the performance conditions is probable and record expense over the appropriate service period based on this assessment.
Changes in these assumptions can materially affect the fair value and ultimately how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
See Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements for stock-based compensation expense and related assumptions used in determining the fair value of our awards.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
We review long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts of the assets may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by comparison of the carrying amount of the assets to the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the assets are expected to generate. If such assets are deemed not recoverable, an impairment loss is recognized in the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the estimated fair value of the assets. We applied significant judgment in determining we have one asset group and that there is no lower level to group assets for impairment testing. The determination of the asset group primarily considers the interdependencies of our assets, shared cost structure, and the interrelated future cash flow generation. We assessed the recoverability of our asset group in 2023 based on our decision to wind-down the tarcocimab program following the topline results from the Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies. We determined that the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the asset group is forecasted to generate exceeded the carrying amount of the asset group and therefore, no impairment loss was recognized in 2023.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is discussed under Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
82
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK
We are exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates. As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $285.5 million, primarily invested in money market funds. As of December 31, 2022, we had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $478.9 million, primarily invested in money market funds and U.S. treasury securities. Due to the short-term nature of the instruments held as of December 31, 2023, we do not believe that a hypothetical 100 basis point, or one percentage point, change in interest rates from levels at December 31, 2023 would have a material impact on the realized value of our cash equivalents. Declines in interest rates, however, would reduce future interest income and cash flows.
We do not believe that other market risks, like foreign currency exchange rate risk, had a significant impact on our results of operations for any periods presented herein.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID: |
|
84 |
Consolidated Financial Statements |
|
|
|
86 |
|
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss |
|
87 |
|
88 |
|
|
89 |
|
|
90 |
83
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Kodiak Sciences Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
84
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
Determination of the Asset Group Used in the Long-Lived Assets Impairment Assessment
As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company reviews long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts of the assets may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by comparison of the carrying amount of the assets to the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the assets are expected to generate. Management applied significant judgment and determined that the Company has one asset group and that there is not a lower level to group assets for impairment testing. The determination of asset group primarily considers the interdependencies of the Company’s assets, shared costs structure, and the interrelated future cash flow generation. Management assessed the recoverability of the Company’s long-lived assets in 2023 based on the Company’s decision to wind-down the tarcocimab program following the topline results from the Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies. Management determined that the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the assets are forecasted to generate exceeded the carrying amount of the assets. Therefore, no impairment loss was recognized in 2023. As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s consolidated long-lived assets balance was $183.7 million.
The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the determination of the asset group used in the long-lived assets impairment assessment is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when developing the estimated undiscounted net cash flows of the long-lived asset group, specifically the determination of the asset group and primary asset for the asset group and (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity and effort in performing procedures related to management’s determination of the asset group and primary asset for the asset group used in the long-lived assets impairment assessment.
Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others (i) understanding management’s process for developing the estimated undiscounted net cash flows of the long-lived asset group; (ii) evaluating the appropriateness of management’s determination of the asset group used in the long-lived assets impairment assessment by evaluating the level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities; and (iii) evaluating the appropriateness of management’s determination of the primary asset for the asset group which included comparing the estimated future cash flows derived from the primary asset compared to other assets within the asset group.
/s/
March 28, 2024
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2016.
85
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
||
Assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Marketable securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Restricted cash |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Property and equipment, net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating lease right-of-use asset |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Other assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total assets |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accounts payable |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Accrued and other current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating lease liability |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating lease liability, net of current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Liability related to sale of future royalties |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Other liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Stockholders’ equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Preferred stock, $ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Common stock, $ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Additional paid-in capital |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Total stockholders’ equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
86
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Research and development |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Loss from operations |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Interest income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Interest expense |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Other income (expense), net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
||
Net loss |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Net loss per common share, basic and diluted |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Other comprehensive income (loss) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to available-for-sale |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Total other comprehensive income (loss) |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Comprehensive loss |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
87
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
|
|
Common Stock |
|
|
Additional |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Total |
|
|||||||||
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Capital |
|
|
Income (Loss) |
|
|
Deficit |
|
|
Equity |
|
||||||
Balances at December 31, 2020 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Issuance of common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Balances at December 31, 2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Issuance of common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Balances at December 31, 2022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Issuance of common stock upon |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Issuance of common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Balances at December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
88
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
|||||||||
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Cash flows from operating activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net loss |
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Depreciation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Loss on disposal of long-lived assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net amortization (accretion) of premium (discount) on marketable securities |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Settlement of derivative contracts |
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Amortization of operating lease right-of-use asset |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Amortization of issuance costs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Changes in assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Other assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Accounts payable |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
||
Accrued and other current liabilities |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Operating lease liability |
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Cash flows from investing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Purchase of property and equipment |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Deposits on property and equipment |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Purchase of marketable securities |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Maturities of marketable securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Proceeds from derivative activity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities |
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Cash flows from financing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock upon options exercise |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock pursuant to employee stock purchase plan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Principal payments of tenant improvement allowance payable |
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash |
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, at beginning of period |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, at end of period |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash to consolidated balance sheets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
Restricted cash |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash in consolidated balance sheets |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Supplemental cash flow information: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Cash paid for interest |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
Supplemental disclosures of non-cash investing and financing information: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Operating lease right-of-use asset obtained in exchange for operating lease liability |
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
||
Purchase of property and equipment under accounts payable and accruals |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
Reclassification of deposits to property and equipment |
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
89
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
1. The Company
Kodiak Sciences Inc. (the “Company”) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat high prevalence retinal diseases. The Company devotes substantially all of its resources to the research and development of its product platforms and product candidates including activities to conduct clinical studies of its product candidates, manufacture product candidates and provide general and administrative support for these operations.
Liquidity
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $
2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”).
Reclassification
Certain prior period amounts in the consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.
Principles of Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the Company’s accounts and the accounts of Kodiak Sciences Financing Corporation and Kodiak Sciences China, the Company’s direct wholly owned subsidiaries, incorporated in the United States and Cayman Islands, respectively, and Kodiak Sciences GmbH and Kodiak Sciences Valais GmbH, the Company’s indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, both incorporated in Switzerland. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The functional and reporting currency of the Company and its subsidiaries is the U.S. dollar. The aggregate foreign currency transaction gain (loss) included in determining net loss was $million, $
Segments
The Company operates and manages its business as
Use of Estimates
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the consolidated financial statements and expenses during the reporting period. Such estimates include, but are not limited to, accrued research and development, stock-based compensation, and impairment of long-lived assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
90
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Risk and Uncertainties
Global economic and business activities continue to face widespread macroeconomic uncertainties, including health epidemics, labor shortages, bank failures, inflation and monetary supply shifts, recession risks and potential disruptions from the geopolitical conflicts. The Company continues to actively monitor the impact of these macroeconomic factors on its financial condition, liquidity, operations, and workforce. The extent of the impact of these factors on the Company’s operational and financial performance, including its ability to execute its business strategies and initiatives in the expected timeframe, will depend on future developments, which are uncertain and cannot be predicted; however, any continued or renewed disruption resulting from these factors could negatively impact the Company’s business.
The Company’s future results of operations involve a number of risks and uncertainties common to clinical stage companies in the biotechnology industry. The Company’s product candidates are in development and the Company operates in an environment of rapid change in technology and substantial competition from other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, uncertainty of results of clinical trials and reaching milestones, uncertainty of regulatory approval of the Company’s potential drug candidates, uncertainty of market acceptance of any of the Company’s product candidates that receive regulatory approval, competition from new technological innovations, substitute products and larger companies, securing and protecting proprietary technology, strategic relationships and dependence on key individuals, contract manufacturer and research organizations, and other suppliers.
Products developed by the Company require approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or other international regulatory agencies prior to commercial sales. There can be no assurance that any of the Company’s product candidates will receive the necessary approvals. If the Company is denied approval, approval is delayed or the Company is unable to maintain approvals, it could have a materially adverse impact on the Company. Even if the Company’s product development efforts are successful, it is uncertain when, if ever, the Company will generate significant revenue from product sales.
The Company expects to incur substantial operating losses for the next several years and will need to obtain additional financing in order to complete clinical trials, launch and commercialize any product candidates for which it receives regulatory approval. There can be no assurance that such financing will be available or will be on terms acceptable by the Company.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with stated maturities of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents.
Marketable Securities
The Company may invest excess cash balances in marketable securities. The investments in marketable securities are classified as either held-to-maturity or available-for-sale based on facts and circumstances present at the time of purchase. Marketable securities with a remaining maturity date greater than one year are classified as non-current. The Company’s marketable securities can consist of U.S. treasury securities, commercial paper, and corporate bonds. Marketable debt securities that are available for sale, are carried at fair value with the unrealized gains and losses included in other comprehensive income (loss) as a component of stockholders’ equity until realized. Any premium or discount arising at purchase of marketable debt securities is amortized and/or accreted to interest income or expense over the life of the instrument. Realized gains and losses are determined using the specific identification method and are included in other income (expense), net. Refer to the Credit Losses – Available-for-Sale Debt Securities section below.
91
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Restricted Cash
As of December 31, 2023, and 2022, the Company had $
Derivatives and Hedging
Derivative instruments that do not qualify for hedge accounting are recognized on the consolidated balance sheet at fair value, with changes in the fair value recognized on the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss as a component of other income (expense), net. The cash flows associated with these derivatives are reflected as cash flows from investing activities in the consolidated statement of cash flows.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 820, Fair Value Measurement, establishes a fair value hierarchy for instruments measured at fair value that distinguishes between assumptions based on market data (observable inputs) and the Company's own assumptions (unobservable inputs). Observable inputs are inputs that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the Company's assumptions about the inputs that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are developed based on the best information available in the circumstances.
Fair value is an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As a basis for considering market participant assumptions in fair value measurements, ASC 820 establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy that distinguishes between the following:
Level 1—Observable inputs, such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date.
Level 2—Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, quoted prices in markets that are not active, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3—Unobservable inputs which reflect management’s best estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. Consideration is given to the risk inherent in the valuation technique and inputs to the model.
To the extent that the valuation is based on models or inputs that are less observable or unobservable in the market, the determination of fair value requires more judgment. Accordingly, the degree of judgment exercised by the Company in determining fair value is greatest for instruments categorized in Level 3. A financial instrument's level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input that is significant to the fair value measurement.
The carrying amounts of the Company’s financial instruments consisting of cash and cash equivalents, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable and accrued liabilities and other current liabilities, approximate fair value due to their relatively short maturities.
Leases
The Company determines if an arrangement is, or contains, a lease at inception and then classifies the lease as operating or financing based on the underlying terms and conditions of the contract. Leases with terms greater than one year are initially recognized on the consolidated balance sheet as right-of-use assets and lease liabilities based on the present value of lease payments over the expected lease term. The interest rate implicit in lease contracts is typically not readily determinable. As such, the Company utilizes the incremental borrowing rate, which is the rate incurred to borrow, on a collateralized basis, an amount equal to the lease payments over a similar term and in a similar economic environment of the applicable country or region. Variable lease payments are excluded from the right of use assets and operating lease liabilities and are recognized in the period in which the obligation for those payments is incurred.
92
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Property and Equipment, Net
Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation. Construction in progress reflects amounts incurred for construction or improvements of property or equipment that have not been placed in service. Construction in progress is transferred to specific property and equipment and depreciated when these assets are ready for their intended use.
Asset Category |
|
Useful Lives |
Furniture and Fixtures |
|
|
Machinery and Equipment |
|
|
Computer Software and Hardware |
|
|
Leasehold improvements |
|
Upon sale or retirement of assets, the costs and related accumulated depreciation are removed from the consolidated balance sheet and the resulting gain or loss is reflected in operations. Maintenance and repairs are charged to operations as incurred.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
The Company reviews long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts of the assets may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by comparison of the carrying amount of the assets to the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the assets are expected to generate. If such assets are deemed not recoverable, an impairment loss is recognized in the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the estimated fair value of the assets. The Company applied significant judgment in determining it has one asset group and that there is no lower level to group assets for impairment testing. The determination of the asset group primarily considers the interdependencies of its assets, shared cost structure, and the interrelated future cash flow generation. The Company assessed the recoverability of its asset group in 2023 based on the Company’s decision to wind-down the tarcocimab program following the topline results from the Phase 3 GLEAM and GLIMMER studies. The Company determined that the estimated undiscounted net cash flows which the asset group was forecasted to generate exceeded the carrying amount of the asset group. Therefore,
Research and Development Expenses
Costs related to research, design and development of products are charged to research and development expense as incurred. Research and development costs include, but are not limited to, payroll and personnel expenses, including stock-based compensation, laboratory supplies, outside services and allocated overhead, including rent, depreciation and utilities.
Accrued Research and Development
The Company has entered into various agreements with various third parties, including clinical investigator sites, contract research organizations (“CROs”) and contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”), to provide research and development activities. The Company’s accrued research and development costs are estimated based on the level of services performed, including the phase or completion of events, and contracted costs. Accrued clinical trial and related costs are estimated using data such as patient enrollment, clinical site activations or information provided by outside service providers regarding their actual costs incurred. Management determines accrual estimates through reports from and discussions with clinical personnel and outside service providers as to the progress of trials, or the services completed. The estimated costs of research and development provided, but not yet invoiced, are included in accrued and other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from the original estimates, the Company will adjust the accrual accordingly. Payments made to third parties under these arrangements in advance of the performance of the related services are recorded as prepaid expenses or other assets until the services are rendered.
93
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with the provisions of ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation. The Company measures stock-based compensation expense for stock options and restricted stock units granted to its employees, directors and non-employees based on the estimated fair value of the awards on the grant date. The fair value of options is calculated using the Black-Scholes valuation model or the Monte Carlo simulation model, which requires the input of subjective assumptions, including (i) the calculation of expected term of the award, (ii) the expected stock price volatility, (iii) the risk-free interest rate, and (iv) expected dividends.
The expected term is determined based on hypothetical exercise data for unexercised stock options.
The expected volatility is estimated based on the Company's historical information for its common stock and supplemented by the historical stock price volatility of a representative peer group over a period equivalent to the expected term of the equity award.
The risk-free interest rate is estimated based on the U.S. Treasury securities with maturity dates commensurate with the expected term of the equity award.
The Company has never paid, and does not expect to pay, dividends in the foreseeable future.
The expense is recorded on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period, for the entire award. The Company accounts for forfeitures as they occur.
The Company has certain stock options and restricted stock units that vest in conjunction with certain performance conditions. At each reporting date, the Company is required to evaluate whether achievement of the performance conditions is probable. Compensation expense is recorded over the appropriate service period based upon the Company's assessment of accomplishing each performance provision. Refer to Note 12.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under the asset and liability method, which requires, among other things, that deferred income taxes be provided for temporary differences between the tax basis of the Company’s assets and liabilities and their financial statement reported amounts. In addition, deferred tax assets are recorded for the future benefit of utilizing net operating losses (“NOLs”) and research and development credit carryforwards and are measured using the enacted tax rates and laws that will be in effect when such items are expected to reverse. A valuation allowance is provided against deferred tax assets unless it is more likely than not that they will be realized.
The Company accounts for uncertain tax positions by assessing all material positions taken in any assessment or challenge by relevant taxing authorities. Assessing an uncertain tax position begins with the initial determination of the position’s sustainability and is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than fifty percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement. The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to the underpayment of income taxes as a component of income tax expense or benefit. To date, there have been
Comprehensive Loss
Comprehensive loss is composed of net loss and other comprehensive income (loss). Other comprehensive income (loss) consists primarily of unrealized gains and losses on debt securities.
94
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Liability related to Sale of Future Royalties
On December 1, 2019, the Company and its subsidiary Kodiak Sciences GmbH entered into a funding agreement with Baker Bros. Advisors, LP ("BBA"), which holds more than
Credit Losses – Available-for-Sale Debt Securities
For available-for-sale debt securities in an unrealized loss position, the Company will periodically assess its portfolio for impairment. The assessment first considers the intent or requirement to sell the security. If either of these criteria are met, the amortized cost basis will be written down to fair value through earnings.
If not met, the Company will evaluate whether the decline resulted from credit losses or other factors by considering the extent to which fair value is less than amortized cost, any changes to the rating of the security by a rating agency, and any adverse conditions specifically related to the security, among other factors. If this assessment indicates that a credit loss exists, the present value of cash flows expected to be collected from the security is compared to the amortized cost basis of the security. If the present value of cash flows expected to be collected is less than the amortized cost basis, a credit loss exists and an allowance for credit losses will be recorded, limited by the amount that the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis. Any impairment that has not been recorded through an allowance for credit losses is recognized in other comprehensive income or loss, as applicable.
Net Loss per Share
Basic net loss per common share is calculated by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common stock outstanding during the period, without consideration of potentially dilutive securities. Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common stock and potentially dilutive securities outstanding for the period. Since the Company has reported net loss for all periods presented, diluted net loss per share is the same as basic net loss per common share for those periods.
Recent accounting pronouncements
From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), under its ASC or other standard setting bodies, and adopted by the Company as of the specified date.
In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280), which requires disclosure of incremental segment information on an annual and interim basis, including enhanced disclosures for companies that have a single reportable segment. The amendment is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023 and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2024, and early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of this amendment on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740), which enhances the disclosures required for income taxes in annual consolidated financial statements. The amendment is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, and early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of this amendment on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
95
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
3. Property and Equipment, net
Property and equipment, net consists of the following (in thousands):
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
||
Furniture and Fixtures |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Machinery and Equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Computer Software and Hardware |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Leasehold Improvement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Construction in Progress |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total property and equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Less: Accumulated depreciation |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Property and equipment, net |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
4. Accrued and Other Current Liabilities
Accrued and other current liabilities consist of the following (in thousands):
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
||
Accrued manufacturing and research & development costs |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Accrued salaries and benefits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued clinical trial and related costs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued legal fees and professional fees |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued property and equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued other liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total accrued and other current liabilities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
5. Fair Value Measurements
The following tables present the Company’s fair value hierarchy for assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis (in thousands):
|
|
Fair Value Measurements at December 31, 2023 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Level 1 |
|
|
Level 2 |
|
|
Level 3 |
|
|
Total |
|
||||
Cash equivalents: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Money market funds |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Marketable securities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
U.S. treasury securities |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
Fair Value Measurements at December 31, 2022 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Level 1 |
|
|
Level 2 |
|
|
Level 3 |
|
|
Total |
|
||||
Cash equivalents: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Money market funds |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Marketable securities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
U.S. treasury securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Total |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the fair value of the liability related to sale of future royalties is based on the Company's current estimates of future royalties expected to be paid to BBA, which are considered Level 3 inputs. Refer to
96
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Note 15. There were
6. Marketable Securities
Marketable securities are classified as available-for-sale. The Company obtains fair value measurement data from third party pricing services and understands the valuation methods and data sources to validate this information.
The following table presents the Company's marketable securities by major security type (in thousands):
As of December 31, 2022 |
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Fair |
|
||||
U.S. treasury securities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||
Total |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||
As of December 31, 2023, there were no marketable securities. All marketable securities held as of December 31, 2022 had effective maturities of less than one year. The unrealized losses for marketable securities related to changes in interest rates. There were no reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), impairment charges or recoveries and no allowance for credit losses recorded during the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
7. Derivatives
The Company uses certain derivative instruments, that are not designated as hedges for accounting purposes, which include foreign currency forward contracts. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company did not have any outstanding derivative instruments.
8. Commitments and Contingencies
Leases
Palo Alto, California Leases
In June 2020, the Company entered into lease agreements for
Switzerland Lease
In April 2020, the Company entered into a lease agreement for office and laboratory space at Rottenstrasse 5 in Visp, Switzerland. The space is approximately
97
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Ursus Facility
In August 2020, the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary Kodiak Sciences GmbH entered into a manufacturing agreement with Lonza Ltd (“Lonza”) for the clinical and commercial supply of the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugate drug substance which included a custom-built manufacturing facility. The manufacturing agreement has an initial term of
In April 2021, the agreement was amended to provide for greater manufacturing flexibility, to define a comprehensive mandate as an antibody biopolymer conjugates manufacturing facility to be used for the Company’s antibody biopolymer conjugates pipeline, at clinical as well as commercial scales, across a broad capacity range under the tight quality controls required for ophthalmology and retinal medicines, and to allow for future process and equipment changes as needed.
The Company concluded that this agreement contained an embedded lease as the custom-built manufacturing suite would be dedicated for the Company’s use. On January 31, 2023, the custom-built manufacturing suite was commissioned as a cGMP facility. The consideration was allocated to lease and non-lease components as this agreement contained a significant service component (manufacturing services). Under ASC 842, the Company classified the lease portion as an operating lease and recorded a right-of-use asset and lease liability on the lease commencement date. The Company determined that the renewal options were not reasonably certain at lease inception.
Fixed assets of $
The maturities of the operating lease liabilities, including the Ursus Facility lease, as of December 31, 2023 were as follows (in thousands):
Year ending December 31, |
|
As of |
|
|
2024 |
|
$ |
|
|
2025 |
|
|
|
|
2026 |
|
|
|
|
2027 |
|
|
|
|
2028 |
|
|
|
|
Thereafter |
|
|
|
|
Total undiscounted lease payments |
|
|
|
|
Less: imputed interest |
|
|
( |
) |
Total operating lease liabilities |
|
$ |
|
|
The minimum lease payments above do not include any related common area maintenance charges or real estate taxes. The operating lease expenses for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 were $
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
||
Weighted-average remaining lease term (in years) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Weighted-average discount rate |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
||
Manufacturing Agreements
The Company has entered into service and equipment purchase agreements in the normal course of business with various providers, pursuant to which such providers agreed to perform activities in connection with the manufacturing process of certain materials. These agreements, and any related amendments, state that planned activities and purchases that are included in the signed work orders are, in some cases, binding and, hence, obligate the Company to pay the full price of the work order upon satisfactory delivery of products and services or obligate the Company to the binding amount regardless of whether such planned activities are in fact performed. Per the terms of the agreements, the Company has the option to cancel signed orders at any time upon written notice, which may or may not be subject to payment of a cancellation fee. The level of cancellation fees may be dependent on the timing of the written notice in relation to the commencement date of the work, with the maximum cancellation amount dependent on the agreement or the work order.
98
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
As of December 31, 2023, future contractual obligations related to these manufacturing agreements that may be subject to cancellation fees, was $
In addition, future manufacturing contractual obligations totaling approximately
Other Funding Commitments
In the normal course of business, the Company enters into agreements with third-parties for services to be provided to the Company. Generally, these agreements provide for termination upon notice, with specified amounts due upon termination based on the timing of termination and the terms of the agreement. The actual amounts and timing of payments under these agreements are uncertain and contingent upon the initiation and completion of services to be provided to the Company.
The Company has also entered into various cancellable license agreements for certain technology. The Company may be obligated to make payments on future sales of specified products associated with such license agreements. Such payments are dependent on future product sales and are not estimable.
Legal Proceedings
From time to time, the Company may become involved in legal proceedings arising from the ordinary course of its business. Management is currently not aware of any matters that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The Company records a legal liability when it believes that it is both probable that a liability may be imputed, and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment by the Company is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount.
Indemnification
To the extent permitted under Delaware law, the Company has agreed to indemnify its directors and officers for certain events or occurrences while the director or officer is, or was serving, at the Company’s request in such capacity. The indemnification period covers all pertinent events and occurrences during the director’s or officer’s service. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is not specified in the agreements; however, the Company has director and officer insurance coverage that reduces its exposure and enables the Company to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. The Company believes the estimated fair value of these indemnification agreements in excess of applicable insurance coverage is minimal.
9. Income Taxes
The components of loss before income taxes were as follows (in thousands):
|
|
Year Ended December 31, 2023 |
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
|||
United States |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Foreign |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Total loss before income taxes |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
The provision (benefit) for income taxes consists of the following (in thousands):
99
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
|
|
Year Ended December 31, 2023 |
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
|||
Current: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Federal |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
State |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Foreign |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total current |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Deferred: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Federal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
State |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Foreign |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total deferred |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Provision (Benefit) for income taxes |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant components of the net deferred tax assets are as follows (in thousands):
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
||
Deferred tax assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Net operating loss carryforwards |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
||
Intangible assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Research and development tax credits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accruals |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating lease liability |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Sec. 174 Capitalized R&D |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total deferred tax assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Valuation allowance |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Net deferred tax assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Deferred tax liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Operating lease right-of-use asset |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Property and equipment |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Total deferred tax liabilities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
Total net deferred tax assets |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
||
The Company has recorded a full valuation allowance against its net deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty as to whether such assets will be realized. The net change in the total valuation allowance for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, was an increase of approximately $
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the option to deduct research and development expenditures currently and requires taxpayers to capitalize and amortize them pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 174 beginning in 2022. The capitalized expenses are amortized over a 5-year period for domestic expenses and a 15-year period for foreign expenses.
NOLs and tax credit carry-forwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in the ownership interest of significant shareholders over a three-year period in excess of 50% as defined under Sections 382 and 383 in the Internal Revenue Code, which could limit the amount of tax attributes that can be utilized annually to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities. The amount of the annual limitation is determined based on the Company’s value immediately prior to the ownership change. The Company periodically completes a Section 382 analysis. Subsequent ownership changes since the most recent study may further affect the limitation in future years.
100
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $
As of December 31, 2023, the Company also had federal and state research and development credit carryforwards of approximately $
California Senate Bill 113 (SB 113), was signed into law by Governor Newsom on February 9, 2022. The legislation contains important California tax law changes, including reinstatement of business tax credits and net NOL deductions limited by AB 85 mentioned above. Given the Company’s taxable loss position, this legislation did not impact the tax provision for the years ended December 31, 2023 or 2022.
A reconciliation of the Company’s effective tax rate to the statutory U.S. federal rate is as follows:
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|||
Federal statutory income tax rate |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|||
State taxes |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Foreign tax rate differential |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Change in valuation allowance |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Research tax credit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Other |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Sale of future royalties |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Section 162(m) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
||
Intangible valuation |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Provision for income taxes |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|||
The Company recognizes benefits of uncertain tax positions if it is more likely than not that such positions will be sustained upon examination based solely on their technical merits, as the largest amount of benefit that is more likely than not to be realized upon the ultimate settlement. As of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021,
The beginning and ending unrecognized tax benefits amounts are as follows (in thousands):
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|||
Unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of period |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
Increases related to current year tax positions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Unrecognized tax benefits at end of period |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
The Company files income tax returns in the United States and Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Tax Administration is currently conducting examinations of the Company's tax returns for the years 2018 through 2022. All US tax returns remain open for examination by the federal and state authorities for and
101
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
10. Preferred Stock
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorized the Company to issue up to
11. Common Stock
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorized the Company to issue
The Company had reserved common stock for future issuances as follows:
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|
December 31, |
|
||
Exercise of options outstanding and release of restricted shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Issuance of common stock under the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Issuance of common stock under the 2018 Employee Share Purchase Plan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
12. Stock-Based Compensation
2018 Equity Incentive Plan
In August 2018, the Company adopted the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (“2018 Plan”), which became effective on the business day prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement relating to the IPO. The 2018 Plan initially reserved
The number of shares available for issuance increased by
2021 Long-Term Performance Incentive Plan
The 2021 Long-Term Performance Incentive Plan (“2021 LTPIP”) was designed to be a long-term, pay-for-performance, incentive plan that would further align the interests of management and other eligible employees with the creation of substantial long-term value for the Company's stockholders. During 2021, eligible employees were provided a one-time opportunity to "opt-in" and forgo a portion of their annual equity incentive awards in exchange for a one-time grant of performance-based stock options from the 2021 LTPIP and 2018 Plan, collectively referred to as the "LTPIP Program". There were no options granted under the LTPIP Program for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Shares underlying the options granted under the LTPIP Program may be earned based on the achievement of the performance-based requirement based on stock price goals and/or certain operational milestones based on approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a Biologics License Application in respect of a first, second, and third major indication and based on sales. The performance-based requirement and operational milestones were not achieved as of December 31, 2023.
102
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
The Company determined the exchange of the original award of annual equity incentive awards with the modified award of options granted under the LTPIP Program represented a change in the original terms and conditions. The modification resulted in additional compensation cost equal to the incremental value between the original and modified awards to be recognized. For the annual equity incentive awards, the Company continues to record the unrecognized compensation expense over the original vesting period. For the options granted under the LTPIP Program, the stock-based compensation expense recognized during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 was $
As of December 31, 2023, there was $
Stock Options
Stock option activity, including stock options and performance-based stock options under the 2021 LTPIP, 2018 Plan and 2015 Plan is summarized as follows:
|
|
Number |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
Aggregate |
|
||||
Outstanding at December 31, 2022 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Granted |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Exercised |
|
|
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Forfeited or canceled |
|
|
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Outstanding at December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Shares exercisable December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Vested and expected to vest December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||||
The weighted-average grant date fair value of the time-vested stock options granted for 2023, 2022 and 2021 was $
Employee Stock Options
The Company estimated the fair value of employee stock options using the Black-Scholes valuation model. The fair value of time-vested employee stock options was estimated using the following weighted-average assumptions:
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Expected volatility |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|||
Risk-free interest rate |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|||
Dividend yield |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|
|
% |
|||
Expected term |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
The Company granted
103
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Restricted Shares
Restricted share activity, including restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, and performance-based restricted stock units, under the 2018 Plan is summarized as follows:
|
|
Number of |
|
|
Weighted |
|
||
Unvested at December 31, 2022 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Granted |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Vested |
|
|
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|
Canceled |
|
|
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|
Unvested at December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Employee Restricted Stock Units
The Company granted
Non-Employee Awards
The Company granted
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Expected volatility |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
|
|
% |
|||
Risk-free interest rate |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
|
|
% |
|||
Dividend yield |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
|
|
% |
|||
Expected term |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
The Company granted no stock options or RSUs to non-employees during the year ended December 31, 2022. Stock-based compensation expense recognized during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 for equity awards granted to non-employees was $
Performance-Based Awards
In December 2019, the Company granted
The Company estimated the fair value of the 2019 PSA using the Black-Scholes valuation model and significant assumptions included an expected volatility of
In February 2021, the Company granted
104
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
The Company estimated the fair value of the 2021 Feb PSO using the Black-Scholes valuation model. Significant assumptions utilized in estimating the fair value of 2021 Feb PSO include an expected volatility of
In August 2021, the Company granted
Performance-based awards are recorded as expense beginning when vesting events are determined to be probable. Stock-based compensation expense recognized during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 for the performance-based equity awards was $
2018 Employee Share Purchase Plan
In August 2018, the Company adopted the 2018 Employee Share Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), which became effective on the business day prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement relating to the IPO. A total of
The Company issued
Stock-Based Compensation Expense
Stock-based compensation is classified in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss as follows (in thousands):
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Research and development |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total stock-based compensation |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $
Shares Subject to Repurchase
The Company has a right of repurchase with respect to unvested shares issued upon early exercise of options at an amount equal to the lower of (1) the exercise price of each restricted share being repurchased and (2) the fair market value of such restricted share at the time the Company’s right of repurchase is exercised. The Company’s right to repurchase these shares lapses as those shares vest over the requisite service period.
Shares purchased by employees pursuant to the early exercise of stock options are not deemed, for accounting purposes, to be issued until those shares vest according to their respective vesting schedules. Cash received for early exercised stock options is recorded as accrued liabilities and other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet and is reclassified to common stock and additional paid-in capital as such shares vest. At December 31, 2023, there were no early exercised stock options subject to the Company’s right of repurchase.
105
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
13. Net Loss per Common Share
The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders which excludes shares which are legally outstanding, but subject to repurchase by the Company (in thousands, except share and per share data):
|
|
Year Ended |
|
|||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net loss attributable to common stockholders |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Weighted-average shares outstanding used in |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
The following common share equivalents were excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per common share for the periods presented because their inclusion would have been antidilutive:
|
|
As of December 31, |
|
|||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
|||
Outstanding stock options |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Unvested restricted shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
14. 401(k) Plan
In 2011, the Company adopted a 401(k) covering all employees. The 401(k) plan allows employees to make pre- and post-tax contributions up to the maximum allowable amount set by the Internal Revenue Service. The
15. Liability related to Sale of Future Royalties
On December 1, 2019, the Company and its subsidiary Kodiak Sciences GmbH entered into a funding agreement with BBA, which holds more than
The closing of the funding agreement was subject to certain conditions and occurred in February 2020. The Company received $
The Company recorded the initial $
106
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021,
107
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
None.
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Management’s Evaluation of our Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023. Based upon such evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level as of December 31, 2023.
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Under the supervision of and with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 based on the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in “Internal Control—Integrated Framework” (2013). Based on this assessment, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.
We are a non-accelerated filer under the Exchange Act and not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Therefore, this Annual Report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023.
Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls
Because of inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements and projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2023, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.
ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS
Not applicable.
108
PART III
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required by this item will be contained in our definitive proxy statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with the Annual Meeting of Stockholders within 120 days after December 31, 2023, or the Proxy Statement, under the caption “Executive Officers” and “Board of Directors and Corporate Governance”, and is incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference.
Our board of directors has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to all of our employees, officers and directors, including our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and other executive and senior financial officers. The full text of our Corporate Governance Guidelines and Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on the Corporate Governance portion of our website at ir.kodiak.com/corporate-governance/governance-overview. We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirements under Item 5.05 of the SEC Form 8-K regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of our Code of Conduct by posting such information on our website at the website address and location specified above.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement under the caption “Executive Compensation” and is incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference.
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The information required by this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement under the caption “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” and is incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference.
The information required by this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement under the caption “Related Person Transactions” and is incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference.
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
The information required by this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement under the caption “Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” and is incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference.
109
PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:
(1) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The consolidated financial statements are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under Item 8.
(2) FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
All schedules to the consolidated financial statements are omitted as the required information is either inapplicable or presented in the consolidated financial statements.
(3) EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit |
|
|
|
Incorporated by Reference |
||||||
Number |
|
Description |
|
Form |
|
File No. |
|
Exhibit |
|
Filing Date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.1 |
|
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Kodiak Sciences Inc. |
|
10-Q |
|
001-38682 |
|
3.1 |
|
11/16/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.2 |
|
|
10-Q |
|
001-38682 |
|
3.2 |
|
11/16/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.1 |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
4.1 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.2 |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
4.2 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.5 |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
4.5 |
|
9/7/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.6 |
|
|
10-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
4.6 |
|
3/16/2020 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.7 |
|
|
10-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
4.7 |
|
3/1/2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.1+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.1 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.2+ |
|
|
S-1 |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.2 |
|
9/7/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.3+ |
|
|
S-1 |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.3 |
|
9/7/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.4+ |
|
|
S-1 |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.4 |
|
9/7/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.5+ |
|
Form of Notice of Stock Option Grant and Stock Option Agreement under the 2015 Share Incentive Plan |
|
S-1 |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.5 |
|
9/7/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.6+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.6 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.7+ |
|
Form of Notice of Stock Option Grant and Stock Option Agreement under the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan |
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.7 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.8+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.8 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.9+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.9 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
110
Exhibit |
|
|
|
Incorporated by Reference |
||||||
Number |
|
Description |
|
Form |
|
File No. |
|
Exhibit |
|
Filing Date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.10+ |
|
Form of Subscription Agreement under the 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan |
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.10 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.11+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.11 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.12+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.12 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.13+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.14 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.14+ |
|
|
S-1/A |
|
333-227237 |
|
10.15 |
|
9/24/2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.15*+ |
|
|
10-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.16 |
|
3/1/2022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.16 |
|
|
8-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.1 |
|
12/2/2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.17 |
|
|
10-Q |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.1 |
|
8/10/2020 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.18 |
|
|
10-Q |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.2 |
|
8/10/2020 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.19 |
|
|
8-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
1.1 |
|
11/18/2020 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.20 |
|
|
8-K |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.1 |
|
7/23/2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.2 |
|
|
10-Q |
|
001-38682 |
|
10.1 |
|
11/9/2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23.1* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
24.1* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
31.1* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
111
Exhibit |
|
|
|
Incorporated by Reference |
||||||
Number |
|
Description |
|
Form |
|
File No. |
|
Exhibit |
|
Filing Date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
31.2* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
32.1* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
32.2* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
97.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
101.INS |
|
Inline XBRL Instance Document |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
101.SCH |
|
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema With Embedded Linkbases Document |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
104 |
|
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Filed herewith.
+ Indicates management contract or compensatory plan.
ITEM 16. FORM 10-K SUMMARY
None.
112
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
|
|
KODIAK SCIENCES INC. |
|
|
|
|
|
Date: March 28, 2024
|
|
By: |
/s/ Victor Perlroth |
|
|
|
Victor Perlroth, M.D. |
|
|
|
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
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POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Victor Perlroth and John Borgeson, jointly and severally, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place, and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming that all said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated:
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Date |
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/s/ Victor Perlroth |
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
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March 28, 2024 |
Victor Perlroth, M.D. |
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/s/ John Borgeson |
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Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
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March 28, 2024
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John Borgeson |
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/s/ Felix J. Baker |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Felix J. Baker, Ph.D. |
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/s/ Charles Bancroft |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Charles Bancroft |
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/s/ Bassil I. Dahiyat |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D. |
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/s/ Richard S. Levy |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Richard S. Levy, M.D. |
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/s/ Robert A. Profusek |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Robert A. Profusek, J.D. |
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/s/ Taiyin Yang |
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Director |
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March 28, 2024
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Taiyin Yang, Ph.D. |
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113
Exhibit 23.1
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
We hereby consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statements on Form S-3 (Nos. 333-271043 and 333-271946) and Form S‑8 (Nos. 333-227755, 333-231503, 333-253751, 333-261670, 333-264829 and 333-270907) of Kodiak Sciences Inc. of our report dated March 28, 2024 relating to the financial statements, which appears in this Form 10-K.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
San Jose, California
March 28, 2024
Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
RULES 13a-14(a) AND 15d-14(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Victor Perlroth, M.D., certify that:
Date: March 28, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Victor Perlroth |
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Victor Perlroth, M.D. |
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
RULES 13a-14(a) AND 15d-14(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, John Borgeson, certify that:
Date: March 28, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ John Borgeson |
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John Borgeson |
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Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Kodiak Sciences Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, to the best of my knowledge, that:
Date: March 28, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Victor Perlroth |
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Victor Perlroth, M.D. |
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.
This certification accompanies the Report to which it relates, is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Kodiak Sciences Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (whether made before or after the date of the Report), irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Kodiak Sciences Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, to the best of my knowledge, that:
Date: March 28, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ John Borgeson |
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John Borgeson |
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Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.
This certification accompanies the Report to which it relates, is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Kodiak Sciences Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (whether made before or after the date of the Report), irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.
Exhibit 97.1
Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Incentive Compensation Recoupment Policy
The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Kodiak Sciences Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), has determined that it is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders to adopt this Incentive Compensation Recoupment Policy (this “Policy”) providing for the Company’s recoupment of Recoverable Incentive Compensation that is received by Covered Officers of the Company under certain circumstances. Certain capitalized terms used in this Policy have the meanings given to such terms in Section 3 below.
This Policy is designed to comply with, and shall be interpreted to be consistent with, Section 10D of the Exchange Act, Rule 10D-1 promulgated thereunder (“Rule 10D-1”) and Nasdaq Listing Rule 5608 (the “Listing Standards”).
This Policy shall apply to all Incentive Compensation that is received by a Covered Officer on or after October 2, 2023 (the “Effective Date”). Incentive Compensation is deemed “received” in the Company’s fiscal period in which the Financial Reporting Measure specified in the Incentive Compensation award is attained, even if the payment or grant of such Incentive Compensation occurs after the end of that period.
“Accounting Restatement” means an accounting restatement that the Company is required to prepare due to the material noncompliance of the Company with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, including any required accounting restatement to correct an error in previously issued financial statements that is material to the previously issued financial statements, or that would result in a material misstatement if the error were corrected in the current period or left uncorrected in the current period.
“Accounting Restatement Date” means the earlier to occur of (a) the date that the Board, a committee of the Board authorized to take such action, or the officer or officers of the Company authorized to take such action if Board action is not required, concludes, or reasonably should have concluded, that the Company is required to prepare an Accounting Restatement, or (b) the date that a court, regulator or other legally authorized body directs the Company to prepare an Accounting Restatement.
“Administrator” means the Compensation Committee or, in the absence of such committee, the Board.
“Code” means the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
“Compensation Committee” means the Compensation Committee of the Board.
“Covered Officer” means each current and former Executive Officer.
“Exchange” means the Nasdaq Stock Market.
“Exchange Act” means the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
“Executive Officer” means the Company’s president, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer (or if there is no such accounting officer, the controller), any vice-president of the Company in charge of a principal business unit, division, or function (such as sales, administration, or finance), any other officer who performs a policy-making function, or any other person who performs similar policy-making functions for the Company. Executive officers of the Company’s parent(s) or subsidiaries are deemed executive officers of the Company if they perform such policy-making functions for the Company. Policy-making function is not intended to include policy-making functions that are not significant. Identification of an executive officer for purposes of this Policy would include at a minimum executive officers identified pursuant to Item 401(b) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Exchange Act.
“Financial Reporting Measures” means measures that are determined and presented in accordance with the accounting principles used in preparing the Company’s financial statements, and any measures derived wholly or in part from such measures, including Company stock price and total stockholder return (“TSR”). A measure need not be presented in the Company’s financial statements or included in a filing with the SEC in order to be a Financial Reporting Measure.
“Incentive Compensation” means any compensation that is granted, earned or vested based wholly or in part upon the attainment of a Financial Reporting Measure.
“Lookback Period” means the three completed fiscal years immediately preceding the Accounting Restatement Date, as well as any transition period (resulting from a change in the Company’s fiscal year) within or immediately following those three completed fiscal years (except that a transition period of at least nine months shall count as a completed fiscal year). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Lookback Period shall not include fiscal years completed prior to the Effective Date.
“Recoverable Incentive Compensation” means Incentive Compensation received by a Covered Officer during the Lookback Period that exceeds the amount of Incentive Compensation that would have been received had such amount been determined based on the Accounting Restatement, computed without regard to any taxes paid (i.e., on a gross basis without regarding to tax withholdings and other deductions). For any compensation plans or programs that take into account Incentive Compensation, the amount of Recoverable Incentive Compensation for purposes of this Policy shall include, without limitation, the amount contributed to any notional account based on Recoverable Incentive Compensation and any earnings to date on that notional amount. For any Incentive Compensation that is based on stock price or TSR, where the Recoverable Incentive Compensation is not subject to mathematical recalculation directly from the information in an Accounting Restatement, the Administrator will determine the amount of Recoverable Incentive Compensation based on a reasonable estimate of the effect of the Accounting Restatement on the stock price or TSR upon which the Incentive Compensation was received. The Company shall maintain documentation of the determination of that reasonable estimate and provide such documentation to the Exchange in accordance with the Listing Standards.
“SEC” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Except as specifically set forth herein, this Policy shall be administered by the Administrator. The Administrator shall have full and final authority to make any and all determinations required under this Policy. Any determination by the Administrator with respect to this Policy shall be final, conclusive and binding on all interested parties and need not be uniform with respect to each individual covered by this Policy. In carrying out the administration of this Policy, the Administrator is authorized and directed to consult with the full Board or such other committees of the Board as may be necessary or appropriate as to matters within the scope of such other committee’s responsibility and authority. Subject to applicable law, the Administrator may authorize and empower any officer or employee of the Company to take any and all actions that the Administrator, in its sole discretion, deems necessary or appropriate to carry out the purpose and intent of this Policy (other than with respect to any recovery under this Policy involving such officer or employee).
If any provision of this Policy or the application of any such provision to a Covered Officer shall be adjudicated to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other provisions of this Policy, and the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provisions shall be deemed amended to the minimum extent necessary to render any such provision or application enforceable.
Nothing contained in this Policy, and no recoupment or recovery as contemplated herein, shall limit any claims, damages or other legal remedies the Company or any of its affiliates may have against a Covered Officer arising out of or resulting from any actions or omissions by the Covered Officer. This Policy does not preclude the Company from taking any other action to enforce a Covered Officer’s obligations to the Company, including, without limitation, termination of employment and/or institution of civil proceedings. This Policy is in addition to the requirements of Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX 304”) that are applicable to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and to any other compensation recoupment policy and/or similar provisions in any employment, equity plan, equity award, or other individual agreement, to which the Company is a party or which the Company has adopted or may adopt and maintain from time to time; provided, however, that compensation recouped pursuant to this policy shall not be duplicative of compensation recouped pursuant to SOX 304 or any such compensation recoupment policy and/or similar provisions in any such employment, equity plan, equity award, or other individual agreement except as may be required by law.
The Administrator may amend, terminate or replace this Policy or any portion of this Policy at any time and from time to time in its sole discretion. The Administrator shall amend this Policy as it deems necessary to comply with applicable law or any Listing Standard.
This Policy shall be binding and enforceable against all Covered Officers and, to the extent required by Rule 10D-1 and/or the applicable Listing Standards, their beneficiaries, heirs, executors, administrators or other legal representatives.
10. Required Filings
The Company shall make any disclosures and filings with respect to this Policy that are required by law, including as required by the SEC.
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