Metagenomi Therapeutics, Inc 10-Q for FY2024 Q3
Metagenomi Therapeutics, Inc. (MGX)
About this 10-Q
Metagenomi Therapeutics, Inc filed this 10-Q on November 13, 2024, covering the quarter ended September 30, 2024 (FY2024 Q3).
Headline figures
Quarter ended September 30, 2024, as reported in this filing, compared with the same period a year earlier where the filing states it.
- Revenue
- $11.51M
- down 6.9% from $12.36M a year earlier
- Net loss
- $18.77M
- compared with a net loss of $19.82M a year earlier
- Diluted EPS
- -$0.51
- compared with -$5.82 a year earlier
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the quarterly period ended
OR
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number:
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer |
(Address of principal executive offices) |
(Zip Code) |
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(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer |
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Accelerated filer |
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Smaller reporting company |
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Emerging growth company |
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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No
As of November 7, 2024, the registrant had
Table of Contents
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Page |
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PART I. |
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Item 1. |
3 |
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3 |
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Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss |
4 |
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5 |
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6 |
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Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements |
7 |
Item 2. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
23 |
Item 3. |
32 |
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Item 4. |
32 |
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PART II. |
34 |
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Item 1. |
34 |
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Item 1A. |
34 |
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Item 2. |
86 |
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Item 3. |
87 |
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Item 4. |
87 |
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Item 5. |
87 |
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Item 6. |
88 |
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89 |
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i
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains express or implied forward-looking statements that are based on our management’s belief and assumptions and on information currently available to our management and which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future operational or financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q include, but are not limited to, statements about:
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and are subject to change. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect results. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties.
Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those listed under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. You should read this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the documents that we reference in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
1
The forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q represent our views as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
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 10-Q, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain.
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q also contains estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business and the markets for our programs and product candidates. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances that are assumed in this information. Unless otherwise expressly stated, we obtained this industry, business, market, and other data from our own internal estimates and research as well as from reports, research surveys, studies, and similar data prepared by market research firms and other third parties, industry, medical and general publications, government data and similar sources. While we are not aware of any misstatements regarding any third-party information presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, their estimates, in particular, as they relate to projections, involve numerous assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
From time to time, we may use our website to distribute material information about us and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Our financial and other material information is routinely posted to and accessible on the Investor Relations section of our website, available at https://ir.metagenomi.co/. Investors are encouraged to review the Investor Relations section of our website because we may post material information on that site that is not otherwise disseminated by us. Information that is contained in and can be accessed through our website are not incorporated into, and does not form a part of, this Quarterly Report.
Trademarks and Service Marks
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains references to our trademarks and service marks and to those belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including logos, artwork and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate in any way that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other entities’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other entity.
Market, Industry and Other Data
Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations about our product candidates, market position, market opportunity, market size, competitive position and the incidence of certain medical conditions, is based on or derived from publicly available information released by industry analysts and third-party sources, independent market research, industry and general publications and surveys, governmental agencies, our internal research and our industry experience. Our estimates of the potential market opportunities for our product candidates include a number of key assumptions based on our industry knowledge and industry publications, the latter of which may be based on small sample sizes and fail to accurately reflect such information, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While we believe that our internal assumptions are reasonable, no independent source has verified such assumptions. Industry publications and third-party research often indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information and such information is inherently imprecise. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same sources, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate is necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by independent third parties and by us.
2
PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements.
Metagenomi, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share and per share data)
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September 30, |
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December 31, |
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2024 |
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2023 |
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Assets |
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Current assets: |
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Cash and cash equivalents |
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$ |
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$ |
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Available-for-sale marketable securities |
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Accounts receivable |
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Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
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Total current assets |
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Property and equipment, net |
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Long-term investments |
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Operating lease right-of-use assets |
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Other assets |
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Restricted cash |
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Total assets |
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$ |
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$ |
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Liabilities, Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) |
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Current liabilities: |
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Accounts payable |
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$ |
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$ |
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Income tax payable |
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Accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
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Current portion of operating lease liabilities |
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Collaboration advance |
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Deferred revenue |
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Total current liabilities |
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Non-current portion of operating lease liabilities |
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Deferred revenue, non-current |
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Other non-current liabilities |
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Total liabilities |
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Redeemable convertible preferred stock: |
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Stockholders’ equity (deficit): |
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Preferred stock: $ |
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Common stock: $ |
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Additional paid-in-capital |
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Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) |
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( |
) |
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Accumulated deficit |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
Total stockholders’ equity (deficit) |
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( |
) |
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Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity (deficit) |
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$ |
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$ |
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The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
3
Metagenomi, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share and per share data)
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Three Months Ended |
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Nine Months Ended |
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2024 |
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2023 |
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2024 |
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2023 |
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Collaboration revenue |
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$ |
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$ |
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$ |
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$ |
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Operating expenses: |
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Research and development |
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General and administrative |
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Total operating expenses |
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Loss from operations |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
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Other income (expense): |
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Interest income |
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Change in fair value of long-term investments |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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Other expense, net |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
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Total other income, net |
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Net loss before benefit (provision) for income taxes |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
Benefit (provision) for income taxes |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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Net loss |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
Other comprehensive income (loss): |
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Unrealized gain (loss) on available-for-sale marketable securities |
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( |
) |
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Comprehensive loss |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
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$ |
( |
) |
Weighted average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted |
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The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
4
Metagenomi, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share data)
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Redeemable Convertible |
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Common Stock |
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Additional Paid-In |
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Accumulated Other |
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Accumulated |
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Total |
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Shares |
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Amount |
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Shares |
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Amount |
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Capital |
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Income (Loss) |
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Deficit |
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Equity (Deficit) |
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BALANCE—December 31, 2023 |
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$ |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
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$ |
( |
) |
||||
Issuance of common stock and restricted common stock in exchange for profits interests upon Reorganization |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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Conversion of redeemable convertible preferred stock to common stock upon initial public offering |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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— |
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— |
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Issuance of common stock in connection with initial public offering, net of issuance costs |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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Forfeiture of unvested common stock |
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— |
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— |
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( |
) |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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Stock-based compensation expense |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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Other comprehensive loss |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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( |
) |
|
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— |
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( |
) |
Net loss |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
BALANCE—March 31, 2024 |
|
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— |
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— |
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|
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( |
) |
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( |
) |
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||||
Forfeiture of unvested common stock |
|
|
— |
|
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|
— |
|
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( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
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|
— |
|
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— |
|
Stock-based compensation expense |
|
|
— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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||
Other comprehensive income |
|
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— |
|
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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||
Net loss |
|
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— |
|
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— |
|
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— |
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— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
BALANCE—June 30, 2024 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
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||||
Vesting of restricted stock units |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Forfeiture of unvested common stock |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
Stock-based compensation expense |
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— |
|
|
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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||
Other comprehensive income |
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|
— |
|
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|
— |
|
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|
— |
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|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
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|
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— |
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||
Net loss |
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|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
BALANCE—September 30, 2024 |
|
|
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||||
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|
||||||||
BALANCE—December 31, 2022 |
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|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
||||
Issuance of Series B-1 redeemable convertible preferred stock |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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— |
|
|
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— |
|
|
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— |
|
|
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— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
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||
Stock-based compensation expense |
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|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
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— |
|
|
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|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive income |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
BALANCE—March 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
||||
Stock-based compensation expense |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
BALANCE—June 30, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
||||
Stock-based compensation expense |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Other comprehensive income |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Net loss |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
BALANCE—September 30, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
5
Metagenomi, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)
|
|
Nine Months Ended September 30, |
|
|||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||
Cash flows from operating activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Net loss |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Stock-based compensation expense |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Depreciation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Loss on fixed assets write-off |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Non-cash lease expense |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Amortization of premiums and discounts on available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Amortization of non-cash collaboration revenue |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Change in fair value of long-term investments |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accounts receivable |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
Contract assets |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Prepaid expenses and other assets |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Accounts payable |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Income tax payable |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Deferred revenue and collaboration advance |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Operating lease liabilities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Other non-current liabilities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Net cash used in operating activities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Cash flows from investing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Purchases of property and equipment |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Purchases of available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Purchases of long-term investments |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
Net cash used in investing activities |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
( |
) |
Cash flows from financing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock upon initial public offering, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Proceeds from issuance of redeemable convertible preferred stock, net of issuance costs |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Payments of initial public offering costs |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Net cash provided by financing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Net 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 |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash information |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Conversion of redeemable convertible preferred stock to common stock upon initial public offering |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
Issuance of common stock and restricted common stock in exchange for profits interests upon Reorganization |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
Reclassification of deferred offering costs paid in prior year to stockholders’ equity |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
Common shares of Affini-T received for collaboration revenue |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
Purchases of property and equipment included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Operating lease right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new lease liabilities |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
|
Deferred initial public offering costs included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
|
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Restricted cash |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
6
Metagenomi, Inc.
Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(Unaudited)
Organization and business
Metagenomi, Inc. (“Metagenomi” or the “Company”) is a precision genetic medicines company committed to developing curative therapeutics for patients using our proprietary, comprehensive metagenomics-derived genome editing toolbox.
Formation and group reorganizations
Metagenomi.co was incorporated in in the State of Delaware and is headquartered in Emeryville, California. In September 2018, Metagenomi.co formed a subsidiary, Metagenomi Technologies, LLC (“Metagenomi LLC”) as its sole member. In November 2018, the two companies completed a reorganization where Metagenomi LLC became the parent of Metagenomi.co. The reorganization was a transaction of entities under common control and did not change the group. In December 2018, Metagenomi LLC formed another wholly owned subsidiary, Metagenomi IP Technologies, LLC. Metagenomi IP Technologies, LLC did not have any operations except for the initial transfer of IP from Metagenomi.co and an ongoing license of its technology to Metagenomi.co. Key activities of Metagenomi LLC were raising capital to support operations of Metagenomi.co. In April 2020, Metagenomi.co changed its name to Metagenomi, Inc. In December 2021, the group completed another tax-free reorganization, whereby Metagenomi IP Technologies, LLC merged with and into Metagenomi, Inc.
Reorganization and Reverse Stock Split
On January 24, 2024, the Company completed a series of transactions pursuant to which Metagenomi LLC merged with and into Metagenomi, Inc., with Metagenomi, Inc. continuing as the surviving corporation (the “Reorganization”). In connection with the Reorganization, (i) all of the outstanding common unitholders received shares of common stock of Metagenomi, Inc., (ii) all of the outstanding preferred unitholders received shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock of Metagenomi, Inc. with the same rights and privileges and (iii) certain holders of profits interest units received shares of common stock and unvested restricted common stock in Metagenomi, Inc. as determined by the applicable provisions of the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement dated December 20, 2022, as amended on July 31, 2023 (the “LLC Agreement”) in effect immediately prior to the Reorganization. In connection with the Reorganization, by operation of law, Metagenomi, Inc. acquired all assets of Metagenomi LLC, and assumed all of its liabilities and obligations. The Reorganization is expected to be a non-taxable transaction to Metagenomi, Inc. for United States (“U.S.”) income tax purposes.
On January 26, 2024, following the Reorganization, Metagenomi, Inc. effected a reverse stock split of the shares of common stock at a ratio of
In connection with the Reorganization and also effecting the reverse stock split:
7
Initial Public Offering
On February 8, 2024, Metagenomi, Inc.’s Form S-1 Registration Statement for its initial public offering (the “IPO”) was declared effective and the common stock of Metagenomi, Inc. began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “MGX.” On February 13, 2024, the closing date of IPO, the Company issued
Immediately prior to the IPO closing, each share of Metagenomi, Inc.’s redeemable convertible preferred stock then outstanding converted into shares of common stock at a conversion ratio of
Liquidity and going concern
The Company has incurred significant losses from operations since its inception. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $
8
The Company’s significant accounting policies are described in Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to the consolidated financial statements included in the Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2023. There have been no material changes to these policies during the nine months ended September 30, 2024.
Basis of presentation
These condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and pursuant to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, these financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, these financial statements include all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements for the periods presented. These interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for the full fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, or any other future period. Readers should read these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2023, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as found in the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) and Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”).
The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Metagenomi, Inc. and the accounts of Metagenomi LLC, retroactively adjusted for the Reorganization and Reverse Stock Split (see Note 1). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Use of estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management 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 financial statements, and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates estimates and assumptions, including but not limited to those related to revenue recognition under its collaboration agreements, the fair value of its common stock, stock-based compensation expense, accruals for research and development expenses, the fair value of long-term investments, the valuation of deferred tax assets and uncertain income tax positions. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from those estimates.
Recently issued accounting pronouncements
In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures. This ASU requires public entities to disclose information about their reportable segments’ significant expenses and other segment items on an interim and annual basis. Public entities with a single reportable segment are required to apply the disclosure requirements in ASU 2023-07, as well as all existing segment disclosures and reconciliation requirements in ASC 280 on an interim and annual basis. ASU 2023-07 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of this standard on its financial statements.
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. This ASU requires public entities, on an annual basis, to provide disclosure of specific categories in the rate reconciliation, as well as disclosure of income taxes paid disaggregated by jurisdiction. ASU 2023-09 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of this standard on its financial statements.
In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income - Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses. This ASU requires, among other things, more detailed disclosures about specified categories of expense (purchases of inventory, employee compensation, depreciation, amortization, and depletion) included in certain expense captions presented on the face of the income statement. ASU 2024-03 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2026, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027, with early adoption permitted. This ASU may be applied prospectively with the option for retrospective application. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of this standard on its financial statements.
9
Assets and liabilities recorded at fair value on a recurring basis in the condensed consolidated balance sheets, are categorized based upon the level of judgment associated with inputs used to measure their fair values. The accounting guidance for fair value provides a framework for measuring fair value and requires certain disclosures about how fair value is determined. The accounting guidance establishes a three-level valuation hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value based upon whether such inputs are observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect market assumptions made by the reporting entity. The three-level hierarchy for the inputs to valuation techniques is briefly summarized as follows:
Level 1 — Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date;
Level 2 — Inputs are observable, unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities, unadjusted quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities 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 related assets or liabilities; and
Level 3 — Unobservable inputs that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of the assets or liabilities that are supported by little or no market data.
Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. An assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires management to make judgments and consider factors specific to the asset or liability. Changes in the ability to observe valuation inputs may result in a reclassification of levels of certain securities within the fair value hierarchy. The Company recognizes transfers into and out of levels within the fair value hierarchy in the period in which the actual event or change in circumstances that caused the transfer occurs.
The Company’s financial instruments measured at fair value on a recurring basis consist of Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 financial instruments. Usually, marketable securities are considered Level 2 when their fair values are determined using inputs that are observable in the market or can be derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data such as pricing for similar securities, recently executed transactions, cash flow models with yield curves, and benchmark securities. In addition, Level 2 financial instruments are valued using comparisons to like-kind financial instruments and models that use readily observable market data as their basis. U.S. Government bonds, corporate debt obligations, commercial paper, government agency obligations and asset-backed securities are valued primarily using market prices of comparable securities, bid/ask quotes, interest rate yields and prepayment spreads and are included in Level 2. Financial assets and liabilities are considered Level 3 when their fair values are determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, and at least one significant model assumption or input is unobservable. The Company’s investments in preferred stock, common stock and warrants of Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc. (“Affini-T”) (see Note 5) are Level 3 financial assets.
The following tables summarize financial assets that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis by level within the fair value hierarchy (in thousands):
|
|
September 30, 2024 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Total |
|
|
Level 1 |
|
|
Level 2 |
|
|
Level 3 |
|
||||
Assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Money market funds (included in cash and cash equivalents) |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
||
U.S. government bonds |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Government agency obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Corporate debt obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Commercial paper |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Asset-backed securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Foreign debt securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Long-term investments (Note 5) |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Total fair value of assets |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
10
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Total |
|
|
Level 1 |
|
|
Level 2 |
|
|
Level 3 |
|
||||
Assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Money market funds (included in cash and cash equivalents) |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
||
U.S. Treasury bills |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
U.S. Government bonds |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Government agency obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Corporate debt obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Commercial paper |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Asset-backed securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Foreign debt securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
||
Long-term investments (Note 5) |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Total fair value of assets |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
In addition, restricted cash of $
The Company accounts for its investments in Affini-T by applying an for inferring the total equity value implied by a recent Series B preferred stock financing round of Affini-T. Key assumptions used in the valuation model as of September 30, 2024 included an expected holding period of
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in the fair value of the Company’s Level 3 financial assets (in thousands):
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||||
Beginning balance |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Fair value of investment received as collaboration consideration |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Fair value of investment purchased in preferred stock purchase agreement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Change in fair value included in other income (expense) |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Ending balance |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
The following tables summarize the amortized cost, unrealized gains (losses) and fair value of available-for-sale marketable securities (in thousands):
|
|
September 30, 2024 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Fair value |
|
||||
Money market funds |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
||
U.S. government bonds |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||
Government agency obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Corporate debt obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Commercial paper |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Asset-backed securities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
Foreign debt securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
||
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||
Less: amounts classified as cash equivalents |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Total available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||
11
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Fair value |
|
||||
Money market funds |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
|
||
U.S. treasury bills |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|||
U.S. government bonds |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Government agency obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||
Corporate debt obligations |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Commercial paper |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||
Asset-backed securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Foreign debt securities |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
||
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|||
Less: amounts classified as cash equivalents |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
Total available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
|
|||
As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023,
Accrued interest receivable included in prepaid expenses and other current assets as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 was $
The amortized cost and fair value of available-for-sale marketable securities by contractual maturity were as follows (in thousands):
|
|
September 30, 2024 |
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
||||||||||
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
||||
Maturing within one year |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Maturing in one to five years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Total available-for-sale marketable securities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
Affini-T investment
In July 2024, pursuant to the terms of the Development, Option and License Agreement with Affini-T (the “Affini-T Agreement”), the Company received equity consideration of
In August 2024, in connection with Affini-T’s Series B extension, the Company entered into a Joinder to Series B Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Series B Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company purchased
As of September 30, 2024, the Company had investments in Affini-T consisting of
12
The Company is using the fair value method to account for its investments in Affini-T using an option-pricing valuation model and recent Affini-T financing transactions (see Note 3) with changes in fair value recorded to other income (expense) in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. The estimated fair value of its investments in Affini-T was $
ViTToria investment
As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company had an investment in shares of preferred stock of ViTToria Biotherapeutics, Inc. (“Vittoria”), a private biotechnology company. During the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and year ended December 31, 2023, the Company did not have a board seat and owned less than
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consist of the following (in thousands):
|
|
September 30, 2024 |
|
|
December 31, 2023 |
|
||
Accrued personnel related expenses |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Accrued legal and professional services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued research and development expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Accrued purchases of property and equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Other accrued liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||
Moderna strategic collaboration and license agreement
Terms of the agreement
On October 29, 2021, the Company entered into a Strategic Collaboration and License Agreement with ModernaTX, Inc. (“Moderna”) (the “Moderna Agreement”). On April 26, 2024, the Company and Moderna mutually terminated the Moderna Agreement (the “Termination”). The Moderna Agreement was terminated pursuant to a Mutual Termination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”), dated as of April 26, 2024, by and between the Company and Moderna. Pursuant to the Termination Agreement, the Company regained full development and commercialization rights to its wholly-owned base editing and RNA-mediated integration systems (“RIGS”) that were subject to the Moderna Agreement.
Prior to the Termination, the parties collaborated on the research and development of in vivo genome editing therapies directed at certain targets and the commercialization of such genome editing therapies. The collaboration provided Moderna with exclusive access to the Company’s technology platform during the research period in (1) the field of in vivo genome editing technology for a therapeutic, ameliorative or prophylactic application by way of knock-out through InDel formation or base editing or insertion of an exogenous DNA template (such field, “DT Field”) and (2) the field of in vivo genome editing technology for a therapeutic, ameliorative or prophylactic application outside the use of (a) DNA donor templates and (b) no exogenous template at all but including (c) correction by base editing (such field, “RT Field”). The use of RIGS with messenger RNA (“mRNA”) and base editing correction with mRNA was within the RT Field exclusive to Moderna within the term. The parties formed a joint steering committee, a joint research subcommittee and a joint patent subcommittee to oversee the collaboration activities.
Under the terms of the Moderna Agreement, the parties agreed to collaborate on one or more programs in the RT Field (the “Moderna RT program”) and two programs in the DT Field (the “Moderna DT program” and the “DT Co-Co program”).
With respect to the Moderna RT program and Moderna DT program, the parties agreed to collaborate on the research and development of product candidates under the approved research plans. The initial research term of the Moderna RT program was
13
with a regulatory authority in a country other than the U.S., subject to Moderna’s payment of an option exercise fee of $
With respect to the DT Co-Co program, the parties agreed to work together on the co-development and commercialization of products and shared costs and profits equally. The Company maintained commercialization rights in the U.S. (subject to Moderna’s right to appoint up to
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company received a non-refundable upfront payment of $
For the Moderna RT program and Moderna DT program, the Company was eligible to receive (i) technology milestone fees related to the achievement of certain preclinical research objectives, of up to $
Accounting analysis and revenue recognition
The Company concluded that the Moderna RT program and Moderna DT program are in the scope of ASC 606. The Company determined that the licenses granted to Moderna, and its participation in the joint steering committee are not capable of being distinct from the preclinical research and development services and therefore concluded that there are two performance obligations: (1) the Moderna RT program and (2) the Moderna DT program. The Company also concluded that the option to obtain an exclusive license and options to extend the Moderna RT program term do not include significant incremental discounts, and as such, the options do not provide material rights.
The Company concluded that the DT Co-Co program research activities are within the scope of ASC 808, as the Company and Moderna were both active participants in the research, development and commercialization activities, were exposed to significant risks and rewards that were dependent on the success of the DT Co-Co program activities and share costs and profits equally. The Company determined that the guidance in ASC 730, Research and Development, was appropriate to apply to the DT Co-Co program research activities by analogy, based on the nature of the cost sharing provisions of the agreement. The Company concluded that DT Co-Co program is one unit of accounting, as the co-exclusive license is not distinct from the research and development and the participation in joint steering committee activities. The Company recognized payments to or from Moderna related to the DT Co-Co program cost sharing research activities as an increase to or reduction of research and development expenses, respectively.
The Company concluded that the Moderna Agreement and the Moderna Convertible Promissory Note Agreement should be combined and treated as a single arrangement for accounting purposes as the agreements were entered into contemporaneously and in contemplation of one another. The Company estimated the contract consideration to be $
14
The variable consideration is reevaluated at each reporting period and as changes in circumstances occur. The Company recognized revenue for each of the Moderna RT program and Moderna DT program as collaboration revenue based on the measure of progress using an estimated cost-based input method each reporting period. The Company also amortized the allocation consideration for the DT Co-Co program of $
Due to the Termination of the Moderna Agreement, the Company recognized all remaining deferred revenue as revenue during the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The final $
During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company recognized
Affini-T development, option and license agreement
Terms of the agreement
Pursuant to the Affini-T Agreement entered into on June 14, 2022, the parties have agreed to identify, develop or optimize certain reagents using the Company’s proprietary technology for Affini-T to use such reagents to develop and commercialize gene edited T-cell receptor (“TCR”)-based therapeutic products exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with any engineered primary TCR alpha/beta T cells and non-exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with certain other engineered immune cells worldwide. A joint steering committee was established by both parties to assign alliance managers and project leaders to oversee the collaboration activities.
Pursuant to the Affini-T Agreement, the Company granted Affini-T options to receive, on a pre-specified target-by-pre-specified target basis, for up to six pre-specified targets, either (i) an exclusive, royalty-bearing, sublicensable worldwide license under all of the Company’s applicable intellectual property to research, develop, manufacture, use, commercialize and otherwise exploit any TCR-based therapy, preventative treatment, or diagnostic for humans that is directed to such pre-specified target, contains or comprises Primary TCR alpha/beta T Cells and is derived from ex vivo application of a Company reagent (the “Exclusive Option”) or a non-exclusive, royalty-bearing, sublicensable worldwide license under all of the Company’s applicable intellectual property to research, develop, manufacture, use, commercialize and otherwise exploit any TCR-based therapy, preventative treatment, or diagnostic for humans that is directed to such pre-specified target, contains or comprises TCR natural killer (“NK”) cells derived from iPSC immune cells or TCR T cells derived from donor-derived or iPSC immune cells. Affini-T can exercise its options for either an exclusive license or a non-exclusive license, or both, for each pre-specified target by providing written notice prior to the earlier of (x) the end of the Affini-T Agreement term or (y) 90 days following the filing of an IND for a licensed product directed to a pre-specified target, subject to the payment of certain fees per each option exercised. After the option exercise, Affini-T has agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to conduct all development and commercialization activities for a licensed product, and development and commercialization of all licensed products will be at Affini-T’s sole cost and expense.
In connection with the Affini-T Agreement, the Company received upfront equity consideration of
15
approvals in the U.S. and other markets for licensed products directed to a pre-specified target if options for both exclusive and non-exclusive licenses are exercised with respect to such target, (ii) up to $
Accounting analysis and revenue recognition
The Company concluded that the Affini-T Agreement is in the scope of ASC 606 and that there is one performance obligation to perform research activities under the Affini-T Agreement. Exclusive and non-exclusive licenses are optional contingent purchases that do not include significant incremental discounts, and therefore do not provide a material right.
At the effective date, the transaction price consisted of the upfront equity consideration with an estimated fair value of $
The Company recognized collaboration revenue of $
Ionis collaboration and license agreement
Terms of the agreement
On November 10, 2022 the Company entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ionis”) (the “Ionis Agreement”) to collaborate on drug discovery and exploratory research activities to advance new medicines using genome editing strategies, with the goal of discovering novel medicines. Pursuant to the terms of the Ionis Agreement, the Company granted Ionis and its affiliates a worldwide exclusive, royalty-bearing license, with the right to grant sublicenses, to use all licensed systems and licensed products in the field of in vivo genome editing for all therapeutic, prophylactic, palliative, and analgesic uses in humans. In connection with the Ionis Agreement, the Company also has the right to exercise an exclusive option to co-develop and co-commercialize certain products under a drug discovery program. A joint steering committee was established by both parties to coordinate, oversee and monitor the research and drug discovery activities under the Ionis Agreement.
The parties will collaborate to discover therapeutic products under a drug discovery program and develop a drug discovery plan for each target, selected by Ionis. The target selection is divided into two waves: up to four targets in Wave 1 and up to four targets in Wave 2. For each drug discovery program, once the parties identify a development candidate that is suitable for further development, Ionis will be responsible for the development and commercialization of products resulting from such program. Per the terms of the
16
Ionis Agreement, at any time prior to the designation of a development candidate for a drug discovery program and for any reason, Ionis may replace the collaboration target, provided such target has not previously been substituted out. Ionis may substitute (i) up to two Wave 1 targets and (ii) up to two Wave 2 targets.
The drug discovery activities for a program commence on the selection of a target and expire upon the earlier of (a) completion of all drug discovery activities for such program, (b) the fifth anniversary of the effective date and (c) selection of a development candidate for such drug discovery program. If one or more Wave 2 targets become collaboration targets as a result of the parties achieving enabled delivery and less than two years are remaining in the drug discovery term, then the term will be extended to the earlier of (i) the time that the Company completes all of its activities under the applicable drug discovery plan and (ii) the seventh anniversary of the effective date, subject to the Company’s consent.
The parties will also conduct an exploratory research program, and will jointly optimize gRNA and select delivery technologies and other activities. The exploratory research activities commence on the effective date and expire upon the earlier of (a) completion of all exploratory research activities established in the exploratory research plan, and (b) the fifth anniversary of the effective date.
The Company has the exclusive option to co-develop and co-commercialize the licensed products under a drug discovery program (the “Co-Co Option”) with Ionis. The Co-Co Option may be exercised for (a) the initial Wave 1 target (“Target 1”), (b) no more than one of the other three discovery programs for the Wave 1 targets, and (c) no more than two drug discovery programs for the Wave 2 targets that become collaboration targets. If the Company exercises the Co-Co Option for a particular drug discovery program, that drug discovery program will automatically be deemed a “Co-Co Program”, all corresponding licensed products be deemed “Co-Co Products,” the Company will be obligated to pay Ionis an option exercise fee, and the parties will enter into a separate co-development and co-commercialization agreement.
The Company will manufacture all licensed systems and certain components of the applicable licensed products that are needed by Ionis for use in its development activities and all of the Company’s manufactured components needed by Ionis for use in its commercialization activities. The Company will provide the manufactured components at a price that represents the cost of goods plus
Pursuant to the terms of the Ionis Agreement, the Company has also been granted an option to obtain a non-exclusive, royalty-bearing license, with the right to grant sublicenses, for certain Ionis’ background technology to use in up to eight therapeutic products discovered by the Company in the field of in vivo genome editing and directed to a Collaboration Target (each such product, a “Metagenomi Product” and each such option an “Ionis IP Option”), but subject to encumbrance checks with respect to particular targets. A Collaboration Target is a target that is selected by Ionis, and, with respect to the Company is not the subject of discussions with a third party, is not the subject of a contractual grant of rights to a third party nor the subject to an internal research and development program. If the Company exercises its Ionis IP Option, the Company will pay to Ionis up to several million dollars per Metagenomi Product upon achievement of certain clinical and regulatory milestones. The Company is also obligated to pay Ionis royalties in an amount equal to a low single-digit royalty on the net sales of the applicable Metagenomi Product on product-by-product and country-by-country basis.
In November 2022, the Company received an $
Ionis is obligated to reimburse the Company for all internal costs and out-of-pocket costs incurred in the performance of the exploratory research activities, up to an aggregate of $
17
The term of the Ionis Agreement will continue (i) with respect to the drug discovery programs, until the expiration of all applicable royalty terms for a licensed product, (ii) with respect to the Co-Co Programs, until the parties cease all exploitation for the Co-Co Products that are the subject to such Co-Co Program, and with respect to the Metagenomi Products, until the expiration of the royalty term for a Metagenomi Product. The royalty term ends on the latest of the following two dates: (i) the expiration of (A) the last claim of any issued and unexpired patent, or (B) a claim within a patent application that has not been pending for more than seven years from the earliest date to which the claim or applicable patent application is entitled to claim priority and which claim has not been revoked, canceled, withdrawn, held invalid, or abandoned, or (ii) 12 years following the first commercial sale of a licensed product.
The Ionis Agreement may be terminated during the term by either party for an uncured material breach or bankruptcy by the other party. Additionally, Ionis may terminate the Ionis Agreement for convenience and without penalty, in its entirety or on a licensed product-by-licensed product basis, by providing 90 days’ written notice.
Accounting analysis and revenue recognition
The Company concluded that the Ionis Agreement is in the scope of ASC 606 at the effective date and until the Company exercises its Co-Co Option for any drug discovery program, which was determined to not be probable at the effective date and as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023. The Company also concluded that exclusive licenses and participation in a joint steering committee are not distinct from discovery research services and should thus be combined into one performance obligation (the “discovery program”). The Company also concluded that exploratory research services are a separate and distinct performance obligation (the “exploratory program”). The Ionis options for Wave 2 targets are optional purchases and do not have significant incremental discounts, as such, the options do not provide material rights.
The Company allocated the total estimated transaction price of $
In June 2024, the Company included previously constrained estimated manufacturing costs in the transaction price, resulting in a $
Operating leases
For more information about the Company’s Operating Leases, see “Note 8. Commitments and Contingencies – Operating Leases” of the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” included in Part II, Item 8 of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Legal contingencies
On September 26, 2024, a class action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Company and certain of the Company’s officers and certain of its current and former directors, captioned Vreeland v. Metagenomi Inc. et al., No. 5:24-cv-06765 (the “Securities Action”). The Securities Action alleges violations of Section 11 of the Securities Act against all defendants and control person violations of Section 15 against the individuals. The Securities Action alleges that the defendants made misleading statements and omitted to disclose material information concerning the Company’s collaboration with Moderna in the Company’s registration statement and final prospectus materials filed in January 2024 and February 2024. The Securities Action seeks, among other things, compensatory damages as well as costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees and expert fees. The Company intends to defend vigorously against this litigation.
From time to time, the Company may become involved in legal proceedings arising from the ordinary course of business. The
18
Company records a liability for such matters when it is probable that future losses will be incurred and that such losses can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment by the Company is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount. Other than the Securities Action, the Company is currently not aware of any legal matters that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Guarantees and indemnifications
In the normal course of business, the Company enters into agreements that contain a variety of representations and provide for general indemnification. Its exposure under these agreements is unknown because it involves claims that may be made against the Company in the future. 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 a request in such capacity. To date, the Company has not paid any claims or been required to defend any action related to its indemnification obligations. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company did not have any material indemnification claims that were probable or reasonably possible and consequently has not recorded related liabilities.
On December 20, 2022, the Company entered into a Series B-1 redeemable convertible preferred unit purchase agreement to sell up to
The redeemable convertible preferred stock as of December 31, 2023, consisted of the following (in thousands, except unit data):
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Original Issue Price |
|
|
Aggregate |
|
|
Net |
|
|||||
Series A-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||||
Series A-2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Series A-3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Series A-4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Series A-5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Series B |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Series B-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|||||
On January 24, 2024, in connection with the Reorganization, all outstanding redeemable convertible preferred units were converted into an equal number of shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock. Immediately prior to the closing of the IPO, all of the then-outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock converted into
Profits Interests Plan
Prior to the Reorganization, the Company granted profits interests under the 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, adopted on March 13, 2019 (the “2019 Plan”). The Company granted profits interests with a threshold amount established by the Board of Managers on the date of issuance. The 2019 Plan allows for grants of profits interests to the Company’s officers, employees, directors and consultants.
The LLC Agreement provides each profits interest with a distribution threshold amount, which is determined on the date of issuance and represents the amount that would be distributed if, immediately after issuance, the Company sold all of its assets at fair market value and distributed the net proceeds in liquidation. A profits interest does not participate in Company distributions until an amount equal to its distribution threshold amount has been distributed to other members of the Company with units that either have a lower threshold amount or no threshold amount. The Company’s LLC Agreement was amended on July 31, 2023 to provide for “catch-up” distributions for profits interests once the applicable catch-up threshold amount for such profits interests was met (the “Amendment to the LLC Agreement”).
In accordance with the Amendment to the LLC Agreement, once the applicable distribution threshold amount has been met for a particular profits interest, such profits interest will participate in Company distributions on a pro rata basis until the catch-up threshold amount has been met. Once the catch-up threshold amount has been met, subsequent “catch-up” distributions will be made solely to
19
holders of profits interests until such holders have received an amount equal to the amount such holders would have received had the distribution threshold not existed. Once the profits interest holders have received distributions in an amount equal to what they would have received had the distribution threshold not existed, all subsequent distributions are made on a pro rata basis with common unitholders. As a result of the Amendment to the LLC Agreement, the Board approved an $
After giving the effect to the Amendment to the LLC Agreement, the grant date fair value of profits interests issued after July 31, 2023 and profits interests at the modification date was estimated using the valuation model based on the Probability Weighted Expected Return Method (“PWERM”). The estimated equity fair value was allocated via the distribution waterfall in accordance with the Amendment to the LLC Agreement to all outstanding redeemable convertible preferred units, common units and profits interests.
The PWERM is the hybrid method, where the equity value in one or more scenarios is calculated using an option pricing model. The PWERM is a scenario based methodology that estimates the fair value of common unit based upon an analysis of future values for the company, assuming various outcomes. The common unit value is based on the probability-weighted present value of expected future investment returns considering each of the possible outcomes available as well as the rights of each class of members’ units. The future value of the common unit under each outcome is discounted back to the valuation date at an appropriate risk-adjusted discount rate and probability weighted to arrive at an indication of value for the common unit. A discount for lack of marketability of the common unit is then applied to arrive at an indication of value for the common unit.
As part of the catch-up and Amendment to the LLC Agreement, the Company modified the terms and conditions of the profits interest, which resulted in a change in the fair value of the awards. The change was treated as a modification under ASC 718, Stock Compensation, in which the fair value of the profits interests was remeasured at the modification date and compared to the fair value of the modified award immediately prior to the modification, with the difference resulting in incremental compensation expense. The Company estimated total modification expense of $
As part of the Reorganization,
Immediately after the Reorganization, all of the outstanding
|
|
Profits |
|
|
Weighted-Average |
|
||
Outstanding as of December 31, 2023 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Forfeited and expired |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Canceled in connection with the Reorganization |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Exchanged for vested and unvested common stock in connection with the Reorganization |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Outstanding as of September 30, 2024 |
|
|
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
The following table presents a summary of the unvested common stock activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2024:
Restricted Stock Awards |
|
Number of Shares |
|
|
Weighted-Average |
|
||
Outstanding as of December 31, 2023 |
|
|
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
Exchange of profits interests units for unvested common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Vested |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Forfeited |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Outstanding as of September 30, 2024 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
|
|
|
(1) Weighted-average grant date fair value includes amount related to the modification as a result of the catch-up and Amendment to the LLC Agreement
2024 Stock Option and Incentive Plan
In January 2024, the board of directors adopted and the stockholders approved the 2024 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (“2024 Plan”), which became effective immediately prior to the closing of the IPO. The 2024 Plan allows the Company to make equity-based
20
and cash-based incentive awards to its officers, employees, directors, and consultants. The 2024 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, restricted stock units, restricted stock awards, and other stock-based awards.
The Company initially reserved
Awards granted under the 2024 Plan expire no later than
Stock Option Activity
The following table presents a summary of the stock option activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2024:
Stock Options |
|
Number of Shares |
|
|
Weighted-Average |
|
||
Outstanding as of December 31, 2023 |
|
|
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
Granted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Forfeited |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Outstanding as of September 30, 2024 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Exercisable as of September 30, 2024 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
Restricted Stock Unit Activity
The following table presents a summary of the restricted stock unit activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2024:
Restricted Stock Units |
|
Number of |
|
|
Weighted-Average |
|
||
Outstanding as of December 31, 2023 |
|
|
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
Granted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Vested |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Forfeited |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
|
|
Outstanding as of September 30, 2024 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
|
||
2024 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
In January 2024, the board of directors adopted and the stockholders approved the 2024 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), which become effective upon the date immediately preceding the date on which the Company’s registration statement was declared effective by the SEC. The Company initially reserved
Under the ESPP, employees, subject to certain restrictions, may purchase shares of common stock at
Compensation Expense
The following table presents the classification of share-based compensation expense for the periods presented (in thousands):
21
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||||
Research and development expenses |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Total |
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
|
$ |
|
||||
As of September 30, 2024, there was $
Basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is calculated as follows (in thousands except share and per share amounts):
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||||
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Net loss attributable to common stockholders |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Weighted-average common shares outstanding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Less: Weighted-average unvested shares of common stock |
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
( |
) |
|
|
— |
|
Weighted-average common shares outstanding—basic and diluted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
|
$ |
( |
) |
The following outstanding potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the calculation of diluted net loss per share, as their effect would have been anti-dilutive:
|
|
Three and Nine Months Ended |
|
|||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||
Common stock issuable upon conversion of redeemable convertible preferred stock |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Common stock issuable upon settlement of profits interests |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
Restricted stock subject to future vesting |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Options to purchase common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Restricted stock units |
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
22
Item 2. 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 unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our audited consolidated financial statements and notes and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on March 27, 2024. As discussed in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements regarding our plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and projections. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the “Risk Factors” section under Part II, Item 1A below.
Overview
We are a precision genetic medicines company committed to developing curative therapeutics for patients using our proprietary, genome editing toolbox. We are harnessing the power of metagenomics, the study of genetic material recovered from the natural environment, to unlock four billion years of microbial evolution to discover and develop a suite of novel editing tools capable of correcting any type of genetic mutation found anywhere in the genome. Our platform combines artificial intelligence (“AI”), ancestral state reconstruction, and proprietary algorithms run on expansive cloud computing infrastructure to identify novel clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (“CRISPR”) nucleases and other effector enzymes at high speed.
Our comprehensive genome editing toolbox includes systems for making small edits such as programmable nucleases, base editors, and small RNA-mediated integration systems (“RIGS”), as well as large gene integration systems including large template RIGS and CRISPR-associated transposases (“CASTs”). These tools form a toolbox that can potentially make any desired gene modification – gene knock-down, gene knock-in as well as small and large genetic changes. In addition, our toolbox includes ultra small editing systems that are small enough to be packaged into a single adeno-associated virus (“AAV”) to address extrahepatic therapeutic indications. All elements of our toolbox are wholly owned, and we have constructed a broad patent estate that protects our intellectual property. We anticipate that our toolbox will continue to expand as we discover, interrogate, and optimize our novel editing systems.
We are taking a stepwise approach deploying our genome editing toolbox to prosecute a genetic medicine therapeutic development strategy across a broad array of diseases and target organs including liver, central nervous system, muscle, kidney, and lung, matching the right tool to each specific target.
Lead Therapeutic Programs
Hemophilia A
Our investigational development program in hemophilia A is a potentially curative therapy designed to provide life-long protection from bleeding events and joint damage in adults and children.
Our program is designed to insert a Factor VIII (“FVIII”) DNA cassette into a “safe harbor location,” within an intron of the albumin gene that is not expected to have deleterious effects. FVIII expression is then driven off the strength of the native albumin promoter. Our lead hemophilia A genome editing strategy has two components. A lipid nanoparticle (“LNP”) is designed to deliver mRNA along with a gRNA to the liver in order to produce a highly efficient and specific nuclease that creates a precise cut at the albumin safe harbor gene locus. Additionally, an adeno-associated virus (“AAV”) vector that is designed to deliver the donor template FVIII DNA that becomes inserted into the nuclease cut site by a naturally occurring DNA repair process called non-homologous end joining.
In an ongoing non-human primate (“NHP”) study, we demonstrated integration of a surrogate cynomolgus-FVIII cassette (used to avoid immune response that would occur with a foreign human FVIII protein) and confirmed durable FVIII activity levels over a twelve-month period, as of the September 2024 data cutoff. Treatment was generally well tolerated with findings limited to moderate transient elevation of liver transaminases following AAV and LNP administration. There were no notable findings in total bilirubin or albumin levels or adverse clinical observations.
This early NHP study was conducted without the benefit of several subsequent optimizations of the therapeutic candidate designed to enhance safety and efficacy in the clinic. Following our meeting with the FDA to align on key aspects of our planned IND submission, in August 2024, we nominated a lead development candidate, MGX-001. For the development candidate MGX-001, the company selected a bioengineered FVIII construct.
We initiated manufacturing activities to support IND-enabling studies and clinical material supply. We are planning for additional engagement with the FDA and regulatory agencies outside the U.S. in preparation for a potential IND/Clinical Trial Application filing
23
in 2026.
Ionis Collaboration
All four therapeutic targets in Wave 1 of our collaboration with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ionis”) focus on high value cardiometabolic diseases and are advancing in lead optimization. In vivo rodent proof-of-concept was achieved in all four wave 1 genetic targets, including transthyretin (“TTR”) for transthyretin amyloidosis and angiotensinogen (“AGT”) for refractory hypertension, as well as two undisclosed programs in significant cardiometabolic indications. Along with our partner Ionis, we are conducting preclinical activities with the plan to nominate one to two development candidates in 2025.
Transthyretin Amyloidosis
Transthyretin amyloidosis is a disease of misfolded and aggregated transthyretin (“TTR”) protein that can deposit in tissues causing organ dysfunction, primarily in the heart and/or peripheral nerves. Our development program in TTR aims to provide efficient TTR knockdown and halt further deposition of amyloid fibrils. Along with our partner Ionis, we have achieved more than 90% knock-down of human TTR protein in a humanized TTR mouse model and have initiated NHP studies.
Refractory Hypertension
The refractory hypertension program is designed to knock-down the expression of AGT in the liver using one of our programmable nucleases to generate a durable reduction in blood pressure from a single treatment. Along with our partner Ionis, we have achieved greater than 85% knock-down of human AGT protein in a humanized AGT mouse model and have plans to initiate NHP studies.
Technology Platform
Generative AI and Structure-Guided Engineering
We believe our metagenomics-based, AI-enhanced discovery approach will allow us to achieve our goal of having the most effective genome editing tools to address any genetic disease anywhere in the human genome. In August 2024, we presented a poster at the CRISPR Frontiers conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory titled “Unlocking the Therapeutic Potential of Compact SMART Nucleases through Ancestral Reconstruction, Structure-Guided Engineering, and Generative AI” which demonstrated how our metagenomics-informed synthetic sequence generation, including ancestral sequence reconstruction and generative AI techniques, potentially enable rapid development of novel programmable CRISPR nuclease- and base editing systems.
Nucleases
To date, we have identified thousands of novel CRISPR type II, type V and highly efficient ultra-small (SMall Arginine-Rich sysTems or SMART) nucleases, expanding the collection of known programmable nucleases by mining our proprietary metagenomics database. This allows us to potentially select the ideal nuclease for targeting any given gene in a site-specific manner, overcoming a major limitation of first-generation CRISPR/Cas9 systems.
Ultra small (SMART) systems
The ability to package our systems into a single AAV will enable more efficient targeting of organs and diseases beyond what is currently possible with LNP delivery. For example, at 429 aa in length, one of our SMART nucleases is a fraction of the size of the industry-standard SpCas9 system, which is 1,300 aa and exceeds the delivery capacity of standard AAV vectors. We recently achieved in vitro proof-of-concept for an undisclosed neuromuscular target with one of our compact editing systems. In October 2024, we presented a poster at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ 7th International Conference on CRISPR Technologies titled “Engineering of compact and efficient adenine base editors from metagenomic derived systems.” We showcased our SMART genome editing systems that are small enough to be packaged into standard AAV vectors, even when additional effector domains are included for base editing, potentially enabling a differentiated therapeutic approach for neuromuscular targets.
Base Editors
The chassis of our nucleases can be leveraged by adding on additional effector enzymes to create base editors capable of single nucleotide changes in the genome. In October 2024, we presented a poster at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy’s 31st Annual Congress titled “Efficient and specific genome editing with metagenomics-derived base editor for human therapeutic applications.” We showcased that our novel Adenine Base Editor (“ABE”) was targetable to over 95% of the human genome’s base pairs, a significantly wider range of sites than first-generation SpCas9 base editors. Our ABE platform achieved over 95% reproducible and durable triplex protein knockdown in primary T-cells, confirming its highly efficient application for multiplex gene editing. Our ABE demonstrated highly specific on-target deamination with minimum-to-no indel formation, and genome-wide analyses confirmed no detectable translocations and no significant genomic composition differences when compared to unedited cells.
24
Our ABEs triplex protein knockdowns exhibited excellent tolerability in cells, with no adverse effects on cell viability, expansion, or changes in stress-related gene expression observed post-editing.
RNA-mediated Integration Systems (RIGS)
RIGS are the systems we use for small genomic replacements such as transversions, transitions, insertions, and deletions, as well as the programmable integration of large transgenes delivered as RNA, with the potential to address any genetic disease requiring a large gene integration.
We recently achieved in vitro proof-of-concept using our RIGS for a small gene correction in undisclosed liver targets. Additionally, using proprietary reverse transcriptases we demonstrated what we believe to be the first-ever targeted integration of >900 bp in human cells with our RIGS using all-RNA delivery. We consider this to be a major step forward in the genome editing space, as these systems could be delivered entirely as RNA, compatible with current LNP delivery technologies, and could enable large, targeted exogenous gene integrations.
DNA-mediated Integrations
CASTs are naturally occurring programmable transposase systems with the ability to site-specifically integrate large transgenes delivered as DNA, and with the potential to address any genetic disease requiring a large gene integration. Our CASTs are being developed in order to enable large, >10,000 base pairs, targeted genomic integrations for therapeutic applications. We recently achieved in vitro proof-of-concept for large gene integration using our potentially industry leading, compact CAST technology, with publication pending.
Other Business Updates
As a result of the acceleration of all four Wave 1 Ionis targets into lead optimization, as well as our decision to deprioritize Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1 (“PH1”), we provided pipeline guidance through year-end 2025, including one to two DC nominations in 2025. We maintained our guidance for the planned IND filing for hemophilia A in 2026. We focused our internal efforts on in vivo genome editing therapeutic approaches and pursue technology out-licensing for ex vivo cell therapy, where next generation genome editing systems are an important enabler of novel therapies. We determined that we would not pursue amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”) based upon peer company clinical data regarding the lack of efficacy of Ataxin-2 as a therapeutic target for ALS. We revised our pipeline design to consolidate earlier stage programs and make it easier to identify our near term pipeline priorities focused on in vivo genome editing and liver indications.
Affini-T Collaboration
In July 2024, pursuant to the terms of the Affini-T Agreement, we received equity consideration of 933,650 shares of Affini-T common stock upon the achievement of a regulatory milestone related to the submission of drug master files to the FDA in support of an IND for Affini-T’s T-cell receptor based therapy. In August 2024, in connection with Affini-T’s Series B extension, we purchased 33,383 shares of Affini-T’s Series B Preferred Stock and received warrants to purchase up to 16,691 shares of Affini-T’s common stock.
Reorganization and Reverse Stock Split
We previously operated as a Delaware limited liability company under the name Metagenomi Technologies, LLC (“Metagenomi LLC”). On January 24, 2024, we completed a series of transactions pursuant to which Metagenomi LLC merged with and into its wholly-owned subsidiary Metagenomi, Inc., a Delaware corporation, with Metagenomi, Inc. (“Metagenomi” or the “Company”) continuing as the surviving corporation (the “Reorganization”). In connection with the Reorganization, (i) all of the outstanding common unitholders of Metagenomi LLC received shares of common stock of Metagenomi, Inc., (ii) all of the outstanding redeemable convertible preferred unitholders of Metagenomi LLC received shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock of Metagenomi, Inc. with the same rights and privileges and (iii) certain holders of profits interests in Metagenomi LLC received shares of common stock or unvested restricted common stock in Metagenomi, Inc. as determined by the applicable provisions of the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement in effect immediately prior to the Reorganization. In connection with the Reorganization, by operation of law, Metagenomi, Inc. acquired all assets of Metagenomi LLC, and assumed all of its liabilities and obligations. The Reorganization generally did not result in a taxable event to Metagenomi, Inc. for U.S. income tax purposes.
On January 26, 2024, following the Reorganization, Metagenomi, Inc. effected a reverse stock split of the shares of common stock at a ratio of 1-for-1.74692 (the “Reverse Stock Split”). Immediately prior to the closing of the IPO, each share of Metagenomi, Inc.’s redeemable convertible preferred stock then outstanding converted into 23,935,594 shares of common stock.
25
Initial Public Offering
On February 13, 2024, we completed our initial public offering (“IPO”) in which we issued 6,250,000 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $15.00 per share. We received net proceeds of approximately $80.7 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs totaling approximately $13.0 million.
Since our inception, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, research and development activities, building our intellectual property portfolio and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We have historically financed our operations primarily through issuing redeemable convertible preferred stock and convertible promissory notes, sales of our common stock and entering into collaboration agreements.
Macroeconomic Trends
Unfavorable conditions in the economy in the United States and abroad may negatively affect the growth of our business and our results of operations. For example, macroeconomic events, including, rising inflation, tensions in U.S.-China relations, the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates, recent and potential future disruptions in access to bank deposits and lending commitments due to bank failures and the effects of the ongoing geopolitical conflict in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, have led to economic uncertainty and volatility globally. The effect of macroeconomic conditions may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. To date, the macroeconomic trends discussed above have not had a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. If, however, economic uncertainty increases or the global economy worsens, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed. For further discussion of the potential impacts of macroeconomic events on our business, financial condition, and operating results, refer to the section titled “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Collaboration and License Agreements
As part of our strategy, we have entered into collaborations with third parties for one or more of our programs or product candidates we may develop. For example, in June 2022, we entered into a Development, Option and License Agreement with Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc. (“Affini-T”) (the “Affini-T Agreement”) to develop and commercialize gene edited TCR-based therapeutic products exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with any engineered primary TCR alpha/beta T cells and non-exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with certain other engineered immune cells worldwide, and in November 2022, we entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Ionis to research, develop and commercialize investigational medicines using genome editing technologies. In October 2021, we entered into a Strategic Collaboration and License Agreement (the “Moderna Agreement”) with ModernaTx, Inc. (“Moderna”), focused on advancing new genome editing system for in vivo human therapeutic applications, and in April 2024, we and Moderna mutually terminated the Moderna Agreement. Refer to Note 7 in our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information related to the terms of the agreements between us and our collaborators.
Components of Results of Operations
Collaboration Revenue
We have not generated any revenue from product sales and do not expect to generate any revenue from the sale of products for the foreseeable future. Our ability to generate product revenues will depend on the successful development and eventual commercialization of any product candidates that we identify. If we fail to complete the development of any future product candidates in a timely manner or to obtain regulatory approval for such product candidates, our ability to generate future revenue and our results of operations and financial position would be materially adversely affected.
To date, all of our revenue consists of collaboration revenue, earned from collaboration agreements with Moderna (prior to the termination of the Moderna Agreement), Ionis and Affini-T. These agreements may include the following types of promised goods or services: (i) grants of licenses; (ii) performance of research and development services and (iii) participation on joint research and/or development committees. They also may include options to obtain licenses to our intellectual property or to extend the term of the research activities. Our revenues under such collaboration agreements were $11.5 million and $42.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, and $12.4 million and $32.4 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively.
For additional information about our revenue recognition policy related to our collaboration agreements, refer to Note 2 in our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
26
Operating Expenses
Research and Development
The largest component of our total operating expenses since our inception has been research and development activities. Research and development expenses consist primarily of compensation and benefits for research and development employees, including stock-based compensation; the costs of acquiring research and development supplies and services; manufacturing process development costs; the research and development expenses that we share with our collaboration partners for co-development programs; other outside services and consulting costs; and allocated facilities, information technology and overhead expenses. Research and development costs are expensed as incurred.
We have not reported program costs since our inception because we have not historically tracked or recorded our research and development expenses on a program-by-program basis. We use our personnel and infrastructure resources across the breadth of our research and development activities, which are directed toward developing our platform.
We expect our research and development expenses to increase substantially for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in research and development activities related to developing our platform, including investments in manufacturing, as we advance our programs and conduct clinical trials. The process of conducting the necessary clinical research to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time-consuming, and the successful development of our platform is highly uncertain. As a result, we are unable to determine the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects, the costs of related clinical development costs or when and to what extent we will generate revenue from the commercialization of our platform.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including stock-based compensation expense and other expenses for outside professional services, including legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters; professional fees for accounting, auditing, consulting and tax services; insurance costs; administrative travel expenses; website development costs; marketing and public relations costs; and facilities, information technology and other allocated overhead costs.
We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future as we increase our headcount to support development of our platform and our continued research activities. We also anticipate that we will incur increased accounting, audit, legal, regulatory, compliance and director and officer insurance costs as well as investor and public relations expenses associated with being a public company. We also expect our intellectual property expenses to increase as we expand our intellectual property portfolio.
Total Other Income, Net
Total other income, net, includes interest income from our investments in available-for-sale marketable securities and changes in the fair value of our investments in Affini-T.
27
Results of Operations
Comparison of the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 and 2023
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods indicated (in thousands):
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
||||||
Collaboration revenue |
|
$ |
11,514 |
|
|
$ |
12,363 |
|
|
$ |
(849 |
) |
|
$ |
42,681 |
|
|
$ |
32,357 |
|
|
$ |
10,324 |
|
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
Research and development |
|
|
26,256 |
|
|
|
26,837 |
|
|
|
(581 |
) |
|
|
86,015 |
|
|
|
69,648 |
|
|
|
16,367 |
|
General and administrative |
|
|
7,641 |
|
|
|
7,921 |
|
|
|
(280 |
) |
|
|
24,944 |
|
|
|
21,005 |
|
|
|
3,939 |
|
Total operating expenses |
|
|
33,897 |
|
|
|
34,758 |
|
|
|
(861 |
) |
|
|
110,959 |
|
|
|
90,653 |
|
|
|
20,306 |
|
Loss from operations |
|
|
(22,383 |
) |
|
|
(22,395 |
) |
|
|
12 |
|
|
|
(68,278 |
) |
|
|
(58,296 |
) |
|
|
(9,982 |
) |
Other income (expense): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
Interest income |
|
|
3,616 |
|
|
|
3,866 |
|
|
|
(250 |
) |
|
|
11,526 |
|
|
|
11,836 |
|
|
|
(310 |
) |
Change in fair value of long-term investments |
|
|
(2,055 |
) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
(2,055 |
) |
|
|
(2,055 |
) |
|
|
2,870 |
|
|
|
(4,925 |
) |
Other expense, net |
|
|
(57 |
) |
|
|
(85 |
) |
|
|
28 |
|
|
|
(158 |
) |
|
|
(70 |
) |
|
|
(88 |
) |
Total other income, net |
|
|
1,504 |
|
|
|
3,781 |
|
|
|
(2,277 |
) |
|
|
9,313 |
|
|
|
14,636 |
|
|
|
(5,323 |
) |
Net loss before benefit (provision) for income taxes |
|
|
(20,879 |
) |
|
|
(18,614 |
) |
|
|
(2,265 |
) |
|
|
(58,965 |
) |
|
|
(43,660 |
) |
|
|
(15,305 |
) |
Benefit (provision) for income taxes |
|
|
2,106 |
|
|
|
(1,206 |
) |
|
|
3,312 |
|
|
|
4,305 |
|
|
|
(5,301 |
) |
|
|
9,606 |
|
Net loss |
|
$ |
(18,773 |
) |
|
$ |
(19,820 |
) |
|
$ |
1,047 |
|
|
$ |
(54,660 |
) |
|
$ |
(48,961 |
) |
|
$ |
(5,699 |
) |
Collaboration Revenue
Collaboration revenue included the following for the periods indicated (in thousands):
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
||||||
Ionis |
|
$ |
9,900 |
|
|
$ |
5,951 |
|
|
$ |
3,949 |
|
|
$ |
21,044 |
|
|
$ |
14,416 |
|
|
$ |
6,628 |
|
Moderna |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
5,307 |
|
|
|
(5,307 |
) |
|
|
18,742 |
|
|
|
14,197 |
|
|
|
4,545 |
|
Affini-T |
|
|
1,614 |
|
|
|
1,105 |
|
|
|
509 |
|
|
|
2,895 |
|
|
|
3,744 |
|
|
|
(849 |
) |
Total collaboration revenue |
|
$ |
11,514 |
|
|
$ |
12,363 |
|
|
$ |
(849 |
) |
|
$ |
42,681 |
|
|
$ |
32,357 |
|
|
$ |
10,324 |
|
Our revenue consists of collaboration revenue recognized under our agreements with Moderna (prior to the termination of the Moderna Agreement), Affini-T and Ionis. We recognize revenue as the performance obligations are satisfied. Collaboration revenue decreased by $0.8 million, from $12.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023 to $11.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and increased by $10.3 million, from $32.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 to $42.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The decrease in collaboration revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2024 was primarily driven by a $5.3 million decrease in revenue related to the Termination Agreement, offset by a $3.9 million increase in revenue related to the Ionis Agreement as we performed more services and a $0.5 million increase in revenue related to the Affini-T Agreement. The increase in collaboration revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was primarily driven by a $6.6 million increase in revenue related to the Ionis Agreement as we performed more services and a $4.5 million increase in revenue related to the Moderna Agreement mainly due to the recognition of all remaining deferred revenue during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, offset by a $0.8 million decrease in revenue related to the Affini-T Agreement.
Research and Development Expenses
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the periods indicated (in thousands):
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
|
Change |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
$ |
|
||||||
Employee-related expenses |
|
$ |
10,459 |
|
|
$ |
11,143 |
|
|
$ |
(684 |
) |
|
$ |
38,323 |
|
|
$ |
28,099 |
|
|
$ |
10,224 |
|
Laboratory materials and supplies |
|
|
5,324 |
|
|
|
6,942 |
|
|
|
(1,618 |
) |
|
|
17,196 |
|
|
|
15,361 |
|
|
|
1,835 |
|
Facilities and overhead costs |
|
|
5,893 |
|
|
|
5,383 |
|
|
|
510 |
|
|
|
17,782 |
|
|
|
15,431 |
|
|
|
2,351 |
|
Other research and development expenses and consulting costs |
|
|
4,580 |
|
|
|
3,369 |
|
|
|
1,211 |
|
|
|
12,714 |
|
|
|
10,757 |
|
|
|
1,957 |
|
Total research and development expense |
|
$ |
26,256 |
|
|
$ |
26,837 |
|
|
$ |
(581 |
) |
|
$ |
86,015 |
|
|
$ |
69,648 |
|
|
$ |
16,367 |
|
28
Research and development expenses were $26.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $26.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The decrease of $0.6 million was primarily due to a decrease of $1.6 million in laboratory materials and supplies partially as a result of the Termination Agreement, offset by an increase of $1.2 million in other research and development and consulting costs due to the timing of external research and development costs to support our research and preclinical development activities.
Research and development expenses were $86.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $69.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The increase of $16.4 million was primarily due to an increase of $10.2 million in employee-related expenses, including stock-based compensation expense, related to increased headcount and the issuance of annual equity awards to existing employees, in addition to a one-time acceleration of stock-based compensation expense related to profits interests units that were canceled without a concurrent grant of a replacement award during the Reorganization and were accounted for as a repurchase for no consideration during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, an increase of $2.4 million in facilities and allocated overhead, including rent, repairs and maintenance costs, common facilities and information technology related expenses allocated to research and development due to expansion of our research and development operations, an increase of $2.0 million in other research and development and consulting costs mainly due to the timing of external research and development costs to support our research and preclinical development activities, and an increase of $1.8 million in laboratory materials and supplies.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses were $7.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $7.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The decrease of $0.3 million was primarily related to a decrease in professional service fees and other costs.
General and administrative expenses were $24.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $21.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The increase of $3.9 million was primarily related to an increase of $4.6 million in employee-related expenses, including stock-based compensation expense, as a result of increased headcount and the issuance of annual equity awards to existing employees and an increase of $0.8 million in facilities and allocated overhead, offset by a decrease of $1.5 million in professional service fees and other costs.
Total Other Income, Net
Total other income, net, decreased by $2.3 million, from $3.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023 to $1.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and decreased by $5.3 million, from $14.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 to $9.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The decrease in other income, net, for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 was primarily due to a net change in the fair value of our long term investment in Affini-T.
Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes
Provision for income taxes decreased by $3.3 million and $9.6 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, from a provision for income taxes of $1.2 million and $5.3 million for three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively, to a benefit for income taxes of $2.1 million and $4.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively. The benefit for income taxes for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 was primarily due to our intention to elect to carry back the 2024 research and development credit to the prior year, in addition to a return to provision adjustment related to the prior year return. The provision for income taxes for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 was mainly due to our taxable income related to an upfront payment received under the Ionis Agreement and capitalization of research and development expenses under the Internal Revenue Code Section 174 (“Section 174”).
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Sources of Liquidity
Since our inception, we have historically funded our operations primarily through sales of our redeemable convertible preferred units and convertible promissory notes, which generated approximately $351.7 million in aggregate gross proceeds, in addition to net proceeds of approximately $80.7 million received in February 2024 upon the closing of our IPO. Additionally, through September 30, 2024, we received approximately $120.0 million upfront cash payments from collaboration and licensing agreements.
Our revenue to date has been generated from collaboration agreements. We will not generate revenue from product sales unless and until we successfully initiate and complete clinical development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more product candidates. If we obtain regulatory approval for any product candidate and do not enter into a commercialization partnership, we expect to incur significant expenses related to developing our commercialization capability to support product sales, manufacturing, marketing, and
29
distribution. As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, and marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly delay, reduce or eliminate the development and commercialization of our platform or delay our pursuit of potential in-licenses or acquisitions.
We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and we expect to continue to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future. Our net losses were $68.3 million and $43.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and $54.7 million and $49.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. As of September 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $199.6 million.
Future Funding Requirements
We expect our short and long-term expenses to increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we advance our portfolio towards candidate nomination and preclinical trials. In addition, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. The timing and amount of our operating expenditures will depend largely on:
As of September 30, 2024, we had $274.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities. We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our current operating plan for at least the next 12 months. Based on our current operating plan, we estimate that our existing cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our projected operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2027. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources” and “Risk Factors—Risks Related To Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital.” We expect that we will require additional funding to: continue our current research
30
development activities; develop, maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; further develop our platform; and hire additional research, clinical and scientific personnel. If we receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution, depending on where we choose to commercialize our products.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our short and long-term cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, and marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, ownership interest for existing investors may be materially diluted, and the terms of such securities could include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect existing investors’ rights as a stockholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include restrictive covenants that limit our ability to take specified actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings or other arrangements when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development or future commercialization efforts, or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for the periods presented (in thousands):
|
|
Nine Months Ended |
|
|||||
|
|
2024 |
|
|
2023 |
|
||
Net cash used in operating activities |
|
$ |
(82,797 |
) |
|
$ |
(70,817 |
) |
Net cash used in investing activities |
|
|
(116,702 |
) |
|
|
(14,898 |
) |
Net cash provided by financing activities |
|
|
84,013 |
|
|
|
2,346 |
|
Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash |
|
$ |
(115,486 |
) |
|
$ |
(83,369 |
) |
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities was $82.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and consisted primarily of our net loss of $54.7 million and changes in our net operating assets and liabilities of $44.2 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $16.1 million. The net change in operating assets and liabilities consisted primarily of a decrease of $38.4 million in deferred revenue as we recognized revenue under our collaboration agreements, a decrease of $3.3 million in income tax payable due to payment of our 2023 income tax liability, a decrease of $2.2 million in operating lease liabilities, a decrease of $2.0 million in other non-current liabilities and an increase of $1.2 million in prepaid expenses and other current assets, offset by a decrease of $1.9 million in accounts receivable related to the Affini-T Agreement and the Moderna Agreement and an increase of $1.5 million in accounts payable due to the timing of payments to our vendors. The net non-cash charges consisted primarily of $12.8 million in stock-based compensation expense, $3.9 million of depreciation expense, $3.4 million in non-cash lease expense, and a $2.1 million charge related to the fair value of our investments in Affini-T, partially offset by $4.8 million in amortization of discounts on available-for-sale marketable securities and $1.6 million in amortization of non-cash collaboration revenue related to the Affini-T Agreement.
Net cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was $70.8 million and consisted primarily of our net loss of $49.0 million and changes in our net operating assets and liabilities of $22.1 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $0.2 million. The changes in our net operating assets and liabilities consisted primarily of a decrease of $25.0 million in deferred revenue and collaboration advances as we recognized revenue under our collaboration agreements, an increase of $3.9 million in accounts receivable related to the Affini-T Agreement and the Moderna Agreement and a $1.0 million decrease in operating lease liabilities due to recurring payments under the existing lease agreements, partially offset by a $2.4 million increase in accounts payable due to the timing of payments to our vendors, a $2.4 million increase in other non-current liabilities, a $1.3 million decrease in contract assets related to the Affini-T Agreement, a $0.7 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities and a $0.6 million increase in income tax payable due to additional tax expense. The net non-cash charges consisted primarily of $4.5 million in stock-based compensation expense, $3.1 million in non-cash lease expense and $3.0 million of depreciation expense, offset by $6.9 million credit related to amortization of the discount on our available-for-sale marketable securities, $2.9 million increase in the fair value of our investments in Affini-T and $0.7 million in amortization of non-cash collaboration revenue related to the Affini-T Agreement.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was $116.7 million primarily due to net purchases of available-for-sale marketable securities of $113.6 million and purchases of property and equipment of $2.8 million.
31
Net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was $14.9 million due to net purchases of available-for-sale marketable securities of $6.8 million and purchases of property and equipment of $8.1 million.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was $84.0 million due to net proceeds from the issuance of our common stock in our IPO, net of issuance costs paid during the period.
Net cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was $2.3 million due to net proceeds from the issuance of our Series B-1 redeemable convertible preferred stock of $4.3 million, offset by $1.9 million payments of initial public offering costs.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Our material cash requirements include our contractual obligations for our leased office and laboratory space under three lease agreements and one vivarium lease agreement. During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, there were no material changes outside the ordinary course of our business to our material cash requirements described under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on March 27, 2024.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows is disclosed in Note 2 to our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported revenue generated and expenses incurred during the reporting periods. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including but not limited to those related to revenue recognition under our collaboration agreements, accrued research and development costs, the fair value of common stock and stock-based compensation expense, the valuation of deferred tax assets, and uncertain income tax positions. These estimates and assumptions are monitored and analyzed by us for changes in facts and circumstances, and material changes in these estimates and assumptions could occur in the future. 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. Changes in estimates are reflected in reported results for the period in which they become known. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2024, there were no material changes to our critical accounting estimates or in the methodology used for estimates from those described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information required under this item.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures.
Management’s Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Our disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
32
In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. As required by Rule 13a-15(b) or Rule 15d-15(b) promulgated by the SEC under the Exchange Act, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on the foregoing, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q at the reasonable assurance level.
Changes in Internal Controls
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended September 30, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
33
PART II—OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings.
From time to time, we may be a party to litigation or subject to claims incident to the ordinary course of business. Although the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we currently believe that the final outcome of these ordinary course matters will not 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. For information regarding legal proceedings, refer to “Note 8. Commitments and Contingencies – Legal contingencies” in the accompanying “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)” in Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q which information is incorporated by reference herein.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing at the end of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, before deciding to invest in our common stock. If any of the events or developments described below were to occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.
SUMMARY OF MATERIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should be aware of in evaluating our business. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
34
Risks Related to Financial Position and Need for Capital
We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
Since inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our net loss was $68.3 million and $43.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, our net losses were $54.7 million and $49.0 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $199.6 million. We have financed our operations primarily through issuing redeemable convertible preferred units and convertible promissory notes, entering into collaboration agreements, and through the IPO proceeds. Substantially all of our losses have resulted from expenses incurred in connection with our research and development and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. The net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings, or other capital sources, which may include collaborations with other companies or other strategic transactions. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly delay, reduce or eliminate the development and commercialization of our platform or delay our pursuit of potential in-licenses or acquisitions.
We have not initiated clinical development of any potential product candidate and expect that it will be many years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. To become and remain profitable, we must develop and, either directly or through collaborators, eventually commercialize a therapy or therapies with market potential. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including identifying product candidates, completing preclinical studies and clinical trials of product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for these product candidates, manufacturing, marketing and selling those therapies for which we may obtain regulatory approval and satisfying any post-marketing requirements. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant or large enough to achieve profitability.
Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing our technology and any potential product candidates, we
35
are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all. 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 would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.
We have never generated revenue from product sales and may never become profitable.
Our ability to generate revenue from product sales and achieve profitability depends on our ability, alone or with collaborative partners, to successfully complete the development of, and obtain the regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize, product candidates we may identify for development. We may not generate revenues from product sales for many years, if ever. Our ability to generate future revenues from product sales depends heavily on our or our collaborators’ ability to successfully:
Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) or other regulatory authorities to perform preclinical studies or clinical trials in addition to those that we currently anticipate. Even if one or more of the product candidates we may develop are approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. Additionally, such products may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives. Even if we are able to generate revenues from the sale of any approved product candidates, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations.
Our operations will require substantial additional funding. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be forced to delay, reduce, or terminate certain of our research and product development programs, future commercialization efforts or other operations.
Developing genome editing products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception, and we expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we identify, continue the research and development of, initiate and conduct clinical trials of, and seek regulatory approval for, any product candidates we may identify. In addition, if we obtain regulatory approval for any product candidates we may identify, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution to the extent that such sales, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution are not the responsibility of a collaborator. Other unanticipated costs may also arise. Furthermore, we expect to continue incurring additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when
36
needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our research and product development programs, future commercialization efforts or other operations.
As of September 30, 2024, our cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities were $274.6 million. We expect that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale marketable securities, will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2027. However, our operating plan may change as a result of factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek funding sooner than planned. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive, and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our future product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of products that we do not expect to be commercially available for many years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives.
Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends, and possibly other restrictions.
Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. We have no committed sources of additional capital and, if we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of our future product candidates or other research and development initiatives.
37
Without sufficient funding, our license agreements and any future collaboration agreements may also be terminated if we are unable to meet the payment or other obligations under such agreements.
If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce, or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. Additionally, if we raise funds through additional collaborations, strategic alliances, or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs, or product candidates we develop, or we may have to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or that may reduce the value of our common stock.
Our short operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are an early-stage company. We commenced our operations in September 2018. Our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, and research and development activities such as acquiring and developing our platform and technology and identifying and beginning to advance preclinical testing of potential product candidates. All of our programs are still in the research or lead optimization stage of development and their risk of failure is high. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to initiate or successfully complete any clinical trials, including large-scale, pivotal clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale therapy, arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization.
Our limited operating history, particularly in light of the rapidly evolving genome editing field, may make it difficult to evaluate our technology and industry and predict our future performance. Our short history as an operating company makes any assessment of our future success or viability subject to significant uncertainty. We will encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by very early stage companies in rapidly evolving fields. If we do not address these risks successfully, our business will suffer.
In addition, as a new business that is rapidly growing, we may encounter other unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, and delays in our product development. We will need to transition from a company with a research focus to a company capable of conducting clinical trials and ultimately supporting commercial activities if any of our future product candidates are approved. We may not be successful in such a transition.
Our future ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
Since our inception, we have incurred losses and we may never achieve profitability. As of December 31, 2023, we had U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards of less than $0.1 million (which are not subject to expiration) and state net operating loss carryforwards of $17.5 million (which begin to expire in various amounts in 2037), and $4.7 million of research credit carryforwards for state income tax purposes (which do not expire and can be carried forward indefinitely). To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, under current law, our unused U.S. federal net operating losses (“NOLs”) may be carried forward to offset a portion of future taxable income, if any. Additionally, we continue to generate business tax credits, including research and development tax credits, which generally may be carried forward to offset a portion of future taxable income, if any, subject to expiration of such credit carryforwards. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as one or more shareholders or groups of shareholders who own at least 5 percent of the corporation’s equity increasing their equity ownership in the aggregate by more than 50 percentage points (by value) over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOLs and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research and development tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has completed an IRC Section 382 analysis from inception through the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company experienced two ownership changes in August 2019 and January 2022. Net operating losses generated prior to December 31, 2017, of $0.3 million are permanently limited for federal tax purposes. Net federal operating losses generated after December 31, 2017 are not limited as they can be carried forward indefinitely, subject to an 80% income limitation. Net operating losses of $0.1 million are permanently limited for California tax purposes. In addition, we may experience ownership changes in the future, some of which are outside of our control. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change NOLs or other pre-change tax attributes to offset U.S. federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us. Additional limitations on our ability to utilize our NOLs to offset future taxable income may arise as a result of our corporate structure whereby NOLs generated by our subsidiary may not be available to offset taxable income earned by our subsidiary. There is a risk that due to changes under the tax law, regulatory changes or other unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs or business tax credits could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. At the state level, there may also be periods during which the use of NOLs or business tax credits is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs or tax credits, even if we attain profitability.
38
Changes in tax laws or in their implementation or interpretation may adversely affect our business and financial condition.
The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state and local income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect our business and our financial condition. In recent years, many such changes have been made and changes are likely to continue to occur in the future. We cannot predict whether, when, in what form or with what effective dates, tax laws, regulations and rulings may be enacted, promulgated or decided or whether they could increase our tax liability or require changes in the manner in which we operate in order to minimize increases in our tax liability.
Risks Related to Business, Technology, and Industry
We are very early in our development efforts, and we have not yet initiated IND-enabling studies or clinical development of any product candidate. As a result, we expect it will be many years before we commercialize any product candidate, if ever. If we are unable to advance our future product candidates into and through clinical trials, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We are very early in our development efforts and have focused our research and development efforts to date on research efforts including preclinical studies. Currently, all of our programs are still in the research or lead optimization stage of development. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development, regulatory approval and eventual commercialization of our future product candidates, which may never occur. We have not yet generated revenue from product sales, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product.
Commencing clinical trials in the United States is subject to acceptance by the FDA of an investigational new drug (“IND”) application and finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA. In the event that the FDA requires us to complete additional preclinical studies or we are required to satisfy other FDA requests prior to commencing clinical trials, the start of our first clinical trials may be delayed or we may be unsuccessful obtaining clearance to proceed into clinical development. Even after we receive and incorporate guidance from the FDA, the FDA could disagree that we have satisfied their requirements to commence any clinical trial or change their position on the acceptability of our trial design or the clinical endpoints selected, which may require us to complete additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, delay the enrollment of our clinical trials, abandon our clinical development plans or meet stricter approval conditions than we currently expect. There are equivalent processes and risks applicable to clinical trial applications in other countries, including countries in the European Union.
In addition, clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not guarantee regulatory approval in any other country. We may conduct one or more of our clinical trials with one or more trial sites that are located outside the United States. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of these data is subject to conditions imposed by the FDA, and there can be no assurance that the FDA will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept the data from any trial that we conduct outside the United States, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and could delay or permanently halt our development of the applicable product candidates.
Commercialization of any product candidates we may develop will require preclinical and clinical development; regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions; manufacturing supply, capacity and expertise; a commercial organization; and significant marketing efforts. The success of product candidates we may identify and develop will depend on many factors, including the following:
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If we do not succeed in one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop, which would materially harm our business. If we are unable to advance our product candidates to clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We are subject to additional development challenges and risks due to the novel nature of our genome editing technology.
Because our in vivo technology potentially involves genome editing across multiple cell and tissue types, we are subject to many of the challenges and risks that other genome editing therapeutics and gene therapies face, including:
Furthermore, our technology has potential application for ex vivo immune cell editing strategies. Because ex vivo application of our technology potentially involves editing human cells and then delivering modified cells to patients, we may be subject to many of the challenges and risks that engineered cell therapies face. For example, clinical trials using engineered cell-based gene therapies may require unique products to be created for each patient and such individualistic manufacturing may be both inefficient and cost-prohibitive.
Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome. Because genome editing is relatively novel and the regulatory landscape that will govern our potential product candidates is uncertain and may change, we cannot predict the time and cost of obtaining regulatory approval, if we receive it at all, for our potential product candidates.
The time required to obtain approval for any of our potential product candidates from the FDA, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of regulatory authorities. For more information on the regulatory approval process, see “Business—Government Regulation” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. Clinical trials may fail to demonstrate that our product candidates are safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. Even if initial clinical trials in any of any product candidates we may develop are successful, such product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in later stages of clinical development despite having successfully advanced through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. There is a high failure rate for drugs and biologics proceeding through clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in later stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in earlier stage clinical trials.
Because genome editing is relatively novel, the regulatory requirements that will govern any novel genome editing product candidates we develop may continue to evolve. Only one genome editing therapy, CASGEVY, has received marketing authorization from the FDA and EMA to date and, within the broader genetic therapy field, a limited number of gene therapy products have received marketing authorization from the FDA and the EMA. Even with respect to more established products that fit into the categories of
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gene therapies or cell therapies, the regulatory landscape is still developing. Regulatory requirements governing gene therapy products and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. For example, in January 2020, the FDA issued several new guidance documents on gene therapy products, and in January 2024, the FDA published a final guidance document providing recommendations for human genome editing gene therapy products. Moreover, there is substantial, and sometimes uncoordinated, overlap in those responsible for regulation of existing gene therapy products and cell therapy products. For example, in the United States, the FDA has established the Office of Therapeutic Products (“OTP”) within its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (“CBER”) to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products, and the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee to advise CBER on its review. Gene therapy clinical trials may also be subject to review and oversight by an institutional biosafety committee (“IBC”), a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees certain basic and clinical research conducted at the institution participating in the clinical trial. Although the FDA decides whether individual gene therapy protocols may proceed, the review process and determinations of other reviewing bodies, such as an IBC or institutional review board (“IRB”), can impede or delay the initiation of a clinical trial, even if the FDA has reviewed the trial and approved its initiation. For example, more recently, some genome editing companies have seen significant delays in receiving FDA authorization to allow the initiation of their clinical trials, and has suspended ongoing trials, due to the FDA’s placement of clinical holds on their INDs.
The same applies in the European Union. The EMA’s Committee for Advanced Therapies (“CAT”) is responsible for assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of advanced-therapy medicinal products (i.e. gene therapy, somatic-cell therapy or tissue-engineered medicines). The role of the CAT is to prepare a draft opinion on an application for marketing authorization for a gene therapy medicinal candidate that is submitted to the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) before CHMP adopts its opinion which is submitted to the European Commission for the final decision on whether to grant a marketing authorization or not. In the European Union, the EMA publishes guidelines for the development and evaluation of gene therapy medicinal products to assist in preparing marketing authorization applications, however these are continually under review. The EMA may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for gene therapy medicinal products and require that we comply with these new guidelines.
Adverse developments in post-marketing experience or in clinical trials conducted by others of gene therapy products, cell therapy products or products developed through the application of genome editing technology may cause the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory bodies to revise the requirements for development or approval of our potential product candidates or limit the use of products utilizing genome editing technologies, either of which could materially harm our business. In addition, the clinical trial requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the potential products. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known or more extensively studied pharmaceutical or other product candidates. Regulatory agencies administering existing or future regulations or legislation may not allow production and marketing of products utilizing genome editing technology in a timely manner or under technically or commercially feasible conditions. In addition, regulatory action or private litigation could result in expenses, delays or other impediments to our research programs or the commercialization of resulting products.
The regulatory review committees and advisory groups described above and any new guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies or trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of these treatment candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance our research programs and develop future product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory and advisory groups and to comply with applicable guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of any product candidates we identify and develop.
The genome editing field is relatively new and is evolving rapidly. We are focusing our research and development efforts on genome editing using programmable nucleases, base editing, and RNA and DNA-mediated integration systems (including prime editors and CRISPR-associated (“Cas”) transposases), but other genome editing technologies may be discovered that provide significant advantages over such technologies, which could materially harm our business.
To date, we have focused our efforts on genome editing technologies using programmable nucleases, base editing, and RNA and DNA-mediated integration systems (including prime editors and Cas transposases backed by our metagenomics database). Other companies have previously undertaken research and development of genome editing technologies using zinc finger nucleases, engineered meganucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases, but to date none have obtained regulatory approval for a product candidate. There can be no certainty that genome editing technology will lead to the development of genetic medicines or that other genome editing technologies will not be considered better or more attractive for the development of medicines. A number of alternative approaches are being developed by others. Our investments may not be consistent with the expectations of our stockholders and may not produce the benefits that we expect, in which case our growth, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Business, Technology and Industry—We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological change, and there is a possibility that our competitors may achieve regulatory approval before us or develop therapies that are safer or more advanced or effective than ours, which may harm our financial condition and our ability to successfully market or commercialize any product candidates we may develop.” Similarly, another new genome
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editing technology that has not been discovered yet may be more attractive than programmable nucleases, base editing, and RNA and DNA-mediated integration systems.
Moreover, if we decide to develop genome editing technologies other than those involving such technologies, we cannot be certain we will be able to obtain rights to such technologies. Any of these factors could reduce or eliminate our commercial opportunity, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If any of the product candidates we may develop or the delivery modes we rely on cause undesirable side effects, it could delay or prevent their development or potential regulatory approval, limit the commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences following any potential regulatory approval.
To date, we have not evaluated any product candidates in human clinical trials. It is impossible to predict when or if any product candidates we may develop will ultimately prove safe in humans. In the genomic medicine field, there have been several significant adverse events from gene therapy treatments in the past, including reported cases of leukemia and death. Product candidates we may develop may be associated with undesirable side effects, unexpected characteristics or other serious adverse events, including off-target cuts of DNA, or the introduction of cuts in DNA at locations other than the target sequence. These off-target cuts could lead to disruption of a gene or a genetic regulatory sequence at an unintended site in the DNA, or, in those instances where we also provide a segment of DNA to serve as a repair template, it is possible that following off-target cut events, DNA from such repair template could be integrated into the genome at an unintended site, potentially disrupting another important gene or genomic element. There is also the potential risk of delayed adverse events following exposure to genome editing therapy due to persistent biologic activity of the genetic material or other components of products used to carry the genetic material. Possible adverse side effects that could occur with treatment with genome editing products include an immunologic reaction after administration which could substantially limit the effectiveness of the treatment If any of our genome editing technologies demonstrate a similar effect, we may decide or be required to halt or delay preclinical development or clinical development of any product candidates we may develop. In addition to serious adverse events or side effects caused by any product candidate we may develop, the administration process or related procedures also can cause undesirable side effects. If any such events occur, our preclinical studies or clinical trials could be delayed, suspended or terminated. There can be no assurance that our genome editing technologies will not cause severe or undesirable side effects.
If in the future we are unable to demonstrate that such adverse events were caused by factors other than our product candidate, the FDA, the EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further clinical studies of, or deny approval of, any product candidates we develop for any or all targeted indications. Even if we are able to demonstrate that all future serious adverse events are not product-related, such occurrences could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial.
Moreover, if we elect, or are required, to delay, suspend or terminate any clinical trial of any product candidate we may develop, the commercial prospects of such product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates may be delayed or eliminated. Any of these occurrences may harm our ability to identify and develop product candidates, and may harm our business, financial condition, result of operations and prospects significantly.
Viral vectors, including the adeno-associated virus (“AAV”), which are relatively new approaches used for disease treatment, also have known side effects, and for which additional risks could develop in the future. In past clinical trials that were conducted by others with non-AAV vectors, significant side effects were caused by gene therapy treatments, including reported cases of myelodysplasia, leukemia and death. Other potential side effects could include an immunologic reaction and insertional oncogenesis, which is the process whereby the insertion of a functional gene near a gene that is important in cell growth or division results in uncontrolled cell division, which could potentially enhance the risk of cancer. If the vectors we use demonstrate a similar side effect, or other adverse events, we may be required to halt or delay further clinical development of any potential product candidates. Such delayed adverse events may also occur in other viral vectors, including AAV vectors.
In addition to side effects and adverse events caused by our product candidates, the conditioning, administration process or related procedures which may be used to condition a patient for gene therapy treatment also can cause adverse side effects and adverse events. A gene therapy patient is generally administered cytotoxic drugs to remove stem cells from the bone marrow to create sufficient space in the bone marrow for the modified stem cells to engraft and produce new cells. This procedure compromises the patient’s immune system, and conditioning regimens have been associated with adverse events in clinical trial participants.
Additionally, if we successfully develop a product candidate and it receives regulatory approval, the FDA could require us to adopt a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) to ensure that the benefits of treatment with such product candidate outweighs the risks for each potential patient, which may include, among other things, a medication guide outlining the risks of the product for distribution to patients, a communication plan to healthcare practitioners, extensive patient monitoring, or distribution systems and processes that are highly controlled, restrictive, and more costly than what is typical for the industry. Furthermore, if we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by any product candidate that we may develop that receives regulatory approval, several
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potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of our genome editing technology and any product candidates we may identify and develop and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Positive results from early preclinical studies of any product candidates we may develop may not necessarily be predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and any future clinical trials of such product candidates. If we cannot replicate the positive results from our earlier preclinical studies of any product candidates we may develop in our later preclinical studies and future clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize such product candidates.
Any positive results from our preclinical studies of any product candidates we may develop may not necessarily be predictive of the results from later preclinical studies and clinical trials of such product candidates. Similarly, even if we are able to complete our planned preclinical studies or any future clinical trials of any product candidates we may develop according to our current development timeline, the positive results from such preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates may not be replicated in subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results.
Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early-stage development 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 trials were underway or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including previously unreported adverse events. 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 trials nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval.
We may also consider additional delivery modes, which may carry additional known and unknown risks.
We may also consider additional delivery modes, which may carry additional known and unknown risks. For example, we intend to use lipid nanoparticles (“LNPs”) to deliver our nucleases. While LNPs have been used to deliver smaller molecules, such as small interfering RNA (“siRNA”), they have not been clinically proven to deliver large RNA molecules. Furthermore, as with many AAV-mediated gene therapy approaches, certain patients’ immune systems might prohibit the successful delivery, thereby potentially limiting treatment outcomes of these patients. Even if initial clinical trials in any of our potential product candidates we may develop are successful, these product candidates we may develop may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in later stages of clinical development despite having successfully advanced through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials.
We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our future clinical trials given the limited number of patients who have the diseases any product candidates we identify or develop are intended to target. If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our clinical development activities and our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
As we progress our programs, we may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for any product candidates we identify or develop if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities outside the United States, or as needed to provide appropriate statistical power for a given trial. Enrollment may be particularly challenging for some of the rare genetically defined diseases we are targeting in some of our discovery programs. In addition, if patients are unwilling to participate in our genome editing trials because of negative publicity from adverse events related to the biotechnology, gene therapy or genome editing fields, competitive clinical trials for similar patient populations, clinical trials in competing product candidates or for other reasons, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting studies and obtaining regulatory approval of our potential product candidates may be delayed. Moreover, some of our competitors may have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that would treat the same indications as our potential product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our future clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ product candidates.
Patient enrollment is also affected by other factors, some of which may include:
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In addition, our ability to successfully initiate, enroll and complete a clinical trial in any foreign country is subject to numerous risks unique to conducting business in foreign countries, some of which may include:
Enrollment delays in our future clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our potential product candidates, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing. If we or our collaborators have difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of patients to conduct our future clinical trials as planned, we may need to delay, limit or terminate ongoing or planned clinical trials or entire clinical programs, any of which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Genetic therapies are novel, and any product candidates we develop may be complex and difficult to manufacture. We could experience delays in satisfying regulatory authorities or production problems that result in delays in our development programs, limit the supply of the product candidates we may develop or otherwise harm our business.
Any product candidates we may develop will likely require processing steps that are more complex than those required for most chemical pharmaceuticals. Moreover, unlike chemical pharmaceuticals, the physical and chemical properties of a biologic such as the product candidates we intend to develop generally cannot be fully characterized. As a result, assays of the finished product candidate may not be sufficient to ensure that the product candidate will perform in the intended manner. Problems with the manufacturing process, even minor deviations from the normal process, could result in product defects or manufacturing failures that result in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims, insufficient inventory or potentially delay progression of our potential IND filings. If we successfully develop product candidates, we may encounter problems achieving adequate quantities and quality of clinical-grade materials that meet the FDA, the EMA or other comparable applicable foreign standards or specifications with consistent and acceptable production yields and costs. For example, the current approach of manufacturing AAV vectors may fall short of supplying required number of doses needed for advanced stages of preclinical studies or clinical trials, and the FDA may ask us to demonstrate that we have the appropriate manufacturing processes in place to support the higher-dose group in our preclinical studies or clinical trials. In addition, any product candidates we may develop will require complicated delivery methods, each of which will introduce additional complexities in the manufacturing process.
In addition, the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities may require us to submit samples of any lot of any approved product together with the protocols showing the results of applicable tests at any time. Under some circumstances, the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities may require that we not distribute a lot until the agency authorizes its release. Slight deviations in the manufacturing process, including those affecting quality attributes and stability, may result in unacceptable changes in the product that could result in lot failures or product recalls. Lot failures or product recalls could cause us to delay clinical trials or product launches, which could be costly to us and otherwise harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Given the nature of biologics manufacturing there is a risk of contamination during manufacturing. Any contamination could materially harm our ability to produce product candidates on schedule and could harm our results of operations and cause reputational damage. Some of the raw materials that we anticipate will be required in our manufacturing process are derived from biologic sources. Such raw materials are difficult to procure and may be subject to contamination or recall. A material shortage, contamination, recall or restriction on the use of biologically derived substances in the manufacture of any product candidates we may develop could adversely impact or disrupt the commercial manufacturing or the production of clinical material, which could materially harm our development timelines and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Any problems in our manufacturing process or the facilities with which we contract 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. Problems in third-party manufacturing process or facilities also could restrict our ability to ensure sufficient clinical material for any clinical trials we may be conducting or are planning to conduct and meet market demand for any product candidates we develop and commercialize.
We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological change, and there is a possibility that our competitors may achieve regulatory approval before us or develop therapies that are safer or more advanced or effective than ours, which may harm our financial condition and our ability to successfully market or commercialize any product candidates we may develop.
The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. Moreover, the genome editing field is characterized by rapidly changing technologies, significant competition and a strong emphasis on intellectual property. We will face competition with respect to any product candidates that we may 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 or other intellectual property protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.
There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are pursuing the development of products for the treatment of the disease indications for which we have research programs. Some of these competitive products and therapies are based on scientific approaches that are the same as or similar to our approach, while others are based on entirely different approaches.
Amongst publicly traded peers, there are several companies utilizing CRISPR/Cas technology, including Caribou Biosciences, Inc., Editas Medicine, Inc., CRISPR Therapeutics AG and Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. Several additional companies such as Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., Precision BioSciences, Inc., bluebird bio, Inc., and Cellectis Inc. utilize alternative nuclease-based genome editing technologies, including zinc finger nucleases (“ZFNs”), engineered meganucleases and transcription-activator like effector nucleases (“TALENs”). Beam Therapeutics utilizes base editing technology. Prime Medicine utilizes prime editing technology.
In addition, other private companies such as Tessera Therapeutics, Inc. and Tome Biosciences, Inc. have announced their work in recombinase DNA and RNA gene writers, although little is known publicly about their science or portfolio. Most recently, new epigenetic editing companies have emerged, such as Chroma Medicine, Inc. and Tune Therapeutics, Inc. In addition, we face competition from companies utilizing gene therapy, oligonucleotides and cell therapy therapeutic approaches.
Several private companies such as Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc., Scribe Therapeutics Inc., and Mammoth Biosciences, Inc. are actively searching for novel genome editing components and have reported the discovery of new DNA-cutting enzymes. Other companies are active in LNP delivery technologies and advancing those into therapeutics using genetic therapies, including Recode Therapeutics, Inc., Verve Therapeutics, Inc., Generation Bio Co. and Beam Therapeutics, among others.
Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with existing therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future that are approved to treat the same diseases for which we may obtain approval for any product candidates we may develop. This may include other types of therapies, such as small molecule, antibody and/or protein therapies.
Many of our current or potential competitors, either alone or with their collaboration partners, may have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and gene therapy 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 programs. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors
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develop and commercialize product candidates that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any product candidates that we may develop or that would render any product candidates that we may develop obsolete or non-competitive. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their product candidates more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Additionally, 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, as a result of the expiration or successful challenge of our patent or other intellectual property rights, we could face risks relating to our ability to successfully prevent or delay launch of competitors’ products. The availability of our competitors’ products could limit the demand and the price we are able to charge for any product candidates that we may develop and commercialize.
Adverse public perception of genome editing and cellular therapy products may negatively impact demand for, or regulatory approval of, any product candidates we may develop.
The product candidates we may develop will involve editing the human genome. The clinical and commercial success of any product candidates we may develop will depend in part on public acceptance of the use of genome editing therapies for the prevention or treatment of human diseases. Public attitudes may be influenced by claims that genome editing is unsafe, unethical, or immoral, and, consequently, our products may not gain the acceptance of the public or the medical community. Negative public reaction to gene therapy in general could result in greater government regulation and stricter labeling requirements of genome editing products, including any of our product candidates, and could cause a decrease in the demand for any products we may develop. Adverse public attitudes may adversely impact our ability to enroll clinical trials. Additionally, ethical, social and legal concerns about genome editing and gene therapy could result in additional regulations restricting or prohibiting any product candidates we may develop.
The commercial success of any of the product candidates we may develop will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community.
Even if we obtain the requisite approvals from the FDA in the United States, the EMA in the European Union and other regulatory authorities internationally, the commercial success of any product candidates we may develop will depend, in part, on the acceptance of physicians, patients and health care payors of genome editing and gene therapy products in general, and our product candidates in particular, as medically necessary, cost-effective and safe. Any product that we commercialize may not gain acceptance by physicians, patients, health care payors and others in the medical community who may opt for existing treatments with which they are already familiar and for which greater clinical data may be available. The degree of market acceptance of genome editing and gene therapy products and, in particular, any product candidates we may develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on several factors, including:
Even if a potential product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in preclinical studies and future clinical trials, market
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acceptance of the product will not be fully known until after it is launched. If any product candidates we may develop do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance following regulatory approval, if ever, we may not generate significant product revenue and may not become profitable.
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
We have limited financial and managerial resources. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to timely capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
If, in the future, we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market products based on our technologies, we may not be successful in commercializing our future product candidates if and when any such product candidates are approved and we may not be able to generate any revenue.
We do not currently have a sales or marketing infrastructure and, as a company, have no experience in the sale, marketing or distribution of therapeutic products. To achieve commercial success for any potential approved product candidate for which we retain sales and marketing responsibilities, we must build our sales, marketing, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services. In the future, we may choose to build a focused sales and marketing 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 sales and marketing capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, recruiting and training a sales force 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 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 sales and marketing personnel.
Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize our product candidates on our own include:
If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing and distribution services, our product revenue or the profitability to us from these revenue streams is likely to be lower than if we were to market and sell any product candidates that we develop ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We likely will 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 product candidates effectively. If we do not establish sales and marketing capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we may not be successful in commercializing our product candidates. Further, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects will be materially adversely affected.
Due to the novel nature of our technology and the potential for any product candidates we may develop to offer therapeutic benefit in a single administration or limited number of administrations, we face uncertainty related to pricing and reimbursement for such product candidates.
Our initial target patient populations are relatively small, as a result of which the pricing and reimbursement of any product candidates we may develop, if approved, must be adequate to support the necessary commercial infrastructure. If we are unable to obtain adequate levels of reimbursement, our ability to successfully market and sell any such product candidates will be adversely affected. The manner and level at which reimbursement is provided for services related to any product candidates we may develop (e.g., for administration of our product candidate to patients) is also important. Inadequate reimbursement for such services may lead to physician and payor resistance and adversely affect our ability to market or sell our product candidates. In addition, we may need to develop new reimbursement models in order to realize adequate value. Payors may not be able or willing to adopt such new models,
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and patients may be unable to afford that portion of the cost that such models may require them to bear. If we determine such new models are necessary but we are unsuccessful in developing them, or if such models are not adopted by payors, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be adversely affected.
We expect the cost of a single administration of a genome editing therapy, such as those we are seeking to develop, to be substantial, when and if they achieve regulatory approval. We expect that coverage and reimbursement by government and private payors will be essential for most patients to be able to afford these treatments. Accordingly, sales of any such product candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of any of our product candidates will be paid by government authorities, private health plans, and other third-party payors. Payors may not be willing to pay high prices for a single administration. Coverage and reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon several factors, including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:
Obtaining coverage and reimbursement for a product from third-party payors is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide to the payor supporting scientific, clinical, and cost-effectiveness data. There is significant uncertainty related to third-party coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. We may not be able to provide data sufficient to gain acceptance with respect to coverage and reimbursement. If coverage and reimbursement are not available, or are available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be adequate to realize a sufficient return on our investment.
In the United States, no uniform policy exists for coverage and reimbursement for products among third-party payors. Therefore, decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided can differ significantly from payor to payor. The process for determining whether a payor will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the reimbursement rate a payor will pay for the product. One third-party payor’s decision to cover a particular product or service does not ensure that other payors will also provide coverage for the medical product or service. Third-party payors may limit coverage to specific products on an approved list or formulary, which may not include all FDA-approved products for a particular indication.
Further, third-party payors are increasingly challenging the price and examining the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of medical products and services, in addition to their safety and efficacy. In order to secure coverage and reimbursement for any product that might be approved for sale, we may need to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of any product candidates we may develop, in addition to the costs required to obtain FDA or comparable regulatory approvals. Additionally, we may also need to provide discounts to purchasers, private health plans or government healthcare programs. Despite our best efforts, any product candidates we may develop may not be considered medically necessary or cost-effective. If third-party payors do not consider a product to be cost-effective compared to other available therapies, they may not cover an approved product as a benefit under their plans or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow us to sell our products at a profit. A decision by a third-party payor not to cover a product could reduce physician utilization once the product is approved and have a material adverse effect on sales, our operations and financial condition. Finally, in some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a product candidate must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing product pricing vary widely from country to country. For example, in the EU, pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products are regulated at a national level under the individual EU Member States’ social security systems. Some foreign countries provide options to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and can control the prices of medicinal products for human use. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval, some of these countries may require the completion of clinical trials that compare the cost effectiveness of a particular product candidate to currently available therapies. A country 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 products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our product candidates. Even if approved for reimbursement, historically, product candidates launched in some foreign countries, such as some countries in the EU, do not follow price structures of the United States and prices generally tend to be significantly lower.
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If we are not able to establish collaborations on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, we may have to alter, reduce or delay our development and commercialization plans, or increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities at our own expense.
For some of the product candidates we may develop, we may decide to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and potential commercialization of those product candidates. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborations and collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration, and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA, the EMA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us.
We may also be restricted under existing collaboration agreements from entering into future collaboration agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators, which further increases competition we face in seeking potential collaborations.
We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to develop product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.
Unfavorable 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 global economy, geopolitical tensions and in the global financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn or additional global financial and political crises could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for any product candidates we develop or our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers or other third parties and create import and export issues, 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 future geopolitical landscape also remains particularly uncertain with the U.S. presidential election in November 2024. Any resulting changes in international trade relations, legislation and regulations, including those related to taxation and importation, or economic and monetary policies, or heightened diplomatic tensions or political and civil unrest, among other potential impacts, could adversely impact the global economy and our operating results.
We face risks related to health epidemics, pandemics and other widespread outbreaks of contagious disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which could significantly disrupt our operations, impact our financial results or otherwise adversely impact our business.
Significant outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments could have a material impact on our business operations and operating results. For example, the spread of COVID-19 has affected segments of the global economy and our operations. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or similar public health crises that may arise, we may experience disruptions that could adversely impact our operations, research and development, and as we continue developing, any preclinical studies, clinical trials and manufacturing activities we may conduct, some of which may include:
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In addition, the trading prices for biopharmaceutical companies have been highly volatile as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and we may face similar volatility in our stock price. If we or any of the third parties with whom we engage were to experience additional shutdowns or other business disruptions, our ability to conduct our business in the manner and on the timelines presently planned could be materially and negatively affected, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, our results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic or other similar public health crises could exacerbate the other risks described in this section.
Our operations are vulnerable to interruption by disasters, terrorist activity, pandemics and other events beyond our control, which could harm our business.
Our facilities are located in California. We have not undertaken a systematic analysis of the potential consequences to our business and financial results from a major flood, power loss, terrorist activity, pandemics or other regional or global disasters and generally do not have a recovery plan for such events. In addition, we do not carry sufficient insurance to compensate us for actual losses from interruption of our business that may occur, and any losses or damages incurred by us could harm our business. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.
We may use artificial intelligence in our business, and challenges with properly managing its use, as well as uncertainty regarding the legal landscape surrounding the use of AI could result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and adversely affect our results of operations.
We incorporate artificial intelligence (“AI”) solutions into our platform, and these applications may become important in our operations over time. There are significant risks involved in utilizing AI and no assurance can be provided that the usage of such AI will enhance our business or assist our business in being more efficient or profitable. Known risks of AI currently include inaccuracy, bias, toxicity, intellectual property infringement or misappropriation, data privacy and cybersecurity and data provenance. In addition, AI may have errors or inadequacies that are not easily detectable. AI may also be subject to data herding and interconnectedness (i.e., multiple market participants utilizing the same data), which may adversely impact our business. If the data used to train AI or the content, analyses, or recommendations that AI applications assist in producing are or are alleged to be deficient, inaccurate, incomplete, overbroad or biased, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected. The legal landscape and subsequent legal protection for the use of AI remains uncertain, and development of the law in this area could impact our ability to enforce our proprietary rights or protect against infringing uses. If we do not have sufficient rights to use the data on which AI relies or to the outputs produced by AI applications, we may incur liability through the violation of certain laws, third-party privacy or other rights or contracts to which we are a party. Our use of AI applications may also, in the future, result in cybersecurity incidents that implicate the personal data of customers or patients. Any such cybersecurity incidents related to our use of AI applications could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.
Risks Related to Regulatory, Legal, and Clinical Trials
While we intend to seek designations for our potential product candidates with the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities that are intended to confer benefits such as a faster development process or an accelerated regulatory pathway, there can be no assurance that we will successfully obtain such designations. In addition, even if one or more of our potential product candidates are granted such designations, we may not be able to realize the intended benefits of such designations.
The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities offer certain designations for product candidates that are designed to encourage the research and development of product candidates that are intended to address conditions with significant unmet medical need. These designations may confer benefits such as additional interaction with regulatory authorities, a potentially accelerated regulatory pathway and priority review.
However, there can be no assurance that we will successfully obtain such designations for any potential product candidates. In addition, while such designations could expedite the development or approval process, they generally do not change the standards for approval. Even if we obtain such designations for one or more of our potential product candidates, there can be no assurance that we will realize their intended benefits. For example, we may seek fast track designation for some of our potential product candidates. If a therapy is intended for the treatment of a serious or life threatening condition and the therapy nonclinical or clinical data demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the therapy sponsor may apply for fast track designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this
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designation, there can be no assurance that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if we do receive fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures, and receiving a fast track designation does not provide assurance of ultimate FDA approval. In addition, the FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Additionally, we may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for some of our potential product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a therapy that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other therapies, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the therapy may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For therapies that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Therapies designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for accelerated approval. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our potential product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to therapies considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our potential product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that such product candidates no longer meet the conditions for qualification. In addition, we may seek a regenerative medicine advanced therapy (“RMAT”) designation for some of our potential product candidates. An RMAT is defined as cell therapies, therapeutic tissue engineering products, human cell and tissue products and combination products using any such therapies or products. Gene therapies, including genetically modified cells that lead to a durable modification of cells or tissues may meet the definition of a regenerative medicine therapy. The RMAT program is intended to facilitate efficient development and expedite review of RMATs, which are intended to treat, modify, reverse or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition. A new drug application or a biologics license application (“BLA”) for an RMAT may be eligible for priority review or accelerated approval through (1) surrogate or intermediate endpoints reasonably likely to predict long-term clinical benefit or (2) reliance upon data obtained from a meaningful number of sites. Benefits of such designation also include early interactions with the FDA to discuss any potential surrogate or intermediate endpoint to be used to support accelerated approval. A regenerative medicine therapy that is granted accelerated approval and is subject to post-approval requirements may fulfill such requirements through the submission of clinical evidence, clinical trials, patient registries or other sources of real world evidence, such as electronic health records; the collection of larger confirmatory data sets; or post-approval monitoring of all patients treated with such therapy prior to its approval. RMAT designation is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our potential product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a regenerative medicine advanced therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of RMAT designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our potential product candidates qualify as for RMAT designation, the FDA may later decide that the biological products no longer meet the conditions for qualification. We may also seek rare pediatric disease designation for some of our potential product candidates. The FDA defines “rare pediatric disease” as a (i) serious or life-threatening disease in which the serious or life-threatening manifestations primarily affect individuals aged from birth to 18 years, including age groups often called neonates, infants, children, and adolescents; and (ii) a rare disease or condition within the meaning of the Orphan Drug Act. Designation of a product candidate as a product for a rare pediatric disease does not guarantee that a marketing application for such product candidate will meet the eligibility criteria for a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher (“PRV”) at the time the application is approved. Under the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), we will need to request a rare pediatric disease PRV in our original marketing application for any potential product candidates for which we have received rare pediatric disease designation. The FDA may determine that a marketing application for any such product candidates, if approved, does not meet the eligibility criteria for a PRV. Under the current statutory sunset provisions, after December 20, 2024, the FDA may only award a PRV for an approved rare pediatric disease product application if the sponsor has rare pediatric disease designation for the drug or biologic that is the subject of such application, and that designation was granted by December 20, 2024. After September 30, 2026, the FDA may not award any rare pediatric disease PRVs. However, it is possible the authority for FDA to award rare pediatric disease PRV will be further extended by Congress. As such, if we do not obtain approval of a marketing application for any of our potential product candidates on or before September 30, 2026, and if the PRV program is not extended by Congressional action, we may not receive a PRV.
In the future, we may also seek approval of product candidates under the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway. A product may be eligible for accelerated approval if it is designed to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies upon a determination that the product candidate has an effect on a surrogate endpoint or intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality (“IMM”) that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit. The FDA considers a clinical benefit to be a positive therapeutic effect that is clinically meaningful in the context of a given disease, such as IMM. For the purposes of accelerated approval, a surrogate endpoint is a marker, such as a laboratory measurement, radiographic image, physical sign or other measure that is thought to predict clinical benefit, but is not itself a measure of clinical
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benefit. An intermediate clinical endpoint is a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. The accelerated approval pathway may be used in cases in which the advantage of a new drug over available therapy may not be a direct therapeutic advantage, but is a clinically important improvement from a patient and public health perspective. If granted, accelerated approval is usually contingent on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verity and describe the drug’s clinical benefit. Under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 (“FDORA”), the FDA is permitted to require, as appropriate, that a post-approval confirmatory study or studies be underway prior to approval or within a specified time period after the date of approval for a product granted accelerated approval.
FDORA also requires sponsors to send updates to the FDA every 180 days on the status of such studies, including progress toward enrollment targets, and the FDA must promptly post this information publicly. FDORA also gives the FDA increased authority to withdraw approval of a drug or biologic granted accelerated approval on an expedited basis if the sponsor fails to conduct such studies in a timely manner, send the necessary updates to the FDA, or if such post-approval studies fail to verify the drug’s predicted clinical benefit. Under FDORA, the FDA is empowered to take action, such as issuing fines, against companies that fail to conduct with due diligence any post-approval confirmatory study or submit timely reports to the agency on their progress. There can be no assurance that the FDA would allow any of the product candidates we may develop to proceed on an accelerated approval pathway, and even if the FDA did allow such pathway, there can be no assurance that such submission or application will be accepted or that any expedited development, review or approval will be granted on a timely basis, or at all. Moreover, even if we received accelerated approval, any post-approval studies required to confirm and verify clinical benefit may not show such benefit, which could lead to withdrawal of any approvals we have obtained. Receiving accelerated approval does not assure that the product’s accelerated approval will eventually be converted to a traditional approval.
If the FDA determines that a product candidate offers a treatment for a serious condition and, if approved, the product would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness, the FDA may designate the product candidate for priority review. A priority review designation means that the goal for the FDA to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review period of ten months. We may request priority review for the product candidates that we may develop. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant priority review status to a product candidate, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for such designation or status, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, a priority review designation does not necessarily result in an expedited regulatory review or approval process or necessarily confer any advantage with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Receiving priority review from the FDA does not guarantee approval within the six-month review cycle or at all.
In addition, in the European Union, we may seek to participate in the PRIority Medicines (“PRIME”) scheme for our potential product candidates. The PRIME scheme is intended to encourage development of products in areas of unmet medical need and provides accelerated assessment of products representing substantial innovation, where the marketing authorization application will be made through the centralized procedure in the European Union. Products from small-and medium-sized enterprises may qualify for earlier entry into the PRIME scheme than larger companies on the basis of compelling non-clinical data and tolerability data from initial clinical trials. Eligible products must target conditions for which there is an unmet medical need (no treatment option exists in the European Union or, they can offer a major therapeutic advantage over existing treatments). Many benefits accrue to sponsors of product candidates with PRIME designation, including but not limited to, early and proactive regulatory dialogue with the EMA, frequent discussions on clinical trial designs and other development program elements, and accelerated marketing authorization application assessment once a dossier has been submitted. There is no guarantee, however, that our potential product candidates would be deemed eligible for the PRIME scheme and even if we do participate in the PRIME scheme, where during the course of development a product no longer meets the eligibility criteria, support under the PRIME scheme may be withdrawn. PRIME eligibility does not change the standards for product approval, and there is no assurance that any such designation or eligibility will result in expedited review or approval.
Healthcare and other reform legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any collaborators we may have to obtain regulatory approval of and commercialize any product candidates we may develop and affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been and continue to be ongoing efforts to implement legislative and regulatory changes regarding the healthcare system. Such changes could prevent or delay regulatory approval of any product candidates that we may develop, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval. Although we cannot predict what healthcare or other reform efforts will be successful, such efforts may result in more rigorous coverage criteria, in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or our future collaborators, may receive for any approved products or in other consequences that may adversely affect our ability to achieve or maintain profitability.
Within the United States, the federal government and individual states have aggressively pursued healthcare reform, as evidenced by the passing of the Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the
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“ACA”), and the ongoing efforts to modify or repeal that legislation. The ACA significantly changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers and contains a number of provisions that affect coverage and reimbursement of drug products and/or that could potentially reduce the demand for pharmaceutical products such as increasing drug rebates under state Medicaid programs for brand name prescription drugs and extending those rebates to Medicaid managed care and assessing a fee on manufacturers and importers of brand name prescription drugs reimbursed under certain government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Other aspects of healthcare reform, such as expanded government enforcement authority and heightened standards that could increase compliance-related costs, could also affect our business. Modifications have been implemented under the former Trump administration and additional modifications or repeal may occur.
There have also been executive, judicial, and congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. It is unclear how other healthcare reform measures of the Biden administration or other efforts, if any, to challenge, repeal or replace the ACA will impact our business. There is no assurance that federal or state healthcare reform will not adversely affect our future business and financial results, and we cannot predict how future federal or state legislative, judicial or administrative changes relating to healthcare reform will affect our business.
In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. For example, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 eliminated the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap, previously set at 100 percent of a drug’s average manufacturer price, for single source and innovator multiple source drugs, beginning January 1, 2024. The U.S. Budget Control Act of 2011 and subsequent legislation, among other things, included aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which remain in effect through 2032. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.
Additionally, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to drug pricing practices, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”), for example, includes several provisions that may impact our business to varying degrees, including provisions that reduce the out-of-pocket spending cap for Medicare Part D beneficiaries to $2,000 starting in 2025, eliminating the prescription drug coverage gap; impose new manufacturer financial liability on certain drugs under Medicare Part D, allow the U.S. government to negotiate Medicare Part B and Part D price caps for certain high-cost drugs and biologics without generic or biosimilar competition; require companies to pay rebates to Medicare for certain drug prices that increase faster than inflation; and delay until January 1, 2032 the implementation of an HHS rebate rule that would have limited the fees that pharmacy benefit managers can charge. Further, under the IRA, orphan drugs are exempted from the Medicare drug price negotiation program, but only if they have one orphan designation and for which the only approved indication is for that disease or condition. If a product receives multiple orphan designations or has multiple approved indications, it may not qualify for the orphan drug exemption. The effects of the IRA on our business and the healthcare industry in general is not yet known.
In addition, President Biden has issued multiple executive orders that have sought to reduce prescription drug costs. Although a number of these and other proposed measures may require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, and the Biden administration may reverse or otherwise change these measures, both the Biden administration and Congress have indicated that they will continue to seek new legislative measures to control drug costs.
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:
Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors, which may adversely affect our future profitability.
Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts,
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restrictions on certain drug access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. This could reduce the ultimate demand for our drugs or put pressure on our drug pricing, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Because we are developing product candidates in the field of genetic medicines in which there is little clinical experience, there is increased risk that the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities may not consider the endpoints of our clinical trials to provide clinically meaningful results and that these results may be difficult to analyze.
In order to proceed into clinical development of any product candidates we identify, we will need to submit INDs or clinical trial applications to regulatory authorities and obtain regulatory clearance to commence clinical development. Because the product candidates we identify are based on novel gene-editing technology, we may be unsuccessful in obtaining clearance from regulatory authorities to proceed into clinical development. In order to commence clinical development, we will need to identify success criteria and endpoints such that the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities will be able to determine the clinical efficacy and safety profile of any product candidates we may develop. As we are initially seeking to identify and develop product candidates to treat diseases in which there is little clinical experience using new technologies, and while we may have opportunities to discuss our clinical development plans with regulatory authorities prior to commencing clinical development, there is heightened risk that the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities may not consider the clinical trial endpoints that we propose to provide clinically meaningful results (reflecting a tangible benefit to patients). In addition, the resulting clinical data and results may be difficult to analyze. Even if the FDA does find our success criteria to be sufficiently validated and clinically meaningful, we may not achieve the pre-specified endpoints to a degree of statistical significance. This may be a particularly significant risk for many of the genetically defined diseases for which we plan to develop product candidates because many of these diseases such as PH1 have small patient populations, and designing and executing a rigorous clinical trial with appropriate statistical power is more difficult than with diseases that have larger patient populations.
Furthermore, even if we do achieve the pre-specified criteria, we may produce results that are unpredictable or inconsistent with the results of the non-primary endpoints or other relevant data. The FDA also weighs the benefits of a product against its risks, and the FDA may view the efficacy results in the context of safety as not being supportive of regulatory approval. Other regulatory authorities in the European Union and other countries may make similar comments with respect to these endpoints and data. Any product candidates we may develop will be based on a novel technology that makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval. No genome editing therapeutic product has been approved in the United States or in Europe. Within the broader genome product field, only a limited number of gene therapy products, such as uniQure N.V.’s Glybera and Abecma from Bristol Myers Squibb and bluebird bio, have received marketing authorization or regulatory approval from the European Commission or the FDA. Some of these products have taken years to register and have had to deal with significant issues in their post-marketing experience.
If preclinical studies or clinical trials of any product candidates we may identify and develop fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities or do not otherwise produce positive results, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of such product candidates.
Before obtaining regulatory approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidates we may identify and develop, we must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete, and is uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results.
Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval of their product candidates.
We and our collaborators, if any, may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive regulatory approval or commercialize any product candidates we may identify and develop, including:
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If we or our collaborators are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of any product candidates we may develop beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we or our collaborators are unable to successfully complete clinical trials or other testing of any product candidates we may develop, or if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive or if there are safety concerns, we or our collaborators may:
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Product development costs will also increase if we or our collaborators experience delays in clinical trials or other testing or in obtaining regulatory approvals. We do not know whether any clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured, or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize any product candidates we may develop, could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, and could impair our ability to successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop, any of which may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Failure to access or a significant delay in accessing animal research models may materially adversely affect our ability to advance our preclinical programs and successfully develop any product candidates we may identify, which could result in significant harm to our business.
Consistent with various rules, regulations and current good manufacturing practices (“cGMP”), our ability to advance our preclinical programs and successfully develop any product candidates we may identify requires access to animal research models sufficient to assess safety and in some cases to establish the rationale for therapeutic use. Failure to access or a significant delay in accessing animal research models that meet our needs or that fulfil regulatory requirements may materially adversely affect our ability to advance our preclinical programs and successfully develop any product candidates we may identify and this could result in significant harm to our business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers and CROs (including those engaged by us) experienced significant limitations in their access to animal research models, specifically including a sharp reduction in the availability of non-human primates (“NHPs”) originating from breeding farms in Southeast Asia and limited access to the generation of genetically-modified rodent models used in efficacy evaluations. Prior to the pandemic, China was the leading exporter of NHPs employed in basic and applied research; however, early in 2020, China ceased exportation of cynomolgus monkeys, the species most commonly involved in pharmaceutical product development. This change in the world supply of a critical research model has resulted in increased demand from breeding farms principally located in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mauritius Island, with a resultant marked increase in unit pricing. Consequently, this has further exacerbated an already constrained NHP supply for research purposes. If we are unable to obtain NHPs in sufficient quantities and in a timely manner to meet the needs of our preclinical research programs, if the price of NHPs that are available increases significantly, or if our suppliers are unable to ship the NHPs in their possession that are reserved for us, our ability to advance our preclinical programs and successfully develop any preclinical candidates we may identify may be materially adversely affected or significantly delayed.
Even if we complete the necessary clinical trials, we cannot predict when, or if, we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize a product candidate we may develop in the United States or any other jurisdiction, and any such approval may be for a more narrow indication than we seek.
We cannot commercialize a product candidate until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Even if our product candidates meet their safety and efficacy endpoints in clinical trials, the regulatory authorities may not complete their review processes in a timely manner, or we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval. Additional delays may result if an FDA advisory committee or other regulatory authority recommends non-approval or restrictions on approval. In addition, we may experience delays or rejections based upon additional government regulation from future legislation or administrative action, or changes in regulatory authority policy during the period of product development, clinical trials, and the review process.
Regulatory authorities also may approve a product candidate for more limited indications than requested or they may impose significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings or a REMS. These regulatory authorities may require labeling that includes precautions or contraindications with respect to conditions of use, or may grant approval subject to the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials. In addition, regulatory authorities may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Regulatory approval by the FDA in the United States, if obtained, does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions. In addition, clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not guarantee regulatory approval in any other country. Approval processes vary among countries and can involve additional product candidate testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking regulatory approval outside the United States could result in difficulties and costs for us and require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials which could be costly and time-consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our product candidates in those countries. The foreign regulatory approval process involves all of the risks associated with FDA approval. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approvals in
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international markets are delayed, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be unrealized.
Even if we, or any of our collaborators or strategic partners, obtain regulatory approvals for any product candidates we may develop, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of such product candidates could require the substantial expenditure of resources and may limit how we, or they, manufacture and market such product candidates, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.
Any product candidate for which we obtain regulatory approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, facility registration and drug listing requirements, cGMP relating to quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, applicable product tracking and tracing requirements and requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. In addition, our manufacturing and testing facilities will be required to undergo pre-license inspections and pre-approval inspections. Even if regulatory approval of a product candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the products may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the products.
Accordingly, assuming we, or any collaborators we may have, receive regulatory approval for one or more product candidates we develop, we, and such collaborators, and our and their contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control. If we and such collaborators are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we and such collaborators could have the regulatory approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our, or such collaborators’, ability to market any future products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Furthermore, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.
We may not be able to obtain orphan drug designation or exclusivity for our potential product candidates, and even if we do, that designation may not provide an expedited development or regulatory review or approval process and any orphan drug exclusivity we may receive for approved products may not prevent the FDA or the EMA from approving other competing products.
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product candidate as an orphan drug if it is a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition. A similar regulatory scheme governs approval of orphan product candidates by the EMA in the European Union. Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first regulatory approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA or the EMA (as applicable) from approving another marketing application for another similar product candidate for the same orphan therapeutic indication for that time period. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in the European Union. The exclusivity period in the European Union can be reduced to six years if at the end of the fifth year it is determined that a product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation, including if the product is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified.
In order for the FDA to grant orphan drug exclusivity to one of our potential product candidates, the agency must find that the product candidate is indicated for the treatment of a condition or disease that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States or that affects 200,000 or more individuals in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making the product candidate available for the disease or condition will be recovered from sales of the product in the United States. The FDA may conclude that the condition or disease for which we seek orphan drug exclusivity does not meet this standard. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product candidate, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product candidate from competition because different product candidates can be approved for the same condition. In addition, even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same product candidate for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later product candidate is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care compared with the product that has orphan exclusivity. Orphan drug exclusivity may also be lost if the FDA or EMA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the product to meet the needs of the patients with the rare disease or condition.
We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws, and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. Compliance with these legal standards could impair our ability to compete in domestic and international markets. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which can harm our business.
We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies
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and their employees, agents, contractors, and other collaborators from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We may engage third parties to sell our products outside the United States, to conduct clinical trials, and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities, and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, contractors, and other collaborators, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm, and other consequences.
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 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.
Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research and product development 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 carry pollution insurance to protect against possible biological or hazardous waste accidents. However, 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.
In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health, and safety laws, regulations, and permitting requirements. These current or future laws, regulations, and permitting requirements may impair our research, development, or production efforts. Failure to comply with these laws, regulations, and permitting requirements also may result in substantial fines, penalties, or other sanctions or business disruption, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Any third-party contract manufacturers and suppliers we engage will also be subject to these and other environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations. Liabilities they incur pursuant to these laws and regulations could result in significant costs or an interruption in operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading.
We are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our employees, consultants and commercial partners, and, if we commence clinical trials, our principal investigators. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or the regulations applicable in the European Union and other jurisdictions, provide accurate information to the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities, comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations in the United States and abroad, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Such misconduct also could involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials or interactions with the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. We are also exposed to risks in connection with any insider trading violations by employees or others affiliated with us.
We have adopted a code of conduct and an insider trading policy applicable to all of our employees, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in
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controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from government investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or 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, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and could limit commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop.
We will face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of any product candidates we may develop in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell such product candidates. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates caused injuries, we could incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
We anticipate that we will need to increase our insurance coverage when we begin clinical trials and if we successfully commercialize any product candidate. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.
Our internal computer and information technology systems, or those of our third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors, consultants or other third parties, may fail, become unavailable, or suffer security incidents or data breaches, loss or leakage of data and other disruptions, which could result in a material disruption of our product development programs, compromise confidential, sensitive or personal information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information, potentially exposing us to liability or otherwise adversely affecting our business.
Our internal computer and information technology systems and those of our current and any future third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors, consultants or other third parties, are vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among other things, computer viruses, computer hackers, phishing attacks, ransomware, malware, social engineering, service interruptions, system malfunction, malicious code, employee theft, fraud, misconduct or misuse, denial-of-service attacks, sophisticated nation-state and nation-state-supported actors, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we seek to protect our information technology systems from system failure, accident and security breach, we have in the past and may in the future experience phishing and other security incidents which could result in a disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other proprietary, personal or confidential information or other disruptions. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data.
Controls employed by our information technology department and other third parties could prove inadequate, and our ability to monitor such third parties’ data security practices is limited. Due to applicable laws, rules, regulations and standards or contractual obligations, we may be held responsible for any information security failure or cybersecurity attack attributed to our third-party vendors as they relate to the information we share with them.
If we were to experience a cybersecurity breach or other security incident relating to our information systems or data, the costs, time and effort associated with the investigation, remediation and potential notification of the breach to counterparties, regulators and data subjects could be material. We may incur significant costs in an effort to detect and prevent security incidents, and we may face increased costs and requirements to expend substantial resources in the event of an actual or perceived security incident. In addition, techniques used to sabotage or to obtain unauthorized access to networks in which data is stored or through which data is transmitted change frequently, become more complex over time and generally are not recognized until launched against a target. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyberattacks including supply chain attacks such as SolarWinds or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments, and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity, and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. As a result, we and our third-party vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures quickly enough to prevent either an electronic intrusion into our systems or services or a compromise of critical information. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to
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detect or prevent any such incidents, and, our remediation efforts may not be successful or timely. Our efforts to improve security and protect data from compromise may also identify previously undiscovered instances of data breaches or other cybersecurity incidents. If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology and cybersecurity infrastructure, we could suffer significant business disruption, including transaction errors, supply chain or manufacturing interruptions, processing inefficiencies, data loss or the loss of or damage to intellectual property or other proprietary, personal or confidential information. Additionally, we do not currently maintain cybersecurity insurance, and any insurance we may maintain in the future against the risk of this type of loss in the future may not be sufficient to cover actual losses, or may not apply to the circumstances relating to any particular loss.
To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our or our third-party vendors’, collaborators’, contractors’, consultants’ or other third parties’ data, including personal data, or applications or inappropriate disclosure, loss, destruction or alteration of, or access to, confidential, personal or proprietary information, we could incur significant liability including litigation exposure, substantial penalties and fines, we could become the subject of regulatory action, inquiry or investigation, our competitive position could be harmed, we could incur significant reputational damage and the further development and commercialization of any product candidates we may develop could be delayed. Any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain product candidates we may identify outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.
We are subject to numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction outside the United States in which we operate. The creation, implementation and maintenance of international business practices compliance programs is costly and such programs are difficult to enforce, particularly where reliance on third parties is required.
The FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA are enforced primarily by the Department of Justice. The SEC is involved with enforcement of the books and records provisions of the FCPA.
Similarly, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 has extra-territorial effect for companies and individuals having a connection with the United Kingdom. The U.K. Bribery Act prohibits inducements both to public officials and private individuals and organizations. Compliance with the FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.
Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. Our expansion outside of the United States has required, and will continue to require, us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing or selling certain drugs and drug candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs. The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial penalties, including suspension or debarment from government contracting. Violation of the FCPA can result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Indictment alone under the FCPA can lead to suspension of the right to do business with the U.S. government until the pending claims are resolved. Conviction of a violation of the FCPA can result in long-term disqualification as a government contractor. The termination of a government contract or relationship as a result of our failure to satisfy any of our obligations under laws governing international business practices would have a negative impact on our operations and harm our reputation and ability to procure government contracts. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.
We are subject to stringent and often unsettled laws, rules, regulations, policies, standards and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security and changes in such laws, rules, regulations, policies, standards and contractual obligations could adversely affect our business.
We are subject to data privacy and protection laws, rules, regulations, policies, standards and contractual obligations that apply to the
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collection, transmission, storage, use, disclosure, transfer, maintenance and other processing of sensitive, personal and personally-identifying information, which, among other things, impose certain requirements relating to the privacy, security, transmission and other processing of personal information, including comprehensive regulatory systems in the United States and European Union. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve in jurisdictions worldwide, and there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business. However, our data privacy program is in its early stages and we have not yet assessed the applicability of and our compliance with data privacy-related laws, rules and regulations. As a result, we cannot guarantee that we are and have been in compliance with all applicable data privacy and protection laws, rules regulations, policies and standards, and we may need to expend significant resources to implement privacy compliance measures. Additionally, we rely on certain third-party vendors to process certain confidential, sensitive or personal information on our behalf. Failure by us or our third-party vendors to comply with any of these laws, rules, regulations, contractual obligations or standards could result in notification obligations, enforcement actions, regulatory investigations or inquiries, significant fines, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, litigation and claims for damages by affected individuals, customers or business partners, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
There are numerous U.S. federal and state laws, rules and regulations related to the privacy and security of personal information. In particular, regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, or protected health information, and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (“GINA”), which clarified that genetic information is protected under HIPAA and restricts the use and disclosure of genetic information.
Additionally, laws in all 50 states require businesses to provide notice to customers whose personally identifiable information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. These laws are not consistent, and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach is difficult and may be costly. Moreover, states have been frequently amending existing laws, requiring attention to changing regulatory requirements. We also may be contractually required to notify patients or other counterparties of a security breach. Although we may have contractual protections with our service providers, any actual or perceived security breach could harm our reputation and brand, expose us to potential liability or require us to expend significant resources on data security and in responding to any such actual or perceived breach. Any contractual protections we may have from our service providers may not be sufficient to adequately protect us from any such liabilities and losses, and we may be unable to enforce any such contractual protections. In addition to government regulation, privacy advocates and industry groups have and may in the future propose self-regulatory standards from time to time. These and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards. Determining whether personal information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy standards and our contractual obligations can be complex and may be subject to changing interpretation.
If we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of personal information, we could be alleged or actually found to have breached our contracts. Furthermore, if we fail to comply with applicable privacy laws, including applicable HIPAA privacy and security standards, we could face significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties. HHS has the discretion to impose penalties without attempting to resolve violations through informal means, and such enforcement activity can result in financial liability and reputational harm, and responses to such enforcement activity can consume significant internal resources. In addition, state attorneys general are authorized to bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations that threaten the privacy or security of the personal information of state residents. We cannot be sure how these laws, rules and regulations will be interpreted, enforced or applied to our operations. In addition to the risks associated with enforcement activities and potential contractual liabilities, our ongoing efforts to comply with evolving laws, rules and regulations at the international, federal and state level may be costly and require ongoing modifications to our policies, procedures and systems.
We make public statements about our use, collection, disclosure and other processing of personal information through our privacy policies and information provided on our website. Although we endeavor to comply with our public statements and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or be alleged to have failed to do so. The publication of our privacy policies and other statements that provide promises and assurances about data privacy and security can subject us to potential government or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices.
Data privacy remains an evolving landscape at both the domestic and international level, with new laws, rules and regulations coming into effect and continued legal challenges. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which went into effect on January 1, 2020 and, among other things, requires companies that process information on California residents to make new disclosures to consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices, allow consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties and provide a new cause of action for data breaches. Additionally, California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which went into effect on January 1, 2023. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA,
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including by introducing additional obligations such as data minimization and storage limitations and granting additional rights to California residents such as correction of personal information and additional opt-out rights. The CPRA also creates a new state agency that will be vested with authority to implement and enforce the CCPA and the CPRA. The enactment of the CCPA is prompting a wave of similar legislative developments in other states and at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. For example, at least four such state laws (in Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah) have taken effect, or are scheduled to take effect in 2023. Certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to confidential, sensitive and personal information than federal, international or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, which may complicate compliance efforts.
Our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection laws, rules and regulations may be unsuccessful. It is possible that these laws, rules and regulations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices and our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection rules may be unsuccessful. The laws are not consistent, and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach is costly and time-consuming. States are also frequently amending existing laws, requiring attention to frequently changing regulatory requirements. We must devote significant resources to understanding and complying with this changing landscape. Failure by us or our third-party vendors to comply with laws, rules and regulations regarding data privacy and protection would expose us to risk of enforcement actions taken by data protection authorities and carries with it the potential for significant penalties if we are found to be non-compliant. Similarly, failure to comply with federal and state laws, rules and regulations in the United States regarding privacy and security of personal information could expose us to penalties under such laws, rules and regulations. Any such failure by us or our third-party vendors to comply with data protection and privacy laws, rules and regulations could result in significant government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, claims for damages or other liabilities, regulatory investigations and enforcement action, litigation and significant costs for remediation, any of which could adversely affect our business. Even if we are not determined to have violated these laws, rules or regulations, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
Risks Related to Third Party Relationships
If conflicts arise between us and our collaborators or strategic partners, these parties may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement our strategies.
If conflicts arise between our collaborators and corporate or strategic partners and us, the other party may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement our strategies. Some of our collaborators and strategic partners are conducting multiple product development efforts within each area that is the subject of the collaboration with us. Our collaborators or strategic partners, however, may develop, either alone or with others, products in related fields that are competitive with the product candidates we may develop that are the subject of these collaborations with us. Competing products, either developed by the collaborators or strategic partners or to which the collaborators or strategic partners have rights, may result in the withdrawal of partner support for any product candidates we may develop.
Additionally, some of our collaborators or strategic partners could also become our competitors in the future. Our collaborators or strategic partners could develop competing products, preclude us from entering into collaborations with their competitors, fail to obtain timely regulatory approvals, prevent us from obtaining timely regulatory approvals, terminate their agreements with us prematurely or fail to devote sufficient resources to the collaboration efforts, including development, delivery, manufacturing and commercialization of products. Any of these developments could harm our company and product development efforts.
We have entered into collaborations, and may enter into additional collaborations, with third parties for the research, development, manufacture and commercialization of programs or product candidates. If these collaborations are not successful, our business could be adversely affected.
As part of our strategy, we have entered into collaborations and intend to seek to enter into additional collaborations with third parties for one or more of our programs or product candidates we may develop. For example, in June 2022, we entered into a Development, Option and License Agreement with Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc. (“Affini-T”) to develop and commercialize gene edited T-cell receptor (“TCR”)-based therapeutic products exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with any engineered primary TCR alpha/beta T cells and non-exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with certain other engineered immune cells worldwide, and in November 2022, we entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ionis”) to research, develop and commercialize investigational medicines using genome editing technologies. Our likely collaborators for any other collaboration arrangements include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies. We have under these agreements, and we may have under any other arrangements that we may enter into with any third parties, limited control over the amount and timing of resources that collaborators dedicate to the development or commercialization of our
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product candidates. Our ability to generate revenue from these arrangements may depend on our collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements.
Collaborations that we enter into may not be successful, and any success will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of such collaborators. Collaborations pose a number of risks, including the following:
Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of product candidates in the most efficient manner, or at all. If any current or future collaborations do not result in the successful development and commercialization of products or if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future research funding or milestone or royalty payments under the collaboration. If we do not receive the funding we expect under these agreements, our development of our product candidates could be delayed and we may need additional resources to develop our product candidates. All of the risks relating to
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product development, regulatory approval and commercialization described in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q also apply to the activities of our collaborators.
Collaboration agreements may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near- and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders, or disrupt our management and business. For more information, see the section titled “Business—Our License and Collaboration Agreements.”
We could face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators, and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Our ability to reach a definitive collaboration agreement will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration, and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of several factors. If we license rights to any product candidates we or our collaborators may develop, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture.
We may also be restricted under existing collaboration agreements from entering into future collaboration agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators, which further increases competition we face in seeking potential collaborations.
Additionally, subject to its contractual obligations to us, if a collaborator of ours is involved in a business combination, the collaborator might deemphasize or terminate the development or commercialization of any product candidate licensed to it by us. If one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new collaborators and our perception in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected.
Our collaborators and strategic partners may control aspects of our clinical trials, which could result in delays and other obstacles in the commercialization of our proposed products and materially harm our results of operations.
For some programs, we will depend on third party collaborators and strategic partners to design and conduct our clinical trials. As a result, we may not be able to conduct these programs in the manner or on the time schedule we currently contemplate, which may negatively impact our business operations. In addition, if any of these collaborators or strategic partners withdraw support for our programs or proposed products or otherwise impair their development, our business could be negatively affected.
In June 2022, we entered into a Development, Option and License Agreement with Affini-T to develop and commercialize gene edited TCR-based therapeutic products exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with any engineered primary TCR alpha/beta T cells and non-exclusively in the field of treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any human cancer using products with certain other engineered immune cells worldwide, and in November 2022, we entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Ionis to research, develop and commercialize investigational medicines for up to eight potential genetic targets using genome editing technologies. Our lack of control over the clinical development in our agreements with Affini-T and Ionis could cause delays or other difficulties in the development and commercialization of product candidates, which may prevent completion of intended IND applications in a timely fashion, if at all.
In addition, the termination of these agreements would prevent us from receiving any milestone, royalty payments and other benefits under that agreement, which would have a materially adverse effect on our results of operations.
Our collaborators or strategic partners may decide to adopt alternative technologies or may be unable to develop commercially viable products with our technology, which would negatively impact our revenues and our strategy to develop these products.
Our collaborators or strategic partners may adopt alternative technologies, which could decrease the marketability of our genome editing technology. Additionally, because our current or future collaborators or strategic partners are likely to be working on more than one development project, they could choose to shift their resources to projects other than those they are working on with us. If they do so, this would delay our ability to test our technology and would delay or terminate the development of potential products based on our genome editing technology. Further, our collaborators and strategic partners may elect not to develop products arising out of our collaborative and strategic partnering arrangements or to devote sufficient resources to the development, manufacturing, marketing or sale of these products. The failure to develop and commercialize a product candidate pursuant to our agreements with our current or future collaborators would prevent us from receiving future milestone and royalty payments which would negatively impact our revenues.
We expect to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and some aspects of our research, as well as some aspects of our delivery methods, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research or testing.
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We expect to rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions, preclinical laboratories and clinical investigators, to conduct some aspects of our research. For example, we may rely on a third party to supply LNPs or AAVs, or to conduct our preclinical animal experiments. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time under certain criteria. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it may delay our product development activities.
Our reliance on these third parties for clinical research and other development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities require us and the study sites and investigators we work with to comply with standards, commonly referred to as GLPs and GCPs for conducting, recording and reporting the results of preclinical studies and clinical trials to assure, amongst other things, that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. In the United States, we also are required to register certain clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Although we intend to design the preclinical studies and clinical trials for our potential product candidates, CROs will conduct some or all of the preclinical studies and clinical trials. As a result, many important aspects of our development programs, including their conduct and timing, will be outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct preclinical studies and future clinical trials will also result in less direct control over the management of data developed through preclinical studies and clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Among other reasons that may delay or impact the development of our potential product candidates, outside parties may:
These factors may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. If the CROs and other third parties do not perform such preclinical studies and future clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our potential product candidates may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our potential product candidates or our development programs may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on preclinical and clinical data collected by our CROs and other third parties, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of or increase the size of any preclinical studies or clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialization and require greater expenditures.
We may also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for our future clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or regulatory approval of any product candidates we may develop or commercialization of our therapies, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.
Manufacturing biologic products is complex and subject to product loss for a variety of reasons. We contract with third parties for the manufacture of certain materials for our development programs and expect to continue to do so for clinical trials and commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our future product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We operate and are expanding our cGMP manufacturing facility which is currently capable of manufacturing clinical grade nucleases and mRNA to supply both wholly-owned and collaboration programs. We also partner with CMOs for guide RNA (“gRNA”) and DNA template development and supply. We also rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for gRNA and DNA template development and supply, as well as for preclinical and clinical testing and commercial manufacture if any of our product candidates receive regulatory approval. We also expect to rely on these third parties for certain logistics, including packaging, labeling, storage, and distribution. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our materials or future product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts. We may be unable to establish any 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:
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We or our third-party manufacturers may encounter shortages in the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to produce our future product candidates in the quantities needed for our preclinical studies or clinical trials or, if our future product candidates are approved, in sufficient quantities for commercialization or to meet an increase in demand, as a result of capacity constraints or delays or disruptions in the market for the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients, including shortages caused by the purchase of such raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredient by our competitors or others. The failure of us or our third-party manufacturers to obtain the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to manufacture sufficient quantities of our future product candidates may have a material adverse effect on our business.
Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP. We, along with our third-party manufacturers, are subject to inspection and approval by regulatory authorities before we can commence the manufacture and sale of any of our future product candidates, and thereafter subject to ongoing inspection from time to time. We or our third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP or similar regulatory requirements outside of the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in regulatory actions, such as the issuance of FDA Form 483 notices of observations, warning letters or sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products.
Manufacturing biologic products, such as the product candidates we intend to develop, is complex, especially in large quantities. Biologic products must be made consistently and in compliance with a clearly defined manufacturing process. Accordingly, it is essential to be able to validate and control the manufacturing process to assure that it is reproducible. Any product candidates and products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. As a result, we may not obtain access to these facilities on a priority basis or at all. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP 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 regulatory approval. We do not currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply or a source for bulk drug substance nor do we have any agreements with third-party manufacturers for long-term commercial supply. If any of our contract manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such manufacturers. Although we believe that there are several potential alternative manufacturers who could manufacture materials or future product candidates or products we may develop, we may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement or be unable to reach agreement with an alternative manufacturer. If we are required to change third party-manufacturers for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new third party-manufacturer maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations. We will also need to verify, such as through a manufacturing comparability study, that any new manufacturing process will produce our materials or future product candidates or products according to the specifications previously submitted to the FDA or another regulatory authority. The delays associated with the verification of a new third party-manufacturer could negatively affect our ability to develop product candidates or commercialize our products in a timely manner or within budget. Furthermore, a third party-manufacturer may possess technology related to the manufacture of our materials or future product candidates or products that such third party-manufacturer owns independently. This would increase our reliance on such third party-manufacturer or require us to obtain a license from such third party-manufacturer in order to have another third party-manufacturer manufacture our materials or future product candidates or products, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. In addition, changes in manufacturers often involve changes in manufacturing procedures and processes, which could require that we conduct bridging studies between our prior clinical supply used in our clinical trials and that of any new manufacturer. We may be unsuccessful in demonstrating the comparability of clinical supplies which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials.
Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of materials and any future product candidates or products we may develop may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive regulatory approval on a timely and competitive basis.
Our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, anti-bribery and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, and diminished profits and future earnings.
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Healthcare providers, including physicians, and third-party payors play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates that we may develop for which we obtain regulatory approval and marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with third-party payors, healthcare providers and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell, and distribute our products for which we obtain regulatory approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, including certain laws and regulations applicable only if we have marketed products, include the following:
Some state laws also require pharmaceutical companies to comply with specific compliance standards, restrict financial interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers or require pharmaceutical companies to report information related to
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payments to healthcare providers or marketing expenditures.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Given the breadth of the laws and regulations, limited guidance for certain laws and regulations and evolving government interpretations of the laws and regulations, governmental authorities may possibly conclude that our business practices may not comply with healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other government regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, individual imprisonment, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
The provision of benefits or advantages to physicians to induce or encourage the prescription, recommendation, endorsement, purchase, supply, order, or use of medicinal products is prohibited in the European Union. The provision of benefits or advantages to also induce or reward improper performance generally is governed by the national anti-bribery laws of European Union Member States, and the Bribery Act 2010 in the United Kingdom. Infringement of these laws could result in substantial fines and imprisonment. EU Directive 2001/83/EC, which is the EU Directive governing medicinal products for human use, further provides that, where medicinal products are being promoted to persons qualified to prescribe or supply them, no gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind may be supplied, offered or promised to such persons unless they are inexpensive and relevant to the practice of medicine or pharmacy. This provision has been transposed into the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and so remains applicable in the United Kingdom despite its departure from the EU.
Payments made to physicians in certain European Union Member States must be publicly disclosed. Moreover, agreements with physicians often must be the subject of prior notification and approval by the physician’s employer, his or her competent professional organization, and/or the regulatory authorities of the individual European Union Member States. These requirements are provided in the national laws, industry codes, or professional codes of conduct applicable in the European Union Member States. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines or imprisonment.
Risks Related to Personnel, Operations, and Growth
Our future success depends on our ability to retain our Chief Executive Officer and other key executives and to attract, retain, and motivate qualified personnel.
We are highly dependent on Brian C. Thomas, our Chief Executive Officer as well as the other principal members of our management and scientific teams. Dr. Thomas and such other principal members are engaged “at will,” meaning we or they may terminate the relationship at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. The loss of the services of any of these persons could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives. For us to successfully compete and grow, we must recruit, retain, and develop talent who can provide the necessary expertise across a broad spectrum of disciplines. In addition, we must develop, maintain and, as necessary, implement appropriate succession plans to ensure we have the necessary human capital capable of maintaining continuity in our business.
Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel will also be critical to our success. In addition, our company-building efforts and establishment of a company culture will also be important to developing an innovative company in a high-evolving area. We may not be able to succeed in these efforts to build Metagenomi as an attractive and exciting place to build a career or to attract and retain these types of personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors, including our scientific co-founders, may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. We may also encounter problems hiring and retaining the experienced scientific, quality control and manufacturing personnel needed to manage our manufacturing process, which could result in delays in our production or difficulties in maintaining compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. The inability to recruit, or loss of services of, certain executives, key employees, consultants or advisors, may impede the progress of our research, development and commercialization objectives and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We expect to expand our research, development, delivery, manufacturing, commercialization, regulatory, and future sales and marketing capabilities over time, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.
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We may fail to manage our growth effectively. As of September 30, 2024, we had 207 full-time employees, of which 72 have M.D. or Ph.D. degrees. Within our workforce, 174 employees are engaged in research and development and 33 are engaged in business development, finance, legal, and general management and administration. In connection with the growth and advancement of our pipeline and becoming a public company, we expect to increase the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of research and clinical development, regulatory affairs and, if any of our future product candidates receive regulatory approval, sales and marketing. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities, and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and the limited experience of our management team in managing a company with such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage the expected expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Moreover, the expected physical expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.
As a growing biotechnology company, we are actively developing our platform technology and pursuing development of future product candidates in many therapeutic areas and across a wide range of diseases. Successfully developing product candidates for and fully understanding the regulatory and manufacturing pathways to all of these therapeutic areas and disease states requires a significant depth of talent, resources and corporate processes in order to allow simultaneous execution across multiple areas. We will need to transition from a company with a research focus to a company capable of conducting clinical trials and ultimately supporting commercial activities if any of our product candidates are approved. We may not be successful in such a transition. Due to our limited resources, we may not be able to effectively manage this simultaneous execution and the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. This may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, legal or regulatory compliance failures, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. The physical expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of our potential product candidates. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected development and expansion, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate or increase our revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to compete effectively and commercialize any product candidates we may develop will depend in part on our ability to effectively manage the future development and expansion of our company, and may prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete effectively in the future against existing or new competitors, and our failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being developed, approved, or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, the FDA’s ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for biologics or modifications to approved biologics to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our commercial success depends on our ability to obtain, maintain, enforce, and otherwise protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology, and if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors or other third parties could develop and commercialize products and product candidates similar to ours and our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our genome editing systems may be adversely affected.
Our commercial success depends, in large part, on our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property rights protection through patents, trademarks, and trade secrets in the United States and other countries with respect to our proprietary genome editing systems. If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property rights, competitors or other third parties may be able to erode, negate or preempt any competitive advantage we may have, which could harm our business and ability to achieve profitability. To protect our proprietary position, we have filed patent applications and may file other patent applications in the United States or abroad related to our genome editing systems that are important to our business; we may also license or purchase patents or patent applications filed by others. The patent application process is expensive, time-consuming and complex. 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.
We may not be able to obtain patents on certain inventions if those inventions are publicly disclosed prior to our filing a patent application covering them. We enter into nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential information, including confidential information regarding inventions not yet disclosed in patent applications. We cannot guarantee that
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any of these parties will not breach these confidentiality agreements and publicly disclose any of our inventions before a patent application is filed covering such inventions. If such confidential information is publicly disclosed, we may not be able to successfully patent it and consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using such inventions.
If the scope of the patent protection we obtain is not sufficiently broad, we may not be able to prevent others from developing and commercializing technology and products similar or identical to ours. The degree of patent protection we require to successfully compete in the marketplace may be unavailable or severely limited in some cases and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. We cannot provide any assurances that any of our patents have, or that any of our pending owned patent applications that mature into issued patents will include claims with a scope sufficient to protect our proprietary genome editing systems or otherwise provide any competitive advantage. Other parties have developed or may develop technologies that may be related or competitive with our approach, and may have filed or may file patent applications and may have been issued or may be issued patents with claims that overlap or conflict with our patent portfolio, either by claiming the same compounds, formulations or methods or by claiming subject matter that could dominate our patent position. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Furthermore, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally twenty years after it is filed. Various extensions may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited.
Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new genome editing systems, patents protecting such genome editing systems might expire before or shortly after such genome editing systems are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with adequate and continuing patent protection sufficient to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
Even if they are unchallenged, our owned patents and pending patent applications, if issued, may not provide us with any meaningful protection or prevent competitors from designing around our patent claims to circumvent our patent portfolio by developing similar or alternative genome editing systems in a non-infringing manner. For example, a third party may develop a genome editing system that provides benefits similar to our genome editing systems but falls outside the scope of our patent protection or license rights. If the patent protection provided by the patent and patent applications we hold or pursue with respect to our genome editing systems is not sufficiently broad to impede such competition, our ability to successfully commercialize our product genome editing systems could be negatively affected, which would harm our business.
We, or any future partners, collaborators, or licensees, may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. Therefore, we may miss potential opportunities to strengthen our patent position.
It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of our patent portfolio may exist, or may arise in the future, for example with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, claim scope, or requests for patent term adjustments. If we or our partners, collaborators, or licensees whether current or future, fail to establish, maintain or protect such patents and other intellectual property rights, such rights may be reduced or eliminated. If our partners, collaborators, or licensees are not fully cooperative or disagree with us as to the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of any patent rights, such patent rights could be compromised. If there are material defects in the form, preparation, prosecution, or enforcement of our patent portfolio, such patents may be invalid and/or unenforceable, and such applications may never result in valid, enforceable patents. Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and various government patent agencies outside of the United States over the lifetime of our owned or licensed patents and patent applications. We rely on our outside counsel or our licensing partners to pay these fees due to U.S. and non-U.S. patent agencies. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have an adverse impact on our business.
The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies carries uncertainty. In addition, the determination of patent rights with respect to genome editing technologies commonly involves complex legal and factual questions, which are dependent upon the current legal and intellectual property context, extant legal precedent and interpretations of the law by individuals. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are characterized by uncertainty.
Pending patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless and until a patent issues from such applications. Assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, currently, the first to file a patent application is generally entitled to the patent. However, prior to March 16, 2013, in the United States, the first to invent was entitled to the patent. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patent portfolio, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. If third parties have filed prior patent applications on inventions claimed in our patent
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portfolio that were filed on or before March 15, 2013, an interference proceeding in the United States can be initiated by such third parties to determine who was the first to invent any of the subject matter covered by our patent portfolio. If third parties have filed such prior applications after March 15, 2013, a derivation proceeding in the United States can be initiated by such third parties to determine whether our invention was derived from theirs.
Moreover, because the issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. There is no assurance that all the potentially relevant prior art relating to our patent portfolio has been found. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patent portfolio, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. If such prior art exists, it may be used to invalidate a patent, or may prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application. For example, such patent filings may be subject to a third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO, or to other patent offices around the world. Alternately or additionally, we may become involved in post-grant review procedures, oppositions, derivation proceedings, ex parte reexaminations, inter partes review, supplemental examinations, or interference proceedings or challenges before the USPTO or in district court in the United States, or similar proceedings in various foreign jurisdictions, including both national and regional, challenging patents or patent applications in which we have rights, including patents on which we rely to protect our business. An adverse determination in any such challenges may result in loss of the patent or claims in the patent portfolio being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, or in denial of the patent application or loss or reduction in the scope of one or more claims of the patent portfolio, any of which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products.
Pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued that protect our business, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive products. Competitors may also be able to design around our patents. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the United States. For example, patent laws in various jurisdictions, including jurisdiction covering significant commercial markets, such as the European Patent Office, China, and Japan, restrict the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does. If these developments were to occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenue.
The patent application process is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we or any of our future development partners will be successful in protecting our genome editing systems by obtaining and defending patents. These risks and uncertainties include the following:
Issued patents that we have or may obtain or license may not provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Our competitors may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. Our competitors may also seek approval to market their own products similar to or otherwise competitive with our products. In these circumstances, we may need to defend or
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assert our patents, or both, including by filing lawsuits alleging patent infringement. In any of these types of proceedings, a court or other agency with jurisdiction may find our patents invalid or unenforceable, or that our competitors do not infringe our patents. Thus, even if we have valid and enforceable patents, these patents still may not provide protection against competing products or processes sufficient to achieve our business objectives.
We maintain certain information as company trade secrets. This information may relate to inventions that are not patentable or not optimally protected with patents. We use commercially acceptable practices to protect this information, including, for example, limiting access to the information and requiring passwords for our computers. Additionally, we execute confidentiality agreements with any third parties to whom we may provide access to the information and with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors, collaborators, vendors, contractors, and advisors. We cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed, and third parties may still obtain this information or may come upon this or similar information independently. It is possible that technology relevant to our business will be independently developed by a person who is not a party to such a confidentiality or invention assignment agreement. If any of our trade secrets were to be independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent such competitor or third party, or those to whom they communicate such independently developed information, from using that information to compete with us. We may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge or trade secrets by contract manufacturers, consultants, collaborators, vendors, advisors, former employees and current employees.
Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. Furthermore, if the parties to our confidentiality agreements breach or violate the terms of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets as a consequence of such breaches or violations. Our trade secrets could otherwise become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. Additionally, if the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating our trade secrets. If any of these events occurs or if we otherwise lose protection for our trade secrets, our business, financial condition, results of operation and prospects may be materially and adversely harmed.
It is difficult and costly to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies, and we may not be able to ensure their protection.
Our commercial success will depend in part on obtaining and maintaining patent protection and trade secret protection for our proprietary genome editing systems, as well as on successfully defending these patents against potential third-party challenges. Our ability to protect our genome editing systems from unauthorized making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing by third parties is dependent on the extent to which we have rights under valid and enforceable patents that cover these activities.
The patent positions of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved and have in recent years been the subject of much litigation. Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property. Over the past decade, U.S. federal courts have increasingly invalidated pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents during litigation often based on changing interpretations of patent law. Further, the determination that a patent application or patent claim meets all the requirements for patentability is a subjective determination based on the application of law and jurisprudence. The ultimate determination by the USPTO or by a court or other trier of fact in the United States, or corresponding foreign national patent offices or courts, on whether a claim meets all requirements of patentability cannot be assured. Although we have conducted searches for third-party publications, patents and other information that may affect the patentability of claims in our patent portfolio, we cannot be certain that all relevant information has been identified. Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our own patent portfolio.
We cannot provide assurances that any of our patent applications will be found to be patentable, including over our own prior art publications or patent literature, or will issue as patents. Neither can we make assurances as to the scope of any claims that may issue from our pending and future patent applications nor to the outcome of any proceedings by any potential third parties that could challenge the patentability, validity or enforceability of our patent portfolio in the United States or foreign jurisdictions. Any such challenge, if successful, could limit patent protection for our genome editing systems and/or materially harm our business.
In addition to challenges during litigation, third parties can challenge the validity of our patents in the United States using post-grant review and inter partes review proceedings, which some third parties have been using to cause the cancellation of selected or all claims of issued patents of competitors. For a patent filed March 16, 2013 or later, a petition for post-grant review can be filed by a third party in a nine-month window from issuance of the patent. A petition for inter partes review can be filed immediately following the issuance of a patent if the patent has an effective filing date prior to March 16, 2013. A petition for inter partes review can be filed after the nine-month period for filing a post-grant review petition has expired for a patent with an effective filing date of March 16, 2013 or later. Post-grant review proceedings can be brought on any ground of invalidity, whereas inter partes review proceedings can
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only raise an invalidity challenge based on published prior art and patents. These adversarial actions at the USPTO review patent claims without the presumption of validity afforded to U.S. patents in lawsuits in U.S. federal courts and use a lower burden of proof than used in litigation in U.S. federal courts. Therefore, it is generally considered easier for a competitor or third party to have a U.S. patent invalidated in a USPTO post-grant review or inter partes review proceeding than invalidated in a litigation in a U.S. federal court. If any of our patents are challenged by a third party in such a USPTO proceeding, there is no guarantee that we will be successful in defending the patent, which may result in a loss of the challenged patent right to us.
The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain because legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep our competitive advantage. For example:
In addition, to the extent that we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our genome editing systems, or in the event that such patent protection expires, it may no longer be cost-effective to extend our portfolio by pursuing additional development of any of our genome editing systems for follow-on indications.
Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our products for an adequate amount of time.
Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. The patent term of a U.S. patent may be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in granting a patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over an earlier-filed patent.
Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new genome editing systems, patents protecting such genome editing systems might expire before or shortly after such genome editing systems are commercialized.
In the United States, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 permits a Patent Term Extension (“PTE”) of up to five years beyond the normal expiration of the patent to compensate patent owners for loss of enforceable patent term due to the lengthy regulatory approval process. A PTE grant cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of the product approval.
Further, PTE may only be applied once per product, and only with respect to an approved indication—in other words, only one patent (for example, covering the product itself, an approved use of said product, or a method of manufacturing said product) can be extended by PTE. We anticipate applying for PTE in the United States. Similar extensions may be available in other countries where we are prosecuting patents and we likewise anticipate applying for such extensions.
The granting of such patent term extensions is not guaranteed and is subject to numerous requirements. We might not be granted an extension because of, for example, failure to apply within applicable periods, failure to apply prior to the expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failure to satisfy any of the numerous applicable requirements. In addition, to the extent we wish to pursue patent term extension based on a patent that we in-license from a third party, we would need the cooperation of that third party. Moreover, the applicable authorities, including the FDA and the USPTO in the United States, and any equivalent regulatory authority in other countries, may not agree with our assessment of whether such extensions are available, and may refuse to grant extensions to our patents, or may grant more limited extensions than we request. If this occurs, our competitors may be able to obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case. If this were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenue.
Changes in the interpretation of patent law in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.
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The United States Congress is responsible for passing laws establishing patentability standards. As with any laws, implementation is left to federal agencies and the federal courts based on their interpretations of the laws. Interpretation of patent standards can vary significantly within the USPTO, and across the various federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Recently, the Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases, generally limiting the types of inventions that can be patented. Further, there are open questions regarding interpretation of patentability standards that the Supreme Court has yet to decisively address. Absent clear guidance from the Supreme Court, the USPTO has become increasingly conservative in its interpretation of patent laws and standards.
In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, the legal landscape in the U.S. has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents. Depending on any actions by Congress, and future decisions by the lower federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, along with interpretations by the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways and could weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and patents that we might obtain in the future.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years; these cases often narrow the scope of patent protection available to inventions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces. For example, in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (“Myriad”), the Supreme Court ruled that a “naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated,” and invalidated Myriad Genetics’ claims on the isolated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Certain claims of our patent portfolio relate to genome editing systems. While we believe that our proprietary genome editing systems involve significant human intervention, components of the system, such as the isolated nucleases with no modifications, are derived from naturally-occurring products. To the extent that such claims are deemed to be directed to natural products, or to lack an inventive concept above and beyond an isolated natural product, a court may decide the claims are directed to patent-ineligible subject matter and are invalid. The application of Myriad to biotechnology inventions has continued to develop and may continue to change over time.
Subsequent rulings in cases or guidance or procedures issued by the USPTO relating to patent eligibility may have a negative impact on our business.
In Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi (“Amgen”), the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain of Amgen’s patent claims defined a class of antibodies by their function of binding to a particular antigen. The U.S. Supreme Court further wrote that because the patent claims defined the claimed class of antibodies only by their function of binding to a particular antigen, a skilled artisan would have to use significant trial and error to identify and make all of the molecules in that class. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately held that Amgen failed to properly enable its patent claims. Certain claims of our patent portfolio relate to broad classes of gene editors. To the extent that a court finds that the skilled artisan would need significant trial and error to identify all the gene editors in that class, the court may find the claims invalid under Amgen. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. courts, the USPTO and the relevant law-making bodies in other countries, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and patents that we might obtain in the future.
Further, a new court system recently became operational in the European Union. The Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) began accepting patent cases on June 1, 2023. The UPC is a common patent court with jurisdiction over patent infringement and revocation proceedings effective for multiple member states of the European Union. The broad geographic reach of the UPC could enable third parties to seek revocation of any of our European patents in a single proceeding at the UPC rather than through multiple proceedings in each of the individual European Union member states in which the European patent is validated. Under the UPC, a successful revocation proceeding for a European Patent under the UPC would result in loss of patent protection in those European Union countries. Accordingly, a single proceeding under the UPC could result in the partial or complete loss of patent protection in numerous European Union countries. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business and our ability to commercialize our technology and product candidates and, resultantly, on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations. Moreover, the controlling laws and regulations of the UPC will develop over time and we cannot predict what the outcomes of cases tried before the UPC will be. The case law of the UPC may adversely affect our ability to enforce or defend the validity of our European patents. Patent owners have the option to opt-out their European Patents from the jurisdiction of the UPC, defaulting to pre-UPC enforcement mechanisms. We have decided to opt out certain European patents and patent applications from the UPC. However, if certain formalities and requirements are not met, our European patents and patent applications could be subject to the jurisdiction of the UPC. We cannot be certain that our European patents and patent applications will avoid falling under the jurisdiction of the UPC, if we decide to opt out of the UPC.
We may not be able to seek or obtain patent protection throughout the world or enforce such patent protection once obtained.
Filing, prosecuting, enforcing, and defending patents protecting our genome editing systems in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. The requirements for patentability may differ in certain countries, particularly in developing countries; thus, even in countries where we do pursue patent protection, there can be no assurance that any patents will issue with claims that
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cover our products.
Moreover, our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights may be adversely affected by unforeseen changes in foreign intellectual property laws. Additionally, laws of some countries outside of the United States and Europe do not afford intellectual property protection to the same extent as the laws of the United States and Europe. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in certain countries outside the United States and Europe or from selling or importing products made from 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 and market their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, if our ability to enforce our patents to stop infringing activities is inadequate. 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.
Proceedings to enforce our patent rights, whether successful or not, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and resources from other aspects of our business. Further, such proceedings could put our patents at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable or interpreted narrowly; put our pending patent applications at risk of not issuing; and 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.
Furthermore, while we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in major markets for our products, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our products, if approved. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.
In order to protect our competitive position around our future product candidates, we may become involved in lawsuits to enforce our patents or other intellectual property, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful and which may result in our patents being found invalid or unenforceable.
Competitors may seek to commercialize competitive products to our genome editing systems. In order to protect our competitive position, we may become involved in lawsuits asserting infringement of our patents, or misappropriation or other violations of other of our intellectual property rights. Litigation is expensive and time consuming and would likely divert the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient financial or other resources to file and pursue such infringement claims, which typically last for years before they are concluded. Even if we ultimately prevail in such claims, the monetary cost of such litigation and the diversion of the attention of our management and scientific personnel could outweigh any benefit we receive as a result of the proceedings.
If we file a patent infringement lawsuit against a perceived infringer, such a lawsuit could provoke the defendant to counterclaim that we infringe their patents and/or that our patents are invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, it is commonplace for a defendant to counterclaim alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability. In any patent litigation there is a risk that a court will decide that the asserted patents are invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, and that we do not have the right to stop the defendant from using the invention at issue. With respect to a counterclaim of invalidity, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. There is also a risk that, even if the validity of such patents is upheld, the court will construe the patent claims narrowly or decide that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue on the grounds that our patent claims do not cover the invention. If any of our patents are found invalid or unenforceable, or construed narrowly, our ability to stop the other party from launching a competitive product would be materially impaired. Further, such adverse outcomes could limit our ability to assert those patents against future competitors. Loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business.
Even if we establish infringement of any of our patents by a competitive product, a court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity, thus allowing the competitive product to continue to be marketed by the competitor. It is difficult to obtain an injunction in U.S. litigation and a court could decide that the competitor should instead pay us a “reasonable royalty” as determined by the court, and/or other monetary damages. A reasonable royalty or other monetary damages may or may not be an adequate remedy. Loss of exclusivity and/or competition from a related product would have a material adverse impact on our business.
Litigation often involves significant amounts of public disclosures. Such disclosures could have a materially adverse impact on our competitive position or our stock prices. During any litigation we would be required to produce voluminous records related to our patents and our research and development activities in a process called discovery. The discovery process may result in the disclosure of some of our confidential information. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim
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proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could adversely affect the price of our common shares.
Litigation is inherently expensive, and the outcome is often uncertain. Any litigation likely would substantially increase our operating losses and reduce our resources available for development activities. Further, we may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. As a result, we may conclude that even if a competitor is infringing any of our patents, the risk-adjusted cost of bringing and enforcing such a claim or action may be too high or not in the best interest of our company or our stockholders. In such cases, we may decide that the more prudent course of action is to simply monitor the situation or initiate or seek some other non-litigious action or solution.
If in the future, we in-license any patent rights, we may not have the right to file a lawsuit for infringement and may have to rely on a licensor to enforce these rights for us. If we are not able to directly assert our licensed patent rights against infringers or if a licensor does not vigorously prosecute any infringement claims on our behalf, we may have difficulty competing in certain markets where such potential infringers conduct their business, and our commercialization efforts may suffer as a result.
Concurrently with an infringement litigation, third parties may also be able to challenge the validity of our patents before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad. Such mechanisms include re-examination, post grant review and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, e.g., opposition proceedings. Such proceedings could result in revocation or amendment of our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our products, potentially negatively impacting any concurrent litigation.
If we are sued for infringing intellectual property rights of third parties, such litigation could be costly and time consuming and could prevent or delay us from developing or commercializing our genome editing systems.
Our commercial success depends, in part, on our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our genome editing systems without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property and other proprietary rights of third parties. However, our research, development and commercialization activities may be subject to claims that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate patents or other intellectual property rights owned or controlled by third parties. Third parties may have U.S. and non-U.S. issued patents and pending patent applications relating to compounds, methods of manufacturing compounds and/or methods of use for the treatment of the disease indications for which we are developing our genome editing systems. If any third-party patents or patent applications are found to cover our genome editing systems, or their methods of use or manufacture, we may not be free to manufacture or market such genome editing systems as planned without obtaining a license, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.
There is a substantial amount of intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and we may become party to, or threatened with, litigation or other adversarial proceedings regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our genome editing systems, including patent infringement lawsuits in the U.S. or abroad. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the composition, use or manufacture of our genome editing systems. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents that they own or in-license or patents that may grant to them (or which they may in-license) in the future, regardless of the merit of such patents or infringement claims. If our defenses to such assertions of infringement were unsuccessful, we could be liable for a court-determined reasonable royalty on our existing sales and further damages to the patent owner (or licensee), such as lost profits. Such royalties and damages could be significant. If we are found to have willfully infringed the claims of a third party’s patent, the third party could be awarded treble damages and attorney’s fees. Further, unless we obtain a license to such patent, we may be precluded from commercializing the infringing genome editing system. Any of the aforementioned could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
While we perform periodic searches for relevant patents and patent applications with respect to our genome editing systems, including Cas proteins and therapeutic applications, we cannot guarantee the completeness or thoroughness of any of our patent searches or analyses including, but not limited to, the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of any of our genome editing systems in any jurisdiction. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications which may later result in issued patents that any of our genome editing systems may be accused of infringing. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. Accordingly, third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on intellectual property rights that exist now or arise in the future. The outcome of intellectual property litigation is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have produced a significant number of patents, and it may not always be clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of use or manufacture. The scope of protection afforded by a patent is subject to interpretation by the courts,
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and the interpretation is not always uniform. If we were sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrate that the relevant product or methods of using the product either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant patent or that the patent claims are invalid or unenforceable, and we may not be able to do this. Proving invalidity is difficult. For example, in the United States, proving invalidity requires a showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued patents. Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel could be diverted in pursuing these proceedings, which could significantly harm our business and operating results. In addition, parties making claims against us may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources, and we may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion.
Numerous third-party U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications exist in the fields in which we are developing genome editing systems. Our genome editing systems make use of CRISPR-based technology, which is a field that is highly active for patent filings and complex litigation. As of June 2019, it was reported that approximately 2072 patent families worldwide related to CRISPR genome editing inventions and their uses. That number has continued to increase. The extensive patent filings related to CRISPR make it difficult for us to assess the full extent of relevant patents and pending applications that may cover our genome editing systems and their use or manufacture. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our genome editing systems. We are aware of multiple patents and patent applications directed to CRISPR technologies, Cas molecules, and their uses in genome editing. For example, we are aware of patent portfolios related to CRISPR/Cas genome editing systems that are owned or co-owned by Sigma Aldrich, Stanford University and Agilent Technologies, the Broad Institute and/or Harvard University and/or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”), and Targetgene Biotechnologies. We are also aware of patent portfolios related to base editing systems that are owned or co-owned by Beam Therapeutics, the Broad Institute and/or Harvard University and/or MIT, the University of California, Duke University, Kobe University, the Max Planck Institute, Wageningen University, and Bioray Laboratories. We are also aware of patent portfolios related to CRISPR associated transposase/retro-transposase (“CAST”) systems that are owned or co-owned by the Broad Institute, Arbor Biotechnologies, and the University of Rochester.
Intellectual property litigation is common in the biotechnology space and multiple parties have engaged in litigation to protect and enforce their CRISPR/Cas related patent estates. For example, patents and patent applications directed to catalytically-active Cas9 systems have been the subject of extensive adversarial patent office proceedings. These proceedings include U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) proceedings involving the Broad Institute and the University of California regarding the priority of inventions with respect to certain U.S. patents and patent applications each owns directed to catalytically-active Cas9. Our genome editing technologies do not use catalytically-active Cas9 and we are not aware of any third-party patents or patent applications that we believe cover our Cas-related genome editing system and proprietary technology. However, we may not have identified all relevant third-party patents and patent applications. Therefore, there can be no assurance that third parties will not assert patents against us in the future or that our patents and patent applications will not be challenged. Any litigation brought against us or our patents or patent applications, even if meritless, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are found to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing or commercializing the infringing product. Alternatively, we may be required to obtain a license from such third party in order to use the infringing technology and continue developing, manufacturing or marketing the infringing product. If we were required to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market the affected product, we may be required to pay substantial royalties or grant cross-licenses to our patents. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be nonexclusive, thereby giving our competitors and other third parties access to the same technologies licensed to us. We cannot assure you that any such license will be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product, or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations as a result of claims of patent infringement or violation of other intellectual property rights, Further, the outcome of intellectual property litigation is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance, including the demeanor and credibility of witnesses and the identity of any adverse party. This is especially true in intellectual property cases that may turn on the testimony of experts as to technical facts upon which experts may reasonably disagree. Furthermore, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us; alternatively or additionally it could include terms that impede or destroy our ability to compete successfully in the commercial marketplace. In addition, we could be found liable for significant monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing a product or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or administrative proceedings, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by
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disclosure. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have material adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Others may challenge inventorship or claim an ownership interest in our intellectual property which could expose it to litigation and have a significant adverse effect on its prospects.
Determinations of inventorship can be subjective. While we undertake to accurately identify correct inventorship of inventions made on our behalf by our employees, consultants and contractors, an employee, consultant or contractor may disagree with our determination of inventorship and assert a claim of inventorship. Any disagreement over inventorship could result in our being forced to defend our determination of inventorship in a legal action which could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our senior management and scientific personnel.
While we typically require employees, consultants and contractors who may develop intellectual property on our behalf to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in obtaining execution of assignment agreements with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. Moreover, even when we obtain agreements assigning intellectual property to us, the assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing or the assignment agreements may be breached. In either case, 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. Furthermore, individuals executing agreements with us may have preexisting or competing obligations to a third party, such as an academic institution, and thus an agreement with us may be ineffective in perfecting ownership of inventions developed by that individual. If we are unsuccessful in obtaining assignment agreements from an employee, consultant or contractor who develops intellectual property on our behalf, the employee, consultant or contractor may later claim ownership of the invention. Any disagreement over ownership of intellectual property could result in our losing ownership, or exclusive ownership, of the contested intellectual property, paying monetary damages and/or being enjoined from clinical testing, manufacturing and marketing of the affected product candidate(s). Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our senior management and scientific personnel.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.
Many of our current and former employees and our licensors’ current and former employees, including our senior management, were previously employed at universities or at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including some which may be competitors or potential competitors. Although we take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information, know-how or trade secrets of others in their work for us, including incorporating such intellectual property into our genome editing systems, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have misappropriated the intellectual property of a third party.
If we or any of our employees are accused of misappropriating the proprietary information, know-how or trade secrets of a third party, we may be forced to defend such claims in litigation. If we are found to have misappropriated the intellectual property rights of a third party, we may be forced to pay monetary damages, sustain reputational damage, lose key personnel, or lose valuable intellectual property rights. Further, it may become necessary for us to obtain a license from such third party to commercialize any of our genome editing systems. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Any of the aforementioned could materially affect the commercialization of any of our genome editing systems. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
We consider proprietary trade secrets or confidential know-how and unpatented know-how to be important to our business. We may rely on trade secrets or confidential know-how to protect our technology, especially where patent protection is believed by us to be of limited value. We expect to rely on third parties for future manufacturing of our genome editing systems, and any future genome editing systems. We also expect to collaborate with third parties on the development of our genome editing systems and any future genome editing systems. As a result of the aforementioned collaborations, we must, at times, share trade secrets with our collaborators. We also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of our research and development partnerships or similar agreements.
Trade secrets or confidential know-how can be difficult to maintain as confidential. To protect this type of information against disclosure or appropriation by competitors, our policy is to require our employees, consultants, contractors and advisors to enter into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with us 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. However, current or former employees, consultants, contractors
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and advisers may unintentionally or willfully disclose our confidential information to competitors, and confidentiality agreements may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. 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 discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Enforcing a claim that a third party obtained illegally and is using trade secrets or confidential know-how is expensive, time consuming and unpredictable. The enforceability of confidentiality agreements may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
In addition, these agreements typically restrict the ability of our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets, although our agreements may contain certain limited publication rights. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either through breach of our agreements with third parties, independent development or publication of information by any of our third-party collaborators. A competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets would impair our competitive position and have an adverse impact on our business.
We may need to acquire or license additional intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights that are important or necessary to the development of our genome editing systems. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of one or more third parties to commercialize our current and future product candidates.
The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and a number of more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, cash resources and greater clinical development. If we are unable to acquire such intellectual property outright, or obtain licenses to such intellectual property from such third parties when needed or on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to commercialize our genome editing systems, if approved, would likely be delayed or we may have to abandon development of that product genome editing systems or program and our business and financial condition could suffer.
If we in-license additional genome editing systems in the future, we might become dependent on proprietary rights from third parties with respect to those genome editing systems. Any termination of such licenses could result in the loss of significant rights and would cause material adverse harm to our ability to develop and commercialize any genome editing systems subject to such licenses. Even if we are able to in-license any such necessary intellectual property, it could be on nonexclusive terms, including with respect to the use, field or territory of the licensed intellectual property, thereby giving our competitors and other third parties access to the same intellectual property licensed to us. In-licensing IP rights could require us to make substantial licensing and royalty payments. Patents licensed to us could be put at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly in litigation filed by or against our licensors or another licensee or in administrative proceedings. If any in-licensed patents are invalidated or held unenforceable, we may not be able to prevent competitors or other third parties from developing and commercializing competitive products.
We may not have the right to control the prosecution, maintenance, enforcement or defense of patents and patent applications that we license from third parties. In such cases, we would be reliant on the licensor to take any necessary actions. We cannot be certain that such licensor would act with our best interests in mind, or in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, or that their actions would result in valid and enforceable patents. For example, it is possible that a licensor’s actions in enforcing and/or defending a patent licensed by use may be less vigorous than had we conducted them ourselves. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Disputes may also arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:
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If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected genome editing systems.
The risks described elsewhere pertaining to our intellectual property rights also apply to the intellectual property rights that we may own or in-license now or in the future, and any failure by us or our licensors to obtain, maintain, defend and enforce these rights could have an adverse effect on our business. In some cases we may not have control over the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of the patents that we license, and may not have sufficient ability to provide input into the patent prosecution, maintenance and defense process with respect to such patents, and potential future licensors may fail to take the steps that we believe are necessary or desirable in order to obtain, maintain, defend and enforce the licensed patents.
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our trademarks of interest and our business may be adversely affected.
Our trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We rely on both registration and common law protection for our trademarks. As a means to enforce our trademark rights and prevent infringement, we may be required to file trademark claims against third parties or initiate trademark opposition proceedings. This can be expensive and time-consuming, particularly for a company of our size. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names or may be forced to stop using these names, which we need for name recognition by potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors 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. 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. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we would be given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, in the USPTO and in comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings.
Moreover, any name we propose to use for our products in the United States must be approved by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of potential for confusion with other product names. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed product names, we may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a usable substitute name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected.
Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our business.
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. The following examples are illustrative:
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Risks Related to our Common Stock, and Operating as a Public Company
The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors.
The market price for our common stock may be influenced by those factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and many others, some of which may include:
In recent years, the stock market in general and the market for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations. In particular, in relation to uncertainty
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around inflation and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s measures to slow inflation, the stock market has been exceptionally volatile. Market and industry factors may seriously 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.
We have incurred, and continue to incur, increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices.
As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we have incurred, and continue to incur, significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. We expect that we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel in connection with our becoming, and our efforts to comply with the requirements of being, a public company. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements. These requirements will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that the rules and regulations applicable to us as a public company may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, which could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors. We are currently evaluating these rules and regulations and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices.
Pursuant to SOX Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting beginning with our second filing of an Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC after we become a public company. However, while we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with SOX Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants, adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that we will not be able to conclude, within the prescribed timeframe or at all, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by SOX Section 404. This could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.
We do not know whether a market will be sustained for our common stock or what the market price of our common stock will be, and, as a result, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of our common stock.
Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, an active or liquid market in our common stock may not be sustained. If a market for our common is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of common stock at an attractive price or at all. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade. It is possible that in one or more future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors, and, as a result of these and other factors, the price of our common stock may fall.
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 stock price to fall.
Our stock price could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.
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As of September 30, 2024, 37,432,832 shares of our common stock were outstanding. Shares of unvested restricted common stock will become available for sale immediately upon the vesting of such shares, as applicable, and the expiration of any applicable market stand-off or lock-up agreements. Shares issued upon the exercise of stock options pursuant to future awards that may be granted under our equity incentive plans or pursuant to future awards granted under those plans will become available for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of applicable vesting schedules, any applicable market stand-off and lock-up agreements and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act.
In addition, in the future, we may issue additional shares of common stock or other equity or debt securities convertible into common stock in connection with a financing, acquisition, litigation settlement, employee arrangements or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and could cause our stock price to decline.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and may remain an emerging growth company for up to five years. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and plan to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of SOX Section 404, not being required to comply with any requirement for a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, the information we provide stockholders is different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies.
We are also a “smaller reporting company,” meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million and our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.
We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
Insiders have substantial influence over us, which could limit your ability to affect the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.
Our directors and executive officers and their affiliates beneficially own a significant amount of our outstanding 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. For example, these stockholders may be able to control elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents or approval of any merger, sale of assets or other major corporate transaction. 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.
We do not expect to pay any dividends for the foreseeable future. Investors may never obtain a return on their investment.
You should not rely on an investment in our common stock to provide dividend income. We do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to maintain and expand our existing operations. In addition, any future credit facility may contain terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.
If we fail to establish and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our operating results and our ability to operate our business could be harmed.
Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
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and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. We have begun the process of documenting, reviewing and improving our internal controls and procedures for compliance with SOX Section 404, which will require annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting starting with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2024.
Implementing any appropriate changes to our internal controls may distract our officers and employees, entail substantial costs to modify our existing processes and take significant time to complete. These changes may not, however, be effective in maintaining the adequacy of our internal controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could increase our operating costs and harm our business. In addition, investors’ perceptions that our internal controls are inadequate or that we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis cause investors to lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly.
Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.
We are subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. We designed our disclosure controls and procedures to reasonably assure that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.
These inherent limitations include the facts that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate specific courts as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.
Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any state law claims for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of ours to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine (the “Delaware Forum Provision”). The Delaware Forum Provision will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, the respective rules and regulations promulgated thereunder or the Federal Forum Provision. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
We recognize that the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated bylaws may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims, particularly if the stockholders do not reside in or near the State of Delaware. Additionally, the forum selection clauses in our amended and restated bylaws may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage the filing of lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. In addition, while the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court are “facially valid” under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts will enforce our Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.
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Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders, and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that may have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of us or changes in our management that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions that:
These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock.
In addition, because we are incorporated in the State of Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15 percent of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15 percent of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.
Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations.
Adverse developments that affect financial institutions, such as events involving liquidity that are rumored or actual, have in the past and may in the future lead to bank failures and market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank was also swept into receivership. The U.S. Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board (the “Federal Reserve”), and the FDIC released a statement that indicated that all depositors of SVB would have access to all of their funds, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts, after only one business day of closure. The U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve have announced a program to provide up to $25 billion of loans to financial institutions secured by certain of such government securities held by financial institutions to mitigate the risk of potential losses on the sale of such instruments, widespread demands for customer withdrawals or other liquidity needs of financial institutions for immediately liquidity may exceed the capacity of such program. There is no guarantee, however, that the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions, or that they would do so in a timely fashion.
Following SVB’s failure, we have diversified our cash deposit holdings between multiple financial institutions, and we have not experienced any adverse impact to our current and projected business operations, financial condition or results of operations as a result
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of the closure of SVB or any other banks. However, uncertainty remains over liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry, and our business, our business partners, or industry as a whole may be adversely impacted in ways that we cannot predict at this time. If, for example, 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 available-for-sale marketable securities may be threatened.
Although we expect to assess our banking relationships as we believe necessary or appropriate, our access to cash in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize our current and projected future business operations could be significantly impaired by factors that affect the financial institutions with which we have banking relationships, and in turn, us.
These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry or financial markets, or concerns or negative expectations about the prospects for companies in the financial services industry. These factors could also include factors involving financial markets or the financial services industry generally. The results of events or concerns that involve one or more of these factors could include a variety of material and adverse impacts on our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations. These could include, but may not be limited to, delayed access to deposits or other financial assets or the uninsured loss of deposits or other financial assets; or termination of cash management arrangements and/or delays in accessing or actual loss of funds subject to cash management arrangements.
In addition, widespread investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to our cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfill our other obligations, result in breaches of our financial and/or contractual obligations or result in violations of federal or state wage and hour laws. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on our liquidity and our current and/or projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, one or more of our critical vendors, third party manufacturers, or other business partners could be adversely affected by any of the liquidity or other risks that are described above, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our current and/or projected business operations and results of operations and financial condition. Any business partner bankruptcy or insolvency, or any breach or default by a business partner, or the loss of any significant supplier relationships, could result in material adverse impacts on our current and/or projected business operations and financial condition.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
We do not have a share repurchase program and no shares were repurchased in the third quarter of 2024.
Use of Proceeds from our IPO
On February 13, 2024, we closed the IPO, pursuant to which we issued and sold 6,250,000 shares of common stock at an initial public offering price of $15.00 per share.
The offer and sale of all of the shares of our common stock in the IPO were registered under the Securities Act pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-276413), which was declared effective by the SEC on February 8, 2024. J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, TD Cowen, Wells Fargo Securities, and BMO Capital Markets acted as joint book-running managers and Chardan acted as lead manager for the IPO.
We received aggregate gross proceeds from the IPO of $93.8 million, or aggregate net proceeds of $80.7 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs. None of the underwriting discounts and commissions or offering
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expenses were incurred or paid, directly or indirectly, to (i) our directors or officers or their associates, (ii) persons owning 10% or more of our common stock or (iii) any of our affiliates.
There has been no material change in our planned use of the net proceeds from the IPO as described in our final prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) under the Securities Act with the SEC on February 12, 2024.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
Item 5. Other Information.
(a) None.
(b) There have been no material changes to the procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to the Company’s board of directors since the Company last provided disclosure in response to the requirements of Item 407(c)(3) of Regulation S-K.
(c) During the quarter ended September 30, 2024, no director or officer of the Company
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Item 6. Exhibits.
EXHIBIT INDEX |
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Incorporation By Reference |
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3.1 |
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Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant. |
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8-K |
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001-41949 |
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3.1 |
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02/13/2024 |
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3.2 |
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8-K |
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001-41949 |
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3.2 |
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02/13/2024 |
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31.1* |
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31.2* |
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32.1** |
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101.INS* |
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Inline XBRL Instance Document |
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101.SCH* |
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Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema With Embedded Linkbase Documents |
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104* |
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Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |
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* Filed herewith
** Furnished herewith
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
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Metagenomi, Inc. |
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Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Brian C. Thomas |
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Brian C. Thomas, Ph.D. |
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Chief Executive Officer |
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(Principal Executive Officer) |
Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Pamela Wapnick |
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Pamela Wapnick, MBA |
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Chief Financial Officer |
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(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) |
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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, Brian C. Thomas, certify that:
Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Brian C. Thomas |
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Brian C. Thomas, Ph.D. |
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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, Pamela Wapnick, certify that:
Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Pamela Wapnick |
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Pamela Wapnick, MBA |
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Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal 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 Quarterly Report of Metagenomi, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2024 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), the undersigned officers of the Company hereby certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Brian C. Thomas |
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Brian C. Thomas, Ph.D. |
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Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
Date: November 13, 2024 |
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By: |
/s/ Pamela Wapnick |
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Pamela Wapnick, MBA |
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Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) |