Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. The following discussion of risk factors contains forward-looking statements. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We are in the early stages of clinical drug development and have a very limited operating history and no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability.
We are an early clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We were incorporated and commenced operations in 2012, have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue. Our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, identifying and developing potential product candidates, conducting preclinical and clinical studies of our product candidates, including Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of AK002, our lead compound. All of our product candidates currently under development, other than AK002, are in preclinical development. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any large-scale, pivotal clinical trials, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale drug or arrange for a third-party to do so on our behalf or conduct sales and marketing activities. As a result, it may be more difficult for you to accurately predict our future success or viability than it could be if we had a longer operating history.
In addition, as a business with a limited operating history, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors and risks frequently experienced by early-stage biopharmaceutical companies in rapidly evolving fields. We also may need to transition from a company with a research focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome such risks and difficulties, or to make such a transition. If we do not adequately address these risks and difficulties or successfully make such a transition, our business will suffer.
We have incurred significant net losses since inception and we expect to continue to incur significant net losses for the foreseeable future.
We have incurred net losses in each reporting period since our inception, have not generated any revenue to date and have financed our operations principally through the sale and issuance of common stock and preferred stock. Our net losses were $43.5 million, $23.6 million and $17.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. As of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $104.1 million. We have devoted substantially all of our resources and efforts to research and development. Our lead compound, AK002, is in clinical development, and our other product candidates are in preclinical development. As a result, we expect that it will be several years, if ever, before we generate revenue from product sales. Even if we succeed in receiving marketing approval for and commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we expect that we will continue to incur substantial research and development and other expenses in order to develop and market additional potential products.
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 such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indication of our future performance. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Our prior losses
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and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our working capital and our ability to achieve and maintain profitability.
Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends significantly on our ability to achieve a number of objectives.
Our business depends entirely on the successful development and commercialization of our product candidates. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products. We have no products approved for commercial sale and do not anticipate generating any revenue from product sales until some time after we have successfully completed clinical development and received marketing approval for the commercial sale of a product candidate, if ever. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends significantly on our ability to achieve a number of objectives, including:
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successful and timely completion of preclinical and clinical development of our lead compound, AK002, and any other future product candidates; |
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timely receipt of marketing approvals for AK002 and any future product candidates for which we successfully complete clinical development and clinical trials from applicable regulatory authorities; |
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the extent of any required post-marketing approval commitments to applicable regulatory authorities; |
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developing an efficient and scalable manufacturing process for AK002 and any future product candidates, including establishing and maintaining commercially viable supply and manufacturing relationships with third-parties to obtain finished products that are appropriately packaged for sale; |
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successful launch of commercial sales following any marketing approval, including the development of a commercial infrastructure, whether in-house or with one or more collaborators; |
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a continued acceptable safety profile following any marketing approval; |
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commercial acceptance of AK002 and any future product candidates as viable treatment options by patients, the medical community and third-party payors; |
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addressing any competing technological and market developments; |
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identifying, assessing, acquiring and developing new product candidates; |
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obtaining and maintaining patent protection, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally; |
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protection of our rights in our intellectual property portfolio, including our licensed intellectual property; |
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negotiating favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary to develop, manufacture or commercialize our product candidates; and |
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attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel. |
We may never be successful in achieving our objectives and, even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to maintain or further our research and development efforts, raise additional necessary capital, grow our business and/or continue our operations.
We will require substantial additional capital to finance our operations. If we are unable to raise such capital when needed, or on acceptable terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce and/or eliminate one or more of our research and drug development programs or future commercialization efforts.
Developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we conduct clinical trials of, and seek marketing approval for, AK002 and our other product candidates. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product
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candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to drug sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. We have also incurred and expect to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in order to maintain our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce and/or eliminate one or more of our research and drug development programs or future commercialization efforts.
As of December 31, 2018, we had $178.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which includes proceeds from our initial public offering (“IPO”) and concurrent private placement that we completed on July 23, 2018. We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through at least the next 12 months. Our estimate as to how long we expect our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities to continue to fund our operations is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Changing circumstances, some of which may be beyond our control, could cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned.
We plan to use our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities to fund our development of AK002 and for other research and development activities, working capital and other general corporate purposes. This may include additional research, hiring additional personnel, capital expenditures and the costs of operating as a public company. Advancing the development of AK002 and any other product candidates will require a significant amount of capital. Our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will not be sufficient to fund all of the actions that are necessary to complete the development of AK002 or any of our other product candidates. We will be required to obtain further funding through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other sources, which may dilute our stockholders or restrict our operating activities. We do not have any committed external source of funds. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy.
Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
We are dependent on the success of our lead compound, AK002, which is currently in multiple clinical trials. If we are unable to obtain approval for and commercialize AK002 for one or more indications in a timely manner, our business could be materially harmed.
Our future success is dependent on our ability to timely complete clinical trials and obtain marketing approval for, and then successfully commercialize AK002, our lead compound, for one or more indications. AK002 is in the early stages of development and we are investing the majority of our efforts and financial resources in the research and development of AK002 for multiple indications. AK002 will require additional clinical development, evaluation of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, marketing approval from government regulators, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote AK002, or any other product candidates, before we receive marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such marketing approvals.
The success of AK002 will depend on several factors, including the following:
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successful and timely completion of our ongoing clinical trials of AK002; |
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initiation and successful patient enrollment and completion of additional clinical trials on a timely basis; |
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efficacy, safety and tolerability profiles that are satisfactory to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority for marketing approval; |
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timely receipt of marketing approvals for AK002 from applicable regulatory authorities; |
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the maintenance of existing or the establishment of new supply arrangements with third-party drug product suppliers and manufacturers; |
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the maintenance of existing or the establishment of new scaled production arrangements with third-party manufacturers to obtain finished products that are appropriately packaged for sale; |
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successful launch of commercial sales following any marketing approval; |