ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
RISK FACTORS
Investing in shares of our common stock is very speculative and involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, the section of this Report entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Report before investing in shares of our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us. If any of the following risks occur, our business, operating results and prospects could be materially harmed. In that event, the price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Summary Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in our company. You should carefully consider all of the risks described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on page 19, before deciding to invest in our common stock. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations would likely be materially adversely affected.
Important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially, but are not limited to, the following:
Risks Related to Our Operations and Financial Condition
We are an early development-stage company with no revenues.
The report of our independent registered accounting firm on our audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 contains an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern.
Because we have a limited operating history, you may not be able to accurately evaluate our operations.
We have significant and increasing liquidity needs and will require additional funding.
We have yet to generate revenues or achieve a profit and may not generate revenue or achieve a profit for many years, if at all.
Conflicts of interest may arise between us and MIRALOGX.
Certain of our executive officers will not be employed by us on a full-time basis.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Our Industry
We are dependent on our current and future product candidates, some of which may not receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized.
Results of pre-clinical studies and earlier clinical trials are not necessarily predictive indicators of future results.
Our product candidates, if approved, may be unable to achieve the expected market acceptance and, consequently, limit our ability to generate revenue from new products
If product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us, we will incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit the commercialization of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 and our product candidates.
Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
Legislative or regulatory reform of the health care system in the U.S. may affect our ability to profitably sell our products, if approved.
Unfavorable global economic and geopolitical conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition, stock price, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates
Clinical trials for our product candidates are expensive, time-consuming, uncertain, and susceptible to change, delay or termination. The results of clinical trials are open to differing interpretations.
Clinical trials of synthetic cannabinoid drug candidates and ketamine analogs are novel with very limited or non-existing history; we face a significant risk that the trials will not result in commercially viable drugs and treatments.
The regulatory approval processes with the FDA are lengthy and inherently unpredictable.
There is a high rate of failure for drug candidates proceeding through clinical trials.
Risks Related to Our Reliance Upon Third Parties
Our existing collaboration arrangements and any that we may enter into in the future may not be successful, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for materials and components required to manufacture our product candidates.
We rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, third parties to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
We may not be able to adequately protect our product candidates or our proprietary technology in the marketplace.
We have no patent protection for MIRA-55, which could adversely impact MIRA-55’s potential competitive position.
Risks Related to SKNY and SKNY-1
SKNY has yet to generate revenues or achieve a profit and may not generate revenue or achieve a profit for many years, if at all.
SKNY does not own rights to SKNY-1
Conflicts of interest may arise between SKNY and MIRALOGX.
Risks Relating to the Ownership of our Common Stock
Because of the speculative nature of investment risk, you may lose your entire investment.
Certain of our founding stockholders, plus our existing officers and directors, control a substantial interest in us and thus may influence certain actions requiring stockholder vote.
Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.
If we fail to maintain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rules, our shares may be delisted from Nasdaq, which would result in a limited trading market for our shares and make obtaining future debt or equity financing more difficult for the us.
Risks Related to Our Operations and Financial Condition
We are an early development-stage company with no revenues. As such, our losses from operations and negative cash flows as of December 31, 2025 raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern absent obtaining adequate new debt or equity financings.
As a very early development-stage enterprise that is focused on the development of a pre-clinical pharmaceutical product, we have generated no revenue and have an accumulated deficit of $39.6 million through December 31, 2025, and $29.1 million through December 31, 2024. We have concluded that substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for the 12 months following the issuance of the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As of the issuance date of these financial statements, we believe that we have sufficient resources available to support our development activities and business operations and timely satisfy our obligations as they come due into the third quarter of 2025. We do not have sufficient cash and cash equivalents as of the date of filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K to support our operations for at least the 12 months following the issuance of the financial statements.
To alleviate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, we plan to secure additional capital, potentially through a combination of public or private equity offerings and strategic transactions, including potential alliances and drug product collaborations, however, none of these alternatives are committed at this time. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining sufficient funding on terms acceptable to us to fund continuing operations, if at all, identify and enter into any strategic transactions that will provide the capital that we will require or achieve the other strategies to alleviate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If none of these alternatives are available, or if available, are not available on satisfactory terms, we will not have sufficient cash resources and liquidity to fund our business operations for at least the 12 months following the date the financial statements are issued. The failure to obtain sufficient capital on acceptable terms when needed may require us to , limit, or eliminate the development of business and our ability to our business objectives and our competitiveness, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially affected. In addition, the perception that we may not be to continue as a going may cause others to choose not to deal with us due to about our ability to meet our contractual obligations.
Additionally, we filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC to facilitate the issuance of our common stock and entered into an At The Market Offering Agreement with Rodman & Renshaw LLC, under which we may offer and sell shares of our Common Stock. The maximum amount eligible to be sold under the ATM Agreement is $75 million. However, although we have received net proceeds of $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 and $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from the ATM, there are no assurances that we will be successful in raising any additional capital from the ATM.
The report of our independent registered accounting firm on our audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 contains an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern .
The auditor’s opinion on our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025 includes an explanatory paragraph stating that we have no revenue and incurred recurring losses from operations and cash used in operations that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. While we believe that we will be able to obtain the capital we need to continue our operations, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in these efforts or will be able to resolve our liquidity issues or eliminate our operating losses. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding, we would need to significantly reduce our operating plans and curtail some or all of our development efforts. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected, and we may be unable to continue as a going . If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains substantial about our ability to continue as a going , investors or other financing sources may be to provide additional funding on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
Because we have a limited operating history, you may not be able to accurately evaluate our operations.
We have had limited operations to date. Therefore, we have a limited operating history upon which to evaluate the merits of investing in our company. Potential investors should be aware of the difficulties normally encountered by new companies and the high rate of failure of such enterprises. The likelihood of success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications, and delays encountered in connection with the operations that we plan to undertake. These potential problems include, but are not limited to, unanticipated problems relating to the ability to generate sufficient cash flow to operate our business, and additional costs and expenses that may exceed current estimates. We expect to continue to incur significant losses into the foreseeable future. We recognize that if the effectiveness of our business plan is not forthcoming, we will not be able to continue business operations. There is no history upon which to base any assumption as to the likelihood that we will prove , and it is that we will generate any operating revenues or ever operations. If we are in addressing these risks, our business will most likely .
We have significant and increasing liquidity needs and will require additional funding.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. For the year ended December 31, 2025, we reported a net operating cash outflow of $4.6 million and a net cash inflow from financing activities of $8.2 million. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we reported a net operating cash outflow of $5.6 million and a net cash inflow from financing activities of $3.8 million.
Research and development, and general and administrative expenses, and cash used for operations will continue to be significant and may increase substantially in the future in connection with new research and development initiatives and continued product commercialization efforts. We may need to raise additional capital to fund our operations, continue to conduct clinical trials to support potential regulatory approval of marketing applications and to fund commercialization of our products.
The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:
the timing of FDA approval, if any;
the DEA continuing to classify Ketamir-2 as a substance not subject to CSA;
the DEA continuing to classify MIRA-55 as a substance not subject to CSA;
the timing and amount of revenue from sales of our products, or revenue from grants or other sources;
the rate of progress and cost of our clinical trials and other product development programs;
costs of establishing or outsourcing sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities;
costs and timing of completion of expanded in-house manufacturing facilities as well as any outsourced commercial manufacturing supply arrangements for our product candidates;
costs of filing, prosecuting, defending, and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights associated with our product candidates;
costs of operating as a U.S. public company;
the effect of competing technological and market developments;
personnel, facilities, and equipment requirements; and
the terms and timing of any additional collaborative, licensing, co-promotion, or other arrangements that we may establish.
While we expect to fund our future capital requirements from a number of sources including existing cash balances, future cash flows from operations and the proceeds from further public offerings, we cannot assure you that any of these funding sources will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Further, even if we can raise funds from all of the above sources, the amounts raised may not be sufficient to meet our future capital requirements.
Operating results may vary significantly in future periods.
Our operating and financial results are likely to fluctuate significantly in the future. Our operating and financial results are unpredictable and may fluctuate, for among other reasons, due to:
our achievement of product development objectives and milestones;
clinical trial enrollment and expenses;
research and development expenses; and
the timing and nature of contract manufacturing and contract research payments.
In addition, a high portion of our costs are determined on an annual basis, due in part to our significant research and development costs. Thus, increases in our costs could disproportionately affect financial results in a quarter. Other factors, including non-cash expenses associated with financing activity, could also lead to fluctuations in our results of operations. Because of these factors, our operating and financial results in one or more future quarters may fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, which could cause our share price to decline.
We have yet to generate revenues or achieve a profit and may not generate revenue or achieve a profit for many years, if at all.
We have not yet produced any revenues or profit and may not for many years, if at all. Our ability to generate revenue is dependent on the receipt of regulatory approval of our product candidates, which will take years to achieve and may not be obtained. We therefore cannot assure you we will be able to ever generate sufficient revenue to pay for our expenses or achieve profitability. Our ability to continue as a going concern in the future is dependent upon raising capital from financing transactions and keeping operating expenses below our revenue levels in order to achieve positive cash flows, none of which can be assured.
Conflicts of interest may arise between us and MIRALOGX.
MIRALOGX licenses us the patent pending rights to KETAMIR-2. MIRALOGX is a separate intellectual property development company owned by the Bay Shore Trust. The Bay Shore Trust is also our largest stockholder. The interests of MIRALOGX are 100% owned by the Bay Shore Trust. Our relationship with MIRALOGX and the Bay Shore Trust may create, or may create the appearance of, conflicts of interest when we are faced with decisions that could have different implications for MIRALOGX than the decisions have for us. Furthermore, in light of the license agreement that we have with MIRALOGX, if a dispute were to arise between MIRALOGX and us relating to our past or future relationship with MIRALOGX or with respect to intellectual property matters, these potential conflicts of interest may make it more difficult for us to favorably resolve such disputes. Mr. Aminov, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is also the son-in-law of Jonnie Williams, the owner of MIRALOGX.
Certain of our executive officers will not be employed by us on a full-time basis.
Erez Aminov, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our board of directors, is not employed by our company on a full-time basis. As intended to be provided in his employment agreement with our company, he works on a part-time and as-needed basis. Because he does not work full time for our company, instances may occur where he may not be immediately available to provide solutions to problems or address concerns that arise in the course of us conducting our business and thus adversely affect our business. In addition, he can become subject to conflicts of interest because he devotes part of his working time to other business endeavors and may have responsibilities to other entities. Although Mr. Aminov is aware of his duties and accountability to our company and to applicable laws and policies relating to corporate opportunity and conflicts of interest, such conflicts of interest may include deciding how much time to devote to our affairs, as well as what business opportunities should be presented to us.
Alan Weichselbaum, our Chief Financial Officer, is not employed by our company on a full-time basis. Because he does not work full time for our company, instances may occur where he may not be immediately available to provide solutions to problems or address concerns that arise in the course of us conducting our business and thus adversely affect our business. In addition, he can become subject to conflicts of interest because he devotes part of his working time to other business endeavors and may have responsibilities to other entities. Although Mr. Weichselbaum is aware of his duties and accountability to our company and to applicable laws and policies relating to corporate opportunity and conflicts of interest, such conflicts of interest may include deciding how much time to devote to our affairs, as well as what business opportunities should be presented to us.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Our Industry
Our future viability will largely depend on the positive development of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55, and any future product candidates, which development will require significant capital resources and years of clinical development effort.
We currently have no drug products on the market, and all of our drug development projects are in a pre-clinical stage of development or moving into clinical stages. Our business depends almost entirely on the successful pre-clinical and clinical development, FDA regulatory approval, and commercialization of our product candidates, principally Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55. Investors need to be aware that substantial additional investments including pre-clinical and clinical development and FDA regulatory submission and approval efforts will be required before we are permitted to undertake clinical studies and market and commercialize our product candidates, if ever. It may be several years before we can commence clinical trials, if ever. Any clinical trial will be subject to extensive and rigorous review and regulation by numerous government authorities in the United States and other jurisdictions where we intend, if approved, to market our product candidates. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through pre-clinical testing and clinical trials that the product candidate is safe and effective for its specific application. This process can take many years and may include post-marketing studies and surveillance, which would require the expenditure of substantial resources. Of the large number of drugs in development for approval in the United States (and the rest of the world), only a small percentage will successfully complete the FDA regulatory approval financing to fund our planned research, development, and clinical programs, we cannot you that any of our product candidates will be developed or commercialized.
We may be unable to formulate or scale up any or all of our product candidates. There is no guarantee that any of the product candidates will be or are able to be manufactured or produced in a manner to meet the FDA’s criteria for product stability, content uniformity and all other criteria necessary for product approval in the United States and other markets. Any of our product candidates may fail to achieve their specified endpoints in clinical trials.
Furthermore, product candidates may not be approved even if they achieve their specified endpoints in clinical trials. The FDA may disagree with our trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials or may change the requirements for approval even after it has reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials. The FDA may also approve a drug for fewer or more limited indications than we request or may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-approval clinical trials (i.e., Phase IV trials). In addition, the FDA may not approve the labeling claims that we believe are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.
If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 and SKNY-1 within the timeline we anticipate, we will not be able to execute our business strategy effectively and our ability to substantially grow our revenues will be limited, which would have a material adverse impact on our long-term business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.
We are dependent on our current and future product candidates, some of which may not receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized.
Our ability to progress our plan will depend on our ability to clinically develop, gain regulatory approval for and ultimately commercialize our product candidates. Our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates will depend on, among other things, our ability to:
successfully complete pre-clinical and other nonclinical studies and clinical trials in a manner that allows us to progress our product candidates;
receive IND acceptance and regulatory approvals from the FDA;
produce, through a validated process, in manufacturing facilities inspected and approved by regulatory authorities, including the FDA, sufficiently large quantities of product candidates to permit successful commercialization;
obtain reimbursement from payers such as government health care programs and insurance companies and achieve commercially attractive levels of pricing;
secure acceptance of our product candidates from physicians, health care payers, patients, and the medical community;
create positive publicity surrounding our product candidates;
manage our spending as costs and expenses increase due to clinical trials and commercialization; and
obtain and enforce sufficient intellectual property for our product candidates.
Our failure or delay with respect to any of the factors above could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Impact of global tensions may increase uncertainty of our future operations.
The global tensions arising from the Palestine-Israel war and the war in Ukraine may result in disruptions in the broader global economic environment. The uncertain nature, magnitude, and duration of hostilities stemming from such conflicts, including the potential effects of sanctions and countersanctions, or retaliatory cyber-attacks on the world economy and markets, have contributed to increased market volatility and uncertainty, which could have an adverse impact on macroeconomic factors that affect our business and operations, such as pre-clinical study issues, manufacturer delays or shipping delays.
Moreover, the conflict between Palestine and Israel could impact future business decisions to locate potential clinical trials in Israel. It is not possible to predict the short and long-term implications of military conflicts or wars or geopolitical tensions which could include further sanctions, uncertainty about economic and political stability, increases in inflation rate and energy prices, cyber-attacks, supply chain challenges and adverse effects on currency exchange rates and financial markets.
Results of pre-clinical studies and earlier clinical trials are not necessarily predictive indicators of future results.
Any positive results from future pre-clinical testing of our product candidates and potential future clinical trials may not necessarily be predictive of the results from Phase I, Phase II or Phase III clinical trials. In addition, our interpretation of results derived from clinical data or our conclusions based on our pre-clinical data may prove inaccurate. Frequently, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have suffered significant setbacks in clinical trials after achieving positive results in pre-clinical testing and early phase clinical trials, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks may be caused by the fact that pre-clinical and clinical data can be susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Furthermore, certain product candidates may perform satisfactorily in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials but nonetheless fail to obtain FDA approval or appropriate approvals by the appropriate regulatory authorities in other countries. If we to produce results in our clinical trials for our product candidates, the development timeline and regulatory approval and commercialization prospects for them and as a result our business and financial prospects would be materially affected.
We have limited marketing experience, and we do not anticipate at this time establishing a sales force or distribution and reimbursement capabilities, and we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates if they are approved in the future.
If regulatory approval of our products is ever obtained, our ability to generate revenues ultimately depends on our ability to sell our approved products and secure adequate third-party reimbursement. We currently have limited experience in marketing and selling our products. We currently do not have any products approved for sale in the United States or in any other country.
The commercial success of our product candidates will not even be possible for the foreseeable future and will depend on a number of factors beyond our control, including the willingness of physicians to prescribe our products to patients, payers’ willingness and ability to pay for the drugs, the level of pricing achieved, patients’ response to our drugs and the ability of our marketing partners to generate sales. There can be no guarantee that we will be able to establish or maintain the personnel, systems, arrangements and capabilities necessary to successfully commercialize Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 or any product candidate approved by the FDA in the future. If we fail to establish or maintain successful marketing, sales and reimbursement capabilities or fail to enter into successful marketing arrangements with third parties, our product revenues may suffer.
Our product candidates, if approved, may be unable to achieve the expected market acceptance and, consequently, limit our ability to generate revenue from new products.
Even when product development is successful and regulatory approval has been obtained, our ability to generate sufficient revenue depends on the acceptance of our products by physicians and patients. We cannot assure you that our product candidates will achieve the expected level of market acceptance and revenue if and when they obtain the requisite regulatory approvals. The market acceptance of any product depends on a number of factors, including the indication statement and warnings required by regulatory authorities in the product label. Market acceptance can also be influenced by continued demonstrations of efficacy and safety in commercial use, physicians’ willingness to prescribe the product, reimbursement from third-party payers such as government health care programs and private third-party payers, the price of the product, the nature of any post-approval risk, management activities mandated by regulatory authorities, competition, and marketing and distribution support. Further, an ineffective or inefficient distribution model at launch may lead to the inability to fulfill demand, and consequently a loss of revenue. Any factors or limiting the market acceptance of our products could have a material effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If the price for any future approved products decreases or if government and other third-party payers do not provide coverage and adequate reimbursement levels, our revenue and prospects for profitability will suffer.
Patients who are prescribed medicine for the treatment of their conditions generally rely on third-party payers to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their prescription drugs. Reimbursement systems in international markets vary significantly by country and by region, and reimbursement approvals generally must be obtained on a country-by-country basis. Coverage and adequate reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payers is critical to new product acceptance. Coverage decisions may depend upon clinical and economic standards that disfavor new drug products when more established or lower-cost therapeutic alternatives are already available or subsequently become available. Even if we obtain coverage for products we may market, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. Patients may not use our products if coverage is not provided, or reimbursement is inadequate to cover a significant portion of their cost.
In addition, the market for our products will depend significantly on access to third-party payers’ drug formularies or lists of medications for which third-party payers provide coverage and reimbursement. The industry competition to be included in such formularies often leads to downward pricing pressures on pharmaceutical companies. Also, third-party payers may refuse to include a particular branded drug in their formularies or otherwise restrict patient access to a branded drug when a less costly generic equivalent or other alternative is available, even if not approved for the indications for which our products are approved.
Third-party payers or governmental or commercial entities are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. The current environment is putting pressure on companies to price products below what they may feel is appropriate. Selling our products at less than an optimized price could impact our revenues and overall success as a company. It will be difficult to determine the optimized price for our products. In addition, in the U.S., no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payers. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for our products may differ significantly from payer to payer. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payer separately, with no assurance that coverage will be obtained. If we are unable to obtain coverage of, and adequate payment levels for, products we may market to third-party payers, physicians may limit how much or under what circumstances they will prescribe or administer them, and patients may decline to purchase them. This in turn could affect our ability to successfully commercialize products we may market, and thereby impact our , results of operations, financial condition, and future .
In addition, where we have chosen to collaborate with a third party on product candidate development and commercialization, our partner may elect to reduce the price of our products in order to increase the likelihood of obtaining reimbursement approvals. In many countries, products cannot be commercially launched until reimbursement is approved and the negotiation process in some countries can exceed 12 months. In addition, pricing and reimbursement decisions in certain countries can be affected by decisions taken in other countries, which can lead to mandatory price reductions and/or additional reimbursement restrictions across a number of other countries, which may thereby adversely affect our sales and profitability. In the event that countries impose prices that are not sufficient to allow us or our partners to generate a profit, our partners may refuse to launch the product in such countries or withdraw the product from the market, which would adversely affect sales and profitability. Events, such as price decreases, government mandated rebates or unfavorable reimbursement decisions, could affect the pricing and reimbursement of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 and our other product candidates and could have a material effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.
We expect to face intense competition, often from companies with greater resources and experience than we have.
Demand for ketamine analogs like Ketamir-2 and synthetic cannabinoids such as MIRA-55 and will likely be dependent on a number of social, political, legislative, and economic factors that are beyond our control. While we believe that there will be a demand for such drugs, and that the demand will grow, there is no assurance that such demand will happen, that we will benefit from any demand or that our business, in fact, will ever generate revenues from our drug development programs or become profitable.
The emerging markets for product candidates like ours and related medical research and development is and will likely remain competitive. The development and commercialization of drugs and medicines is highly competitive. We compete with a variety of multinational pharmaceutical companies and specialized biotechnology companies, as well as products and processes being developed by universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have developed, are developing, or will develop drugs and processes which may be competitive with our drug candidates. Competitive therapeutic treatments include those that have already been approved by medicines regulators and accepted by the medical community and any new treatments that may enter the market. For some of our drug development programs / areas of therapeutic interest, other treatment options are currently available, under development, and may become commercially available in the future. If any of our product candidates are approved for the diseases and conditions we are currently pursuing, they may compete with a range of medicines or therapeutic treatments that are either in development, will be developed in the future or currently marketed.
Established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size and experiences, financial resources, and institutional networks. Many of our competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resources than we do. Due to these factors, our competitors may have an advantage in marketing their approved drugs and may obtain regulatory approval of their drug candidates before we are able to, which may limit our ability to develop or commercialize our drug candidates. Our competitors may also develop drugs / medicines that are safer, more effective, more widely used and less expensive than ours. These advantages could materially impact our ability to develop and, if approved, commercialize our product candidates successfully. Furthermore, some of these competitors may make acquisitions or establish collaborative relationships among themselves or with third parties to increase their ability to rapidly gain market share.
Our product candidates may compete with other synthetic cannabinoids, as well as with cannabinoid or cannabis-based drugs, in addition to competing with state-licensed medical and recreational marijuana, in markets where the recreational and/or medical use of marijuana is legal. There is continuing support in the U.S. for further state legalization of marijuana. In markets where recreational and/or medical marijuana is not legal, our product candidates, once approved by regulators, may compete with marijuana or marijuana-based products purchased in the illegal drug market. This may or may not affect the commercial price that we may be able to achieve for our synthetic regulatory-approved medicines, should they be approved by the FDA.
Moreover, as generic versions of drug products enter the market, the price for such medicines may be expected to decline rapidly and substantially. Even if we are the first to obtain FDA approval of one of our product candidates, the future potential approval of generics could adversely affect the price we are able to charge, and the profitability of our product(s) will likely decline.
Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.
These companies may compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, management and commercial personnel, utilizing contract manufacturing facilities or contract research organizations (CROs), or establishing clinical trial sites and subject registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to our research projects.
Product shipment delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The shipment, import and export of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 and our other product candidates require import and export licenses. In the U.S., FDA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the DEA, and in other countries similar regulatory authorities, regulate the import and export of pharmaceutical products that contain controlled substances. Specifically, the import and export process require the issuance of import and export licenses by the relevant controlled substance authority in both the importing and exporting countries. We may not be granted, or if granted, maintain such licenses from the authorities in certain countries. Even if we obtain the relevant licenses, shipments of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 and our product candidates may be held up in transit, which could cause significant delays and may lead to product batches being stored outside required temperature ranges. Inappropriate storage may damage the product shipment resulting in a partial or total loss of revenue from one or more shipments of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 or our other product candidates. A partial or total loss of revenue from one or more shipments of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 or our other product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even though the DEA has confirmed in writing that it conducted a scientific review of the chemical structure of MIRA1a and Ketamir-2 in accordance with the definitions within the CSA and its implementing regulations and determined that MIRA1a and Ketamir-2 is not a controlled substance or listed chemical, there is no assurance that the DEA may not change its position. We have filed the necessary requirements with the DEA to review MIRA-55, however, there can be no assurance that the DEA will conclude that MIRA-55 is not a controlled substance or listed chemical.
The manufacture of our product candidates is complex and uncertain, and until we develop a validated manufacturing process, we may encounter difficulties in supplying our planned and future clinical trials. If we encounter such difficulties, or fail to meet quality standards, our ability to meet clinical timelines and expand our development strategy could be impacted.
The processes involved in manufacturing Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 and other product candidates are complex, expensive, highly regulated and subject to multiple risks and uncertainties. We have been faced with issues such as this in the initial synthesis of MIRA-55 (which we initially believed was based on our patented MIRA1a molecule).
In addition, as product candidates are developed through early-to-late-stage clinical trials and then to approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods, are modified along the way to optimize the scale, process and results. Any changes to the manufacturing processes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives, or that the product candidates may not meet the rigorous quality standards necessary for use in our pre-clinical or clinical trials.
Also, if planned or future manufacturing of Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 or other product candidates fails to meet the quality standards for use in our pre-clinical or clinical trials, or the active drug substance does not meet our quality specifications, it could impact our timelines and limit our development strategy. For example, and as discussed above, in the first quarter of 2024, we concluded that during the manufacturing and scale-up process of MIRA1a, the intended MIRA1a compound was in fact synthesized as MIRA-55.
Moreover, our contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”) or contract development and manufacturing organization (“CDMOs”) may be unable to successfully increase the manufacturing scale for our product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner and may experience delays due to limited manufacturing capacity. In addition, quality issues may arise during manufacturing activities. If our CMOs or CDMOs are unable to successfully manufacture our product candidates in sufficient quantity in a timely manner or produce active drug substances that do not meet our quality specifications, our planned pre-clinical or clinical trials may be delayed or modified.
We may fail to expand our manufacturing capability in time to meet market demand for our products and product candidates, and the FDA may refuse to accept our facilities or those of our contract manufacturers as being suitable for the production of our products and product candidates. Any problems in our manufacturing process could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Before we can begin commercial manufacture of any product candidates for sale in the U.S., we must obtain FDA regulatory approval for the product, which requires a successful FDA inspection of our manufacturing facilities and those of our contract manufacturers, processes, and quality systems in addition to other product-related approvals. Although we may successfully navigate this pre-approval inspection process as it relates in the U.S., pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities are continuously subject to post-approval inspection by the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities. Due to the complexity of the processes used to manufacture our product candidates, we may be unable to initially or continue to pass federal, state or international regulatory inspections in a cost-effective manner. If we are unable to comply with manufacturing regulations, we may be subject to fines, unanticipated compliance expenses, recall or seizure of any approved products, total or partial suspension of production and/or enforcement actions, including injunctions, and or civil . These possible sanctions would affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Business interruptions could delay us in the process of developing our product candidates and could disrupt our product sales.
Our research and development activities are conducted through outside contractors and manufacturers. Loss of our contracted manufacturing facilities, stored inventory or laboratory facilities through fire, theft or other causes, or loss of our raw material, could have an adverse effect on our ability to continue product development activities and to conduct our business. Failure to supply our partners with commercial product may lead to adverse consequences, including the right of partners to take over responsibility for product supply. We currently do not have insurance coverage to compensate us for such business interruptions. Our contract manufacturers and suppliers provide that in their separate operations; however, such coverage may prove insufficient to fully compensate us for the damage to our business resulting from any significant property or casualty loss to those facilities.
If product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us, we will incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit the commercialization of Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 and our product candidates.
Although we have never had any product liability claims or lawsuits brought against us, we face potential product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials. We may face exposure to claims by an even greater number of persons when we begin to market and distribute our products commercially in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Now, and in the future, an individual may bring a liability claim against us alleging that Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 or one of our other product candidates caused an injury. While we continue to take what we believe are appropriate precautions, we may be unable to avoid significant liability if any product liability lawsuit is brought against us. Large judgments have been awarded in class action or individual lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated side effects. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves product liability , we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability may result in:
decreased demand for Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 or our other product candidates if such product candidates are approved;
injury to our reputation;
withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
costs of related litigation;
substantial monetary awards to patients and others;
increased cost of liability insurance;
loss of revenue; and
the inability to successfully commercialize our products.
Counterfeit versions of our products could harm our business.
Counterfeiting activities and the presence of counterfeit products in a number of markets and over the Internet continue to be a challenge for maintaining a safe drug supply for the pharmaceutical industry. Counterfeit products are frequently unsafe or ineffective and can be life-threatening. To distributors and users, counterfeit products may be visually indistinguishable from the authentic version. Reports of adverse reactions to counterfeit drugs along with increased levels of counterfeiting could be mistakenly attributed to the authentic product, affect patient confidence in the authentic product and harm the business of companies such as ours. If our products were to be the subject of counterfeits, we could incur reputational and financial .
We depend upon our key personnel and our ability to attract and retain employees.
Our future growth and success depend on our ability to recruit, retain, manage, and motivate our employees. The inability to hire or retain experienced management personnel could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan and harm our operating results. Due to the specialized scientific and managerial nature of our business, we rely heavily on our ability to attract and retain qualified scientific, technical, and managerial personnel. The competition for qualified personnel in the pharmaceutical field is intense. Due to this intense competition, we may be unable to continue to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business or to recruit suitable replacement personnel.
Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with FDA or foreign regulations, provide accurate information to FDA or other regulatory authorities, comply with applicable manufacturing standards, comply with other foreign, federal, and state laws and regulations, report information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information, including information obtained during clinical trials, or illegal appropriation of drug products, which could result in government investigations and serious harm to our reputation. The precautions we take to detect and prevent these prohibited activities may not be in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or or in protecting us from governmental or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a to comply with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted us, and we are not in ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant or other sanctions.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations. If we fail to comply with these laws, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, other remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”), and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business. The FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us and our employees and intermediaries from bribing, being bribed or making other prohibited payments to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. We and our commercial partners operate in a number of jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential FCPA violations, and we participate in collaborations and relationships with third parties whose actions could potentially subject us to liability under the FCPA or local anti-corruption laws. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope, or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the government of the U.S. and other countries in which we operate or plan to operate, including applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions on countries and persons, customs requirements, and currency exchange regulations, (collectively referred to as the “Trade Control laws”).
However, there is no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA or other legal requirements, including Trade Control laws. If we are not in compliance with the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity, as well as our reputation. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of the FCPA, other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws by the U.S. or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our proprietary information, or that of our suppliers and business partners, may be lost or we may suffer security breaches.
In the ordinary course of our business, we will collect and store sensitive data, including valuable and commercially sensitive intellectual property, clinical trial data, our proprietary business information and that of our suppliers and business partners, and personally identifiable information of our clinical trial subjects and employees, on our networks, and with our third-party cloud service providers. The secure processing, maintenance and transmission of this information is critical to our operations. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure, and that of our third parties, may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. Any breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost, or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other of information could result in legal or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, regulatory , our operations, our reputation, and cause a of confidence in our products and our ability to conduct clinical trials, which could affect our business and reputation and lead to in regulatory approvals for Ketamir-2 and MIRA-55 or other product candidates.
Failure of our information technology systems, including cybersecurity attacks or other data security incidents, could significantly disrupt the operation of our business.
Our business is increasingly dependent on critical, complex, and interdependent information technology (“IT”) systems, including internet-based systems, some of which are managed or hosted by third parties, to support business processes as well as internal and external communications. The size and complexity of our IT systems make us potentially vulnerable to IT system breakdowns, malicious intrusion, and computer viruses, which may result in the impairment of our ability to operate our business effectively.
We are continuously evaluating and, where appropriate, enhancing our IT systems to address our planned growth, including to support our planned manufacturing operations. There are inherent costs and risks associated with implementing the enhancements to our IT systems, including potential delays in access to, or errors in, critical business and financial information, substantial capital expenditures, additional administrative time and operating expenses, retention of sufficiently skilled personnel to implement and operate the enhanced systems, demands on management time, and costs of delays or difficulties in transitioning to the enhanced systems, any of which could harm our business and results of operations. In addition, the implementation of enhancements to our IT systems may not result in productivity improvements at a level that outweighs the costs of implementation, or at all. In addition, our systems and the systems of our third-party providers and are potentially to data security which may sensitive data to persons or to the public. Such data security could lead to the of confidential information, trade secrets or other intellectual property, could lead to the public exposure of personal information (including personally identifiable information or individually identifiable health information) of our employees, clinical trial patients, customers, business partners, and others, could lead to potential identity theft, or could lead to reputational . Data security could also result in of clinical trial data or to the of that data. In addition, the increased use of social media by our employees and contractors could result in disclosure of sensitive data or personal information, including but not limited to, confidential information, trade secrets and other intellectual property.
Any such disruption or security breach, as well as any action by us or our employees or contractors that might be inconsistent with the rapidly evolving data privacy and security laws and regulations applicable within the United States and elsewhere where we conduct business, could result in enforcement actions by U.S. states, the U.S. federal government or foreign governments, liability or sanctions under data privacy laws, including healthcare laws such as HIPAA, that protect certain types of sensitive information, regulatory penalties, other legal proceedings such as but not limited to private litigation, the incurrence of significant remediation costs, disruptions to our development programs, business operations and collaborations, diversion of management efforts and damage to our reputation, which could harm our business and operations. Because of the rapidly moving nature of technology and the increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats, our measures to prevent, respond to and minimize such risks may be .
Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business, prevent us from accessing critical information or expose us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we, our vendors, and our third-party cloud service providers may collect and store sensitive data, including legally protected patient health information, credit card information, personally identifiable information about our employees and patients, intellectual property, and proprietary business information. We manage and maintain our applications and data utilizing cloud-based and on-site systems. These applications and data encompass a wide variety of business-critical information including research and development information, commercial information and business and financial information.
The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and transmission of this critical information is vital to our operations and business strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting such information. Although we take measures to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers, or viruses, breaches, or interruptions due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions, or lapses in compliance with privacy and security mandates. Any such virus, breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. We have measures in place that are designed to prevent, and if necessary to detect and respond to such security , of privacy, and security mandates. However, in the future, any such access, disclosure or other of information could result in legal or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as HIPAA in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union, or GDPR, government enforcement actions and regulatory . access, or dissemination could also our operations, including our ability to process samples, provide test results, share and monitor safety data, bill payers or patients, provide customer support services, conduct research and development activities, process and prepare company financial information, manage various general and administrative aspects of our business and may our reputation, any of which could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Legislative or regulatory reform of the health care system in the U.S. may affect our ability to profitably sell our products, if approved.
Our ability to commercialize our future products successfully, alone or with collaborators, will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for the products will be available from government and health administration authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payers. The continuing efforts of the U.S. government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payers for health care services to contain or reduce health care costs may adversely affect our ability to set prices for our products which we believe are fair, and our ability to generate revenues and achieve and maintain profitability.
Specifically, in the U.S., there have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the health care system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. For example, certain states in the U.S. are proposing legislation mandating publicly funded health program coverage of medical cannabis. In addition, the 2010 Affordable Care Act, or the ACA, substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Both Congress and the U.S. President have already taken some actions that are intended to significantly limit the ACA, and we expect efforts to further modify or repeal the ACA to continue. The success and potential effects of these efforts to repeal or modify the ACA are not clear.
We expect additional federal and state legislative proposals for health care reform, which could limit the prices that can be charged for the products we develop and may limit our commercial opportunity.
The continuing efforts of government and other third-party payers to contain or reduce the costs of health care through various means may limit our commercial opportunity. It will be time-consuming and expensive for us to go through the process of seeking coverage and reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, and other governmental health programs and from private payers. Our products may not be considered cost-effective, and government and third-party private health insurance coverage and reimbursement may not be available to patients for any of our future products or sufficient to allow us to sell our products on a competitive and profitable basis. Our results of operations could be adversely affected by ACA, changes to the ACA, and by other health care reforms that may be enacted or adopted in the future. In addition, increasing emphasis on managed care in the U.S. will continue to put downward pressure on the pricing of pharmaceutical products. Cost-control initiatives could decrease the price that we or any potential collaborators could receive for any of our future products and could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue in the U.S. market and maintain .
Unfavorable global economic and geopolitical conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition, stock price, and results of operations.
Our business could be adversely affected by unstable economic and political conditions within the United States and foreign jurisdictions, including as a result of an economic downturn and geopolitical events, such as changes in U.S. federal policy that affect the geopolitical landscape. Changes to policy implemented by the U.S. Congress, the Trump administration or any new administration have impacted and may in the future impact, among other things, the U.S. and global economy, international trade relations, unemployment, immigration, healthcare, taxation, the U.S. regulatory environment, inflation and other areas. For example, during the prior Trump administration, increased tariffs were implemented on goods imported into the U.S., particularly from China, Canada, and Mexico. On February 1, 2025, the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, which were subsequently suspended for a period of one month, and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China. Historically, tariffs have led to increased trade and political tensions, between not only the U.S. and China, but also between the U.S. and other countries in the international community. In response to tariffs, other countries have implemented retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Political tensions as a result of trade policies could reduce trade volume, investment, technological exchange and other economic activities between major international economies, resulting in a material effect on global economic conditions and the of global financial markets. Any changes in political, trade, regulatory, and economic conditions, including U.S. trade policies, could have a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations. Until we know what policy changes are made, whether those policy changes are and subsequently upheld by the court system and how those changes impact our business and the business of our competitors over the long term, we will not know if, overall, we will from them or be affected by them.
The global credit and financial markets have also generally experienced extreme volatility and disruptions (including as a result of actual or perceived changes in interest rates, inflation and macroeconomic uncertainties), which has included severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, high inflation, uncertainty about economic stability, global supply chain disruptions, and increases in unemployment rates. The financial markets and the global economy may also be adversely affected by military conflict, including the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Hamas, terrorism, or other geopolitical events. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to such conflicts, including the one in Ukraine, may also continue to impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic by the affected countries or others could market and economic . There can be no assurance that further in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. A or economic could result in a variety of risks to our business.
In addition, current inflationary trends in the global economy may impact salaries and wages, costs of goods and transportation expenses, among other things, and recent and potential future disruptions in access to bank deposits or lending commitments due to bank failures may create market and economic instability. We cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the foregoing, and the current economic climate and financial market conditions generally, could adversely impact our business.
We may acquire other companies which could divert our management’s attention, result in additional dilution to our shareholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.
We may in the future seek to acquire businesses, products, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our product offerings, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating, and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully, or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition or realize anticipated cost savings or synergies. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including:
incurrence of acquisition-related costs;
diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;
unanticipated costs or liabilities associated with the acquisition;
harm to our existing business relationships with collaboration partners as a result of the acquisition;
harm to our brand and reputation;
the potential loss of key employees;
use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and
use of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.
In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results arising from the impairment assessment process. Acquisitions may also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates
Clinical trials for our product candidates are expensive, time-consuming, uncertain, and susceptible to change, delay or termination. The results of clinical trials are open to differing interpretations.
Clinical trials are expensive, time consuming and difficult to design and implement. Regulatory agencies may analyze or interpret the results differently than us. Even if the results of our clinical trials are favorable, the clinical trials for a number of our product candidates are expected to continue for several years and may take significantly longer to complete. In addition, we, the FDA, or other regulatory authorities, including state and local authorities, or an Institutional Review Board, or IRB, with respect to a trial at its institution, may suspend, delay or terminate our clinical trials at any time, require us to conduct additional clinical trials, require a particular clinical trial to continue for a longer duration than originally planned, require a change to our development plans such that we conduct clinical trials for a product candidate in a different order, e.g., in a step-wise fashion rather than running two trials of the same product candidate in parallel, or the DEA could suspend or terminate the registrations and quota allotments we require in order to procure and handle controlled substances, for various reasons, including:
lack of effectiveness of any product candidate during clinical trials;
discovery of serious or unexpected toxicities or side effects experienced by trial participants or other safety issues, such as drug interactions, including those which cause confounding changes to the levels of other concomitant medications;
slower than expected rates of subject recruitment and enrollment rates in clinical trials;
difficulty in retaining subjects who have initiated a clinical trial but may withdraw at any time due to adverse side effects from the therapy, insufficient efficacy, fatigue with the clinical trial process or for any other reason;
delays or inability in manufacturing or obtaining sufficient quantities of materials for use in clinical trials due to regulatory and manufacturing constraints;
inadequacy of or changes in our manufacturing process or product formulation;
delays in obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a trial, including “clinical holds” or delays requiring suspension or termination of a trial by a regulatory agency, such as the FDA, before or after a trial is commenced;
changes in applicable regulatory policies and regulations, including changes to requirements imposed on the extent, nature, or timing of studies;
delays or failure in reaching agreement on acceptable terms in clinical trial contracts or protocols with prospective clinical trial sites;
uncertainty regarding proper dosing;
delay or failure to supply product for use in clinical trials which conforms to regulatory specification;
unfavorable results from ongoing pre-clinical studies and clinical trials;
failure of our contract research organizations, or CROs, or other third-party contractors to comply with all contractual requirements or to perform their services in a timely or acceptable manner;
failure by us, our employees, our CROs or their employees to comply with all applicable FDA or other regulatory requirements relating to the conduct of clinical trials or the handling, storage, security, and recordkeeping;
scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical institutions;
failure to design appropriate clinical trial protocols;
regulatory concerns with cannabinoid products generally and the potential for abuse;
insufficient data to support regulatory approval;
inability or unwillingness of medical investigators to follow our clinical protocols; or
difficulty in maintaining contact with patients during or after treatment, which may result in incomplete data.
Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Clinical trials of synthetic cannabinoid drug candidates and ketamine analogs are novel with very limited or non-existing history; we face a significant risk that the trials will not result in commercially viable drugs and treatments.
At present, there is only a very limited documented clinical trial history from which we can derive any scientific conclusions for our product candidates or prove that our present assumptions for the current and planned research are scientifically compelling. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (or API) content shown in INDs can vary from one IND to another - hence it is not necessarily possible to extrapolate results from studies with one product and predict efficacy of safety with another product containing a similar API and different source. Whilst the principal synthetic cannabinoid component may be similar, the APIs may differ in terms of minor cannabinoid content, impurity profiles or degradant profiles. While we are encouraged by the results of clinical trials by others (where they exist), there can be no assurance that any pre-clinical study or clinical trial will result in in commercially viable drugs or treatments.
Clinical trials are expensive, time consuming and difficult to design and implement. We, as well as the regulatory authorities, may suspend, delay or terminate our clinical trials at any time, may require us, for various reasons, to conduct additional clinical trials, or may require a particular clinical trial to continue for a longer duration than originally planned, including, among others:
lack of effectiveness of any API, formulation, or delivery system during clinical trials;
discovery of serious or unexpected toxicities or side effects experienced by trial participants or other safety issues;
slower than expected rates of subject recruitment and enrollment rates in clinical trials;
delays or inability in manufacturing or obtaining sufficient quantities of GMP-grade materials for use in clinical trials due to regulatory and manufacturing constraints;
delays in obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a trial, including Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) approvals or DEA approvals, licenses required for obtaining and using synthetic cannabinoids or cannabinoid-like substances for research, either before or after a trial is commenced;
unfavorable results from ongoing pre-clinical studies and clinical trials;
patients or investigators failing to comply with clinical trial protocols;
patients failing to return for post-treatment follow-up at the expected rate;
sites participating in an ongoing clinical trial withdraw, requiring us to engage new sites;
third-party clinical investigators decline to participate in our clinical trials, do not perform the clinical trials on the anticipated schedule, or act in ways inconsistent with the established investigator agreement, clinical trial protocol, good clinical practices, and other IRB requirements;
third-party entities do not perform data collection and analysis in a timely or accurate manner or at all; or
regulatory inspections of our clinical trials require us to undertake corrective action or suspend or terminate our clinical trials.
Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to federal and state healthcare laws and regulations and implementation of or changes to such healthcare laws and regulations could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
In the United States, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could impact our ability to sell our product candidates. If we are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other federal or state regulations, we may be subject to administrative, civil and/or criminal penalties, damages, fines, individual imprisonment, exclusion from federal health care programs and the restructuring of our operations. Any of these could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results. Since many of these laws have not been fully interpreted by the courts, there is an increased risk that we may be found in violation of one or more of their provisions. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we ultimately are successful in our defense, will cause us to incur significant legal expenses and our management’s attention away from the operation of our business.
We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we may receive for any approved product. There have been judicial challenges to certain aspects of the ACA and numerous legislative attempts to repeal and/or replace the ACA in whole or in part, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. At this time, the full effect that the ACA will have on our business in the future remains unclear. An expansion in the government’s role in the U.S. healthcare industry may cause general downward pressure on the prices of prescription drug products, lower reimbursements, or any other product for which we obtain regulatory approval, reduce product utilization, and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain , or commercialize products for which we may receive regulatory approval.
We plan to conduct clinical trials at sites outside the United States. The FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in such locations, and the conduct of trials outside the United States could subject us to additional delays and expense.
We plan to conduct one or more clinical trials with one or more trial sites that are located outside the United States. The acceptance by the FDA or other regulatory authorities of study data from clinical trials conducted outside their jurisdiction may be subject to certain conditions or may not be accepted at all. In cases where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the sole basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (i) the data are applicable to the United States population and United States medical practice; (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and pursuant to GCP regulations and (iii) the data may be considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA, or if the FDA considers such inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means .
In addition, even where the foreign study data are not intended to serve as the sole basis for approval, the FDA will not accept the data as support for an application for marketing approval unless the study is well-designed and well-conducted in accordance with GCP requirements and the FDA is able to validate the data from the study through an onsite inspection if deemed necessary. Many foreign regulatory authorities have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional trials, which could be costly and time-consuming, and which may result in current or future product candidates that we may develop not receiving approval for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.
Conducting clinical trials outside the United States also exposes us to additional risks, including risks associated with:
● additional foreign regulatory requirements;
● foreign exchange fluctuations;
● compliance with foreign manufacturing, customs, shipment and storage requirements;
● cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research;
● diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries; and
● interruptions or delays in our trials resulting from geopolitical events, such as war or terrorism.
The regulatory approval processes with the FDA are lengthy and inherently unpredictable.
We are not permitted to market our drug candidates as medicines in the United States or other countries until we receive approval of a New Drug Application (“NDA”) from the FDA or in any foreign countries until we receive the approval from the regulatory authorities of such countries. Prior to submitting an NDA to the FDA for approval of our drug candidates we will need to have completed our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and demonstrate that our products meet all applicable standards of identity, strength, quality, and purity throughout their expiration date. Successfully completing any clinical program and obtaining approval of an NDA is a complex, lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process, and the FDA (or other country medicines regulatory body) may delay, limit, or deny approval of product candidates for many reasons, including, among others, because:
an inability to demonstrate that our product candidates are safe and effective in treating patients to the satisfaction of the FDA;
results of clinical trials that may not meet the level of statistical or clinical significance required by the FDA;
disagreements with the FDA with respect to the number, design, size, conduct or implementation of clinical trials;
requirements by the FDA to conduct additional clinical trials;
disapproval by the FDA of certain formulations, labeling or specifications of product candidates;
findings by the FDA that the data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials are insufficient;
findings by the FDA that our API or finished products do not meet all applicable standards of identity, strength, quality, and purity;
the FDA may disagree with the interpretation of data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials; and
the FDA may change their approval policies or adopt new regulations.
Any of these factors, many of which are beyond our control, could increase development time and / or costs or jeopardize our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates.
There is a high rate of failure for drug candidates proceeding through clinical trials.
Generally, there is a high rate of failure for drug candidates proceeding through clinical trials. We may suffer significant setbacks in our clinical trials similar to the experience of a number of other companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, even after receiving promising results in earlier trials. Further, even if we view the results of a clinical trial to be positive, FDA may disagree with our interpretation of the data. In the event that we obtain negative results from clinical trials for product candidates or other problems related to potential chemistry, manufacturing and control issues or other hurdles occur and our product candidates are not approved, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue or obtain financing to continue our operations, our ability to execute on our current business plan may be materially impaired, our reputation in the industry and in the investment community might be significantly damaged and the price of our common stock could decrease significantly. In addition, our to properly design, commence and complete clinical trials may impact the timing and results of our clinical trials and ability to seek approvals for our drug candidates.
If we are found in violation of federal or state “fraud and abuse” laws, we may be required to pay a penalty and/or be suspended from participation in federal or state health care programs, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In the United States, we are subject to various federal and state health care “fraud and abuse” laws, including anti-kickback laws, false claims laws and other laws intended to reduce fraud and abuse in federal and state health care programs, which could affect us particularly upon successful commercialization of our products in the U.S. The Medicare and Medicaid Patient Protection Act of 1987, or federal Anti-Kickback Statute, makes it illegal for any person, including a prescription drug manufacturer (or a party acting on its behalf), to knowingly and willfully solicit, receive, offer or pay any remuneration that is intended to induce the referral of business, including the purchase, order or prescription of a particular drug for which payment may be made under a federal health care program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. Under federal law, some arrangements, known as safe harbors, are deemed not to the federal Anti- Statute. Although we seek to structure our business arrangements in compliance with all applicable requirements, it is often to determine precisely how the law will be applied in specific circumstances. Accordingly, it is possible that our practices may be under the federal Anti- Statute and Federal Act. of and laws may be punishable by and/or civil sanctions, including and/or exclusion or from federal and state health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and from contracting with the U.S. government. In addition, private individuals have the ability to bring actions on behalf of the government under the federal Act as well as under the laws of several states.
Many states have adopted laws similar to the federal anti-kickback statute, some of which apply to the referral of patients for health care services reimbursed by any source, not just governmental payers. There are ambiguities as to what is required to comply with these state requirements and if we fail to comply with an applicable state law requirement, we could be subject to penalties.
Neither the government nor the courts have provided definitive guidance on the application of fraud and abuse laws to our business. Law enforcement authorities are increasingly focused on enforcing these laws, and it is possible that some of our practices may be challenged under these laws. While we believe we have structured our business arrangements to comply with these laws, it is possible that the government could allege violations of, or convict us of violating, these laws. If we are found in violation of one of these laws, we could be required to pay a penalty and could be suspended or excluded from participation in federal or state health care programs, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Serious adverse events or other safety risks could require us to abandon development and preclude, delay or limit approval of our product candidates, limit the scope of any approved label or market acceptance, or cause the recall or loss of marketing approval of products that are already marketed.
If any of our product candidates prior to or after any approval for commercial sale, cause serious or unexpected side effects, or are associated with other safety risks such as misuse, abuse or diversion, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
regulatory authorities may interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials;
regulatory authorities may deny regulatory approval of our product candidates;
regulatory authorities may require certain labeling statements, such as warnings or contraindications or limitations on the indications for use, and/or impose restrictions on distribution in the form of a REMS in connection with approval or post-approval;
regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval, require more onerous labeling statements, impose a more restrictive Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”), or require us to recall any product that is approved;
we may be required to change the way the product is administered or conduct additional clinical trials;
our relationships with our collaboration partners may suffer;
we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; or
our reputation may suffer. The reputational risk is heightened with respect to those of our product candidates that are being developed for pediatric indications.
We may voluntarily suspend or terminate our clinical trials if at any time we believe that they present an unacceptable risk to participants or if preliminary data demonstrate that our product candidates are unlikely to receive regulatory approval or unlikely to be successfully commercialized. Following receipt of approval for commercial sale of a product we may voluntarily withdraw or recall that product from the market if at any time we believe that its use, or a person’s exposure to it, may cause adverse health consequences or death. To date we have not withdrawn, recalled, or taken any other action, voluntary or mandatory, to remove an approved product from the market. In addition, regulatory agencies, IRBs, or data safety monitoring boards may at any time recommend the temporary or permanent discontinuation of our clinical trials or request that we cease using investigators in the clinical trials if they believe that the clinical trials are not being conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, or that they present an safety risk to participants. Although we have never been asked by a regulatory agency, IRB, or data safety monitoring board to a clinical trial temporarily or permanently, if we elect or are to or a clinical trial of any of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for that product will be and our ability to generate product revenue from that product may be or eliminated. Furthermore, any of these events may result in labeling statements such as or contraindications. In addition, such events or labeling could prevent us or our partners from or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our product candidates and our ability to generate revenue from the commercialization of these products either by us or by our partners.
Risks Related to Our Reliance Upon Third Parties
Our existing collaboration arrangements and any that we may enter into in the future may not be successful, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.
We may seek additional collaboration arrangements with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies for the development or commercialization of our product candidates. We may, with respect to our product candidates, enter into new arrangements on a selective basis depending on the merits of retaining commercialization rights for ourselves as compared to entering into selective collaboration arrangements with leading pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies for each product candidate, both in the U.S. and internationally. To the extent that we decide to enter into collaboration agreements, we will face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators and the terms of any collaboration or other arrangements that we may establish may not be favorable to us.
Any existing or future collaboration that we enter may not be successful. The success of our collaboration arrangements will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators. Collaborators generally have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations. Disagreements between parties to a collaboration arrangement regarding development, intellectual property, regulatory or commercialization matters can lead to delays in the development process or commercialization of the applicable product candidate and, in some cases, termination of the collaboration arrangement. These disagreements can be difficult to resolve if neither of the parties has final decision-making authority. Any such or expiration could our business reputation and may affect us financially.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for materials and components required to manufacture our product candidates. The loss of these suppliers, or their failure to supply us on a timely basis, could cause delays in our current and future capacity and adversely affect our business.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for the materials and components required to manufacture our product candidates. As a result, we may not be able to obtain sufficient quantities of critical materials and components in the future. A delay or interruption by our suppliers may also harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, the lead time needed to establish a relationship with a new supplier can be lengthy, and we may experience delays in meeting demand in the event we must switch to a new supplier. The time and effort to qualify for and, in some cases, obtain regulatory approval for a new supplier could result in additional costs, diversion of resources or reduced manufacturing yields, any of which would negatively impact our operating results. Our dependence on single-source suppliers exposes us to numerous risks, including the following: our suppliers may cease or reduce production or deliveries, raise prices or terms; our suppliers may become or trading; we may be to locate a suitable replacement supplier on acceptable terms or on a timely basis, or at all; and caused by supply issues may our reputation, our customers and cause them to turn to our competitors for future needs.
We rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, third parties to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain marketing approval for or commercialize our product candidates, and our business could be substantially harmed.
We have agreements with third-party CROs to operationalize, provide monitors for and to manage data for our ongoing clinical trials. We rely heavily on these parties for the execution of clinical trials and control only certain aspects of their activities. As a result, we have less direct control over the start-up, conduct, timing and competition of these clinical trials, and the management of data developed through the 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. However, we remain responsible for the conduct of these trials and are subject to enforcement which may include civil and criminal liabilities for any violations of FDA rules and regulations and the comparable foreign regulatory provisions during the conduct of our clinical trials. Outside parties may:
have staffing difficulties;
fail to comply with contractual obligations;
Devote inadequate resources to our clinical trials;
Experience regulatory compliance issues;
Undergo changes in priorities or become financially distressed; or
Form more favorable relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors.
These factors, among others, may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with GCPs, which are guidelines enforced by the FDA, the competent authorities of the EU member states and equivalent competent authorities in foreign jurisdictions for any products in clinical development. The FDA and foreign regulatory authorities enforce these regulations and GCP guidelines through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors principal investigators, and trial sites, and IRBs. If we or our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or other equivalent competent authorities in foreign jurisdictions may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with products produced under current Manufacturing Practices, or cGMPs and similar foreign requirements. Our or the of our CROs to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would the regulatory approval process and could also subject us to enforcement action up to and including civil and .
If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain are compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, any such clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, Ketamir-2, MIRA-55 or our other product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for Ketamir-2 MIRA-55 or our other product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.
We rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties to manufacture our clinical product supplies and clinical candidates, and we may rely on third parties for at least a portion of the manufacturing process of our product candidates, if approved. Our business could be harmed if those third parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of product supplies or product candidates or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.
We do not currently own any facility that may be used as a clinical-scale manufacturing and processing facility, and we rely on outside vendors and collaborators to manufacture supplies and process our product candidates. For certain of our components or product candidates, we rely on single suppliers or manufacturers to supply or manufacture, but we plan to expand the number of suppliers and manufacturers as we advance our product candidates through clinical development. Our product candidates are not yet manufactured or processed on a commercial scale and we may remain unable to do so for any of our product candidates. Although in the future we may develop our own manufacturing facilities, we may also continue to use third parties as part of our manufacturing processes and may, in any event, never be successful in developing our own manufacturing facilities. Our anticipated reliance on third-party manufacturers exposes us to the following risks:
We may be unable to identify manufacturers on acceptable terms or at all because the number of potential manufacturers is limited and the FDA must inspect any manufacturers for current cGMP.
Non-compliance of our third-party manufacturers with requirements of our marketing application(s). In addition, a new manufacturer would have to be educated in, or develop substantially equivalent processes for, the production of our product candidates.
Third-party manufacturers may have little or no experience with our product candidates and therefore may require a significant amount of support from us in order to implement and maintain the infrastructure and processes required to manufacture our product candidates.
Third-party manufacturers might be unable to timely manufacture our product candidates or produce the quantity and quality required to meet our clinical and commercial needs, if any.
Third-party manufacturers may not be able to execute our manufacturing procedures and other logistical support requirements appropriately.
Third-party manufacturers may not perform as agreed, may not devote sufficient resources to our product candidates or may not remain in the contract manufacturing business for the time required to supply our clinical trials or to successfully produce, store, and distribute our products, if any.
Manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state or foreign agencies to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over third-party manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards.
We may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to any improvements made by our third-party manufacturers in the manufacturing processes for our product candidates.
Our third-party manufacturers could breach or terminate their agreements with us, and we may be required to pay fees upon suspension or termination of the agreement even if the manufacturers do not deliver adequate supply of the product candidates or their components.
Raw materials and components used in the manufacturing processes, particularly those for which we have no other source or supplier, may not be available or may not be suitable or acceptable for use due to factors beyond our control.
Our third-party manufacturers may have unacceptable or inconsistent product quality success rates and yields, and we have no direct control over their ability to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel.
Each of these risks could delay or prevent the completion of our clinical trials or the approval of any of our product candidates by the FDA, result in higher costs or adversely impact commercialization of our product candidates. In addition, we will rely on third parties to perform certain specification tests on our product candidates prior to delivery to patients. If these tests are not appropriately done and test data are not reliable, patients could be put at risk of serious harm and the FDA could place significant restrictions on our company until deficiencies are remedied. Furthermore, our or a third party’s failure to execute on our manufacturing requirements, to do so on commercially reasonable terms or to comply with cGMP could adversely affect our business in a number of ways, including:
An inability to initiate or continue clinical trials of our product candidates under development;
Delay in submitting regulatory applications, or receiving marketing approvals, for our product candidates;
Loss of the cooperation of future collaborators;
Subjecting third-party manufacturing facilities or our manufacturing facilities to additional inspections by regulatory authorities;
Requirements to cease development or to recall batches of our product candidates; and
In the event of approval to market and commercialize our product candidates, an inability to meet commercial demands for our product or any other future product candidates.
If any CMO or CDMO with whom we contract fails to perform its obligations, we may be forced to enter into an agreement with a different CMO or CDMO, which we may not be able to do on reasonable terms, if at all. In such scenario, our clinical trials supply could be delayed significantly as we establish alternative supply sources. In some cases, the technical skills required to manufacture our products or product candidates may be unique or proprietary to the original CMO or CDMO and we may have difficulty, or there may be contractual restrictions prohibiting us from, transferring such skills to a back-up or alternate supplier, or we may be unable to transfer such skills at all. In addition, if we are required to change CMOs or CDMOs for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new CMO or CDMO 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 product candidate according to the specifications previously submitted to the FDA or another regulatory authority. The delays associated with the verification of a new CMO or CDMO could affect our ability to develop product candidates or commercialize our products in a timely manner or within budget. 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 in demonstrating the comparability of clinical supplies which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials.
We rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, third parties to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain marketing approval for or commercialize our product candidates, and our business could be substantially harmed.
We are dependent on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and preclinical and nonclinical studies. Specifically, we rely on, and intend to continue to rely on, medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract research organizations, or CROs, and consultants to conduct nonclinical studies and clinical trials, in each case in accordance with our study protocols and applicable regulatory requirements. These CROs, investigators and other third parties play a significant role in the conduct and timing of these studies or trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. Though we expect to carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, investigators and other third parties, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects. Further, while we have and will have agreements governing the activities of our third-party contractors, we have limited influence over their actual performance. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and legal, regulatory and scientific standards and requirements, and our reliance on our CROs and other third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. In addition, we and our CROs are required to comply with GLP and GCP requirements, as applicable, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities related to the conduct of nonclinical studies and clinical trials, respectively. Regulatory authorities enforce GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs or trial sites to comply with applicable GLP or GCP or other requirements, the collected nonclinical data or the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed , and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional nonclinical studies or clinical trials before approving our marketing applications, if ever. Furthermore, our clinical trials must be conducted with materials manufactured in accordance with cGMP regulations. to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would the regulatory approval process.
There is a risk that our CROs, investigators or other third parties will be unable to devote adequate time and resources to such trials or studies or perform as contractually required. If any of these third parties fail to meet expected deadlines, adhere to our clinical protocols or meet regulatory requirements, or otherwise perform in a substandard manner, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated. In addition, many of the third parties with whom we contract may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other development activities that could harm our competitive position. In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials are expected to serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and may receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such services. If these relationships and any related compensation result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or the FDA concludes that the financial relationship may have affected the interpretation of the study, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be , which could result in the or by the FDA of any NDA we submit. Any such or could prevent us from receiving regulatory approval for, or commercializing, TELOIR-1 and any future product candidates.
Our CROs have the right to terminate their agreements with us in the event of an uncured material breach and under other specified circumstances. If any of our relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative third parties on commercially reasonable terms, in a timely manner or at all. Switching or adding CROs, investigators and other third parties involves additional cost and requires our management’s time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we work to carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, investigators and other third parties, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
We may not be able to adequately protect our product candidates or our proprietary technology in the marketplace.
Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain patents, protect our trade secrets and operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We may rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection (i.e., know-how), trademarks, licenses, and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property of our product candidates. The strengths of patents in the pharmaceutical field involve complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. Where appropriate, we seek patent protection for certain aspects of our products and technology. However, patent protection for naturally occurring compounds is exceedingly difficult to obtain, defend and enforce. Filing, prosecuting and defending patents throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, so our policy is to look to patent technologies with commercial potential in jurisdictions with significant commercial opportunities. However, patent protection may not be available for some of the products or technology we are developing. If we must spend significant time and money protecting, , or enforcing our patents, designing around patents held by others or licensing, potentially for large fees, patents or other proprietary rights held by others, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be . We may not develop additional proprietary products that are patentable.
The patent positions of pharmaceutical products are complex and uncertain. The scope and extent of patent protection for our product candidates are particularly uncertain. To date, our principal product candidates have been based on specific formulations of certain previously known cannabinoids found in nature in the cannabis sativa plant. While we have sought patent protection, where appropriate, directed to, among other things, composition-of-matter for our specific formulations, their methods of use, and methods of manufacture, we do not have and will not be able to obtain composition of matter protection on these previously known cannabinoids per se. We anticipate that the products we develop in the future will continue to be based on the same or other naturally occurring compounds, as well as additional synthetic compounds we may discover. Although we have sought and expect to continue to seek patent protection for our product candidates, their methods of use, and methods of manufacture, any, or all of them may not be subject to effective patent protection. If any of our products are approved and marketed for an indication for which we do not have an issued patent, our ability to use our patents to prevent a competitor from commercializing a non-branded version of our commercial products for that non-patented indication could be significantly impaired or even eliminated.
Publication of information related to our product candidates by us, or others may prevent us from obtaining or enforcing patents relating to these products and product candidates. Furthermore, others may independently develop similar products, may duplicate our products, or may design around our patent rights. In addition, any of our issued patents may be opposed and/or declared invalid or unenforceable. If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property, we may face competition from companies who attempt to create a generic product to compete with our product candidates. We may also face competition from companies who develop a substantially similar product to one of our product candidates that is not covered by any of our patents.
If third parties claim that our intellectual property, products, processes, or anything else used by us infringes upon their intellectual property, our operating profits could be adversely affected.
There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the U.S., involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical industry. We may, from time to time, be notified of claims that we are infringing upon patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights owned by third parties, and we cannot provide assurances that other companies will not, in the future, pursue such infringement claims against us, our commercial partners or any third-party proprietary technologies we have licensed. If we were found to infringe upon a patent or other intellectual property right, or if we failed to obtain or renew a license under a patent or other intellectual property right from a third party, or if a third party that we were licensing technologies from was found to infringe upon a patent or other intellectual property rights of another third party, we may be required to pay damages, including damages of up to three times the found or assessed, if the is found to be willful, the manufacture of certain products or reengineer or rebrand our products, if feasible, or we may be to enter certain new product markets. Any such could also be expensive and time-consuming to and management’s attention and resources. Our competitive position could as a result. In addition, if we have or to enter into a valid non-disclosure or assignment agreement for any reason, we may not own the or our intellectual property, and our products may not be protected. Thus, we cannot guarantee that our product candidates, or our commercialization thereof, does not and will not any third party’s intellectual property.
If we are unable to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and products, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and products may be impaired.
Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in relevant countries with respect to our proprietary technology and products. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and internationally that are related to our novel technologies and product candidates. This patent portfolio includes issued patents and pending patent applications covering pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use.
The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions, and under the laws of certain jurisdictions, patents or other intellectual property rights may be unavailable or limited in scope. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our discovery and nonclinical development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the interests of our business.
The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, India and China do not allow patents for methods of treating the human body. 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 owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the EU, the United States and other countries may the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection.
The risks described pertaining to our patents and other intellectual property rights also apply to the intellectual property rights that we license, and any failure to obtain, maintain and enforce these rights could have a material 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 our licensors may fail to take the steps that we believe are necessary or desirable in order to obtain, maintain and enforce the licensed patents. Any inability on our part to protect adequately our intellectual property may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial position.
The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In certain situations, non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market, and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business.
In addition, we acquired rights to Ketomir-2 through a license agreement with MIRALOGX and may in the future enter into other license agreements with third parties for other intellectual property rights or assets. These license agreements may impose various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or we are subject to a bankruptcy, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the exclusivity of our license, or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license. Additionally, the milestone and other payments associated with these licenses will make it less profitable for us to develop our drug candidates than if we had developed the licensed technology internally.
In some cases, patent prosecution of our licensed technology may be controlled solely by the licensor. If our licensors fail to obtain and maintain patent or other protection for the proprietary intellectual property we license from them, we could lose our rights to the intellectual property or our exclusivity with respect to those rights, and our competitors could market competing products using the intellectual property. In certain cases, we may control the prosecution of patents resulting from licensed technology. In the event we breach any of our obligations related to such prosecution, we may incur significant liability to our licensing partners. If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.
We have no patent protection for MIRA-55, which could adversely impact MIRA-55’s potential competitive position.
We have no issued patents relating to MIRA-55 and our patent application for MIRA-55 may not result in an issued patent. While we attempt to protect our proprietary information as trade secrets through certain agreements with our employees, consultants, agents and other organizations to which we disclose our proprietary information, we cannot give assurance that these agreements will provide effective protection for our proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information. If other products similar to MIRA-55 are approved and marketed, we may be unable to prevent them from competing with MIRA-55 in MIRA-55’s potential marketplace. We expect that the presence of one or more competing products could reduce our potential market share and could negatively impact potential price levels and third-party reimbursement for MIRA-55, any of which would materially affect our business.
Risks Related to SKNY and SKNY-1
SKNY has yet to generate revenues or achieve a profit and may not generate revenue or achieve a profit for many years, if at all.
SKNY has not yet produced any revenues or profit and may not for many years, if at all. SKNY’s ability to generate revenue is dependent on the receipt of regulatory approval of SKNY’s product candidates, which will take years to achieve and may not be obtained. MIRA therefore cannot assure you SKNY will be able to ever generate sufficient revenue to pay for SKNY’s expenses or achieve profitability. SKNY’s ability to continue as a going concern in the future is dependent upon raising capital from financing transactions and keeping operating expenses below SKNY’s revenue levels in order to achieve positive cash flows, none of which can be assured.
SKNY does not own rights to SKNY-1.
All of SKNY’s rights in SKNY-1 are granted to it under a license (“License”) from MIRALOGIX LLC, a Florida corporation (“Licensor”), so SKNY does not have an ownership interest in SKNY-1. The License give SKNY the right to make, use and sell SKNY-1 only in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The Licensor retained the rights to SKNY-1 everywhere outside of the US, Canada and Mexico. If SKNY breaches the License or if the Licensor goes bankrupt, SKNY could lose its rights to SKNY-1 and all of such rights would revert back to the Licensor. Further, Licensor will control the process of applying for and obtaining any patents or other intellectual property rights in SKNY-1, all at the expense of SKNY. All of such patents and intellectual rights will be owned by Licensor, subject to SKNY’s rights under the License. Furthermore, SKNY has no control over the patent prosecution strategy, which is fully managed by the Licensor.
SKNY’s rights to SKNY-1 are subject to royalties.
SKNY entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with MIRALOGIX LLC, a Florida corporation (“MIRALOGIX”) for the licensing by MIRALOGX to SKNY the commercial rights of SKNY-1, or M308 (the “SKNY-1 Licensing Agreement”) in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Under the SKNY-1 Licensing Agreement SKNY will owe MIRALOGX a royalty of 8% on all revenue it receives from SKNY-1, with a minimum annual royalty of $250,000 that begins in the first year that there is any revenue from SKNY-1. This $250,000 will be owed even if in any later year there is no revenue from SKNY-1 or if the 8% royalty rate on actual revenues yields less than $250,000. SKNY’s failure to pay minimum royalties in any year would be a breach of the SKNY-1 Licensing Agreement and such breach would let the Licensor terminate SKNY’s rights to SKNY-1.
Conflicts of interest may arise between SKNY and MIRALOGX.
MIRALOGX is the license of SKNY’s rights to SKNY-1. MIRALOGX is a separate intellectual property development company owned by the Bay Shore Trust. The Bay Shore Trust is also SKNY’s largest stockholder. MIRALOGX is 100% owned by the Bay Shore Trust. SKNY’s relationship with MIRALOGX and the Bay Shore Trust may create, or may create the appearance of, conflicts of interest when SKNY is faced with decisions that benefit MIRALOGIX but do not benefit other holders of MIRA Common Stock. Furthermore, in light of the license agreement that SKNY has with MIRALOGX, if a dispute were to arise between MIRALOGX and MIRA relating to SKNY’s past or future relationship with MIRALOGX or with respect to intellectual property matters, there could be a conflict of interest that may make it more difficult for SKNY to resolve such disputes on terms that are acceptable to SKNY.
SKNY’s product candidates, if approved, may not achieve the expected market acceptance and, consequently, limit SKNY’s ability to generate revenue.
Even when product development is successful and regulatory approval has been obtained, SKNY’s ability to generate sufficient revenue depends on the acceptance of its products by physicians and patients. There is no assurance that SKNY’s product candidates will achieve the expected level of market acceptance and revenue if and when they obtain the requisite regulatory approvals. The market acceptance of any product depends on a number of factors, including the indication statement and warnings required by regulatory authorities in the product label. Market acceptance can also be influenced by continued demonstrations of efficacy and safety in commercial use, physicians’ willingness to prescribe the product, reimbursement from third-party payers such as government health care programs and private third-party payers, the price of the product, the nature of any post-approval risk management activities mandated by regulatory authorities, competition, and marketing and distribution support. Further, an ineffective or inefficient distribution model at launch may lead to the inability to fulfill demand, and consequently a loss of revenue. Any factors preventing or limiting the market acceptance of SKNY’s products could have a material effect on SKNY’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
SKNY expects to face intense competition, often from companies with greater resources and experience than it has.
Demand for SKNY’s product candidates will likely be dependent on a number of social, political, legislative, and economic factors that are beyond its control. While we believe that there will be a demand for such drugs, and that the demand will grow, there is no assurance that such demand will happen, that we will benefit from any demand or that its business, in fact, will ever generate revenues from its drug development programs or become profitable.
The emerging markets for product candidates like SKNY’s and related medical research and development is and will likely remain competitive. The development and commercialization of drugs and medicines is highly competitive. SKNY competes with a variety of multinational pharmaceutical companies and specialized biotechnology companies, as well as products and processes being developed by universities and other research institutions. Many of SKNY’s competitors have developed, are developing, or will develop drugs and processes which may be competitive with SKNY’s drug candidates. Competitive therapeutic treatments include those that have already been approved by medicines regulators and accepted by the medical community and any new treatments that may enter the market. For some of SKNY’s drug development programs / areas of therapeutic interest, other treatment options are currently available, under development, and may become commercially available in the future. If any of SKNY’s product candidates are approved for the diseases and conditions SKNY is currently pursuing, they may compete with a range of medicines or therapeutic treatments that are either in development, will be developed in the future or currently marketed.
Established companies may have a competitive advantage over SKNY due to their size and experiences, financial resources, and institutional networks. Many of SKNY’s competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resources than SKNY does. Due to these factors, SKNY’s competitors may have an advantage in marketing their approved drugs and may obtain regulatory approval of their drug candidates before SKNY is able to, which may limit its ability to develop or commercialize SKNY’s drug candidates. SKNY’s competitors may also develop drugs / medicines that are safer, more effective, more widely used and less expensive than SKNY’s. These advantages could materially impact SKNY’s ability to develop and, if approved, commercialize SKNY’s product candidates successfully. Furthermore, some of these competitors may make acquisitions or establish collaborative relationships among themselves or with third parties to increase their ability to rapidly gain market share.
Moreover, as generic versions of drug products enter the market, the price for such medicines may be expected to decline rapidly and substantially. Even if SKNY-1 is the first to obtain FDA approval of one of its product candidates, the future potential approval of generics could adversely affect the price SKNY is able to charge, and the profitability of SKNY’s product(s) will likely decline.
Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of SKNY’s competitors. Smaller and other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.
These companies may compete with SKNY in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, management and commercial personnel, utilizing contract manufacturing facilities or contract research organizations (CROs), or establishing clinical trial sites and subject registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to SKNY’s research projects.
We are dependent on SKNY’s current and future product candidates, some of which may not receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized.
Our ability to progress SKNY’s plan will depend on SKNY’s ability to clinically develop, gain regulatory approval for and ultimately commercialize SKNY’s product candidates. SKNY’s ability to successfully commercialize SKNY’s product candidates will depend on, among other things, SKNY’s ability to:
successfully complete pre-clinical and other nonclinical studies and clinical trials in a manner that allows us to progress SKNY’s studies;
receive IND acceptance and regulatory approvals from the FDA;
produce, through a validated process, in manufacturing facilities inspected and approved by regulatory authorities, including the FDA, sufficiently large quantities of product candidates to permit successful commercialization;
obtain reimbursement from payers such as government health care programs and insurance companies and achieve commercially attractive levels of pricing;
secure acceptance of SKNY’s product candidates from physicians, health care payers, patients, and the medical community;
create positive publicity surrounding SKNY’s product candidates;
manage SKNY’s spending as costs and expenses increase due to clinical trials and commercialization; and
obtain and enforce sufficient intellectual property rights for SKNY’s product candidates.
SKNY’s failure or delay with respect to any of the factors above could have a material adverse effect on SKNY’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Relating to the Ownership of our Common Stock
Because of the speculative nature of investment risk, you may lose your entire investment.
An investment in our securities carries a high degree of risk and should be considered as a speculative investment. We have a limited operating history, no revenues, have not paid dividends, and are unlikely to pay dividends in the immediate or near future. The likelihood of our success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications and delays frequently encountered in connection with the establishment of any business. An investment in our securities may result in the loss of an investor’s entire investment. Only potential investors who are experienced in high-risk investments and who can afford to lose their entire investment should consider an investment in our securities.
Certain of our founding stockholders, plus our existing officers and directors, control a substantial interest in us and thus may influence certain actions requiring stockholder vote.
Our founding stockholders, which include the Bay Shore Trust, and MIRALOGX, collectively own in excess of 27% of our issued and outstanding common stock, as well as outstanding warrants. Our officers and directors also own shares of our common stock. Therefore, these entities and individuals could influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions.
Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.
Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur as a result of our utilization of a universal shelf registration statement or otherwise could depress the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. Notably, a large number of shares of our common stock held by Bay Shore Trust and MIRALOGX have been registered for public resale and could be sold in the public market, depressing our stock price. Moreover, we cannot in general predict the effect that future sales of our common stock or the market perception that we are permitted to sell a significant number of our securities would have on the market price of our common stock.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain executive management and qualified board members.
As a reporting issuer, we are subject to the reporting requirements of applicable securities legislation of the jurisdiction in which we are a reporting issuer, the listing requirements of Nasdaq and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on its systems and resources. Applicable securities laws require us to, among other things, file certain annual and quarterly reports with respect to its business and results of operations. In addition, applicable securities laws require us to, among other things, maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting.
In order to maintain and, if required, improve its disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight are required and, as a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and results of operations. To comply with these requirements, we may need to hire more employees in the future or engage outside consultants, which will increase our costs and expenses.
In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are 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. We intend to continue to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us, which could adversely affect our business and financial results.
As a public company subject to these rules and regulations, it may be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of the Board, particularly to serve on the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee, and qualified executive officers.
We are an “emerging growth company,” and any decision on our part to comply only with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make shares of our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to have our independent registered public accounting firm audit our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We could be an emerging growth company until the fifth anniversary of the fiscal year end date following the completion of our initial public offering, however, our status would change more quickly if we have more than US$1.235 billion in annual revenue, if the market value of our shares of common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds US$700 million as of June 30 of any year, or we issue more than US$1.0 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period before the end of that period.
Investors could find our shares less attractive if we choose to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find shares less attractive as a result of any choice to reduce future disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our shares and our share price may be more volatile.
For as long as we are an “emerging growth company”, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404. We could be an “emerging growth company” until the fifth anniversary of the fiscal year end date following the completion of our initial public offering. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal controls could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.
If we identify material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, or if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our securities could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of any fiscal year for so long as either: (i) the market value of our shares of common stock held by non-affiliates does not equal or exceed $250 million as of the prior June 30 th ; or (ii) our annual revenues did not equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make the comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
If we fail to maintain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rules, our shares may be delisted from Nasdaq, which would result in a limited trading market for our shares and make obtaining future debt or equity financing more difficult for the us.
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “MIRA”. However, there is no assurance that we will be able to continue to maintain our compliance with the Nasdaq continued listing requirements. If we fail to do so, our securities may lose their status on Nasdaq and they would likely be traded on the over-the-counter markets, including the Pink Sheets market. As a result, selling our securities could be more difficult because smaller quantities of shares or warrants would likely be bought and sold, transactions could be delayed, and security analysts’ coverage of us may be reduced. In addition, in the event our securities are delisted, broker dealers would bear certain regulatory burdens which may discourage broker dealers from effecting transactions in the securities and further limit the liquidity of the securities. These factors could result in lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask prices for the securities. Such delisting from Nasdaq and continued or further declines in the share price of the securities could also our ability to raise additional necessary capital through equity or debt financing and could significantly increase the ownership dilution to shareholders caused by our issuing equity in financing or other transactions.
If our shares were to be delisted from Nasdaq, they may become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules.
Delisting from Nasdaq may cause our securities to become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules. The SEC generally defines a penny stock as an equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exemptions. One such exemption is to be listed on Nasdaq. Therefore, if shares of our common stock were to be delisted from Nasdaq, our securities could become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules. These rules require, among other things, that any broker engaging in a purchase or sale of our securities provide its customers with: (i) a risk disclosure document, (ii) disclosure of market quotations, if any, (iii) disclosure of the compensation of the broker and its salespersons in the transaction, and (iv) monthly account statements showing the market values of our securities held in the customer’s accounts. A broker would be required to provide the bid and offer quotations and compensation information before effecting the transaction. This information must be contained in the customer’s confirmation. Generally, brokers are less willing to effect transactions in penny stocks due to these additional delivery requirements. These requirements may make it more difficult for shareholders to purchase or sell the shares of our common stock. Since the broker, not us, prepares this information, we would not be able to that such information is accurate, complete or current.
Some provisions of Florida law and our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our shareholders and may prevent attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management.
Our status as a Florida corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Florida Business Corporation Act, which we sometimes refer to as the FBCA, may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control even if a change in control would be beneficial to our shareholders.
The control share acquisition statute, Section 607.0902 of the FBCA, generally provides that in the event a person acquires voting shares of the company in excess of 20% of the voting power of all of our issued and outstanding shares, such acquired shares will not have any voting rights unless such rights are restored by the holders of a majority of the votes of each class or series entitled to vote separately, excluding shares held by the person acquiring the control shares or any of our officers or employees who are also directors of the company. Certain acquisitions of shares are exempt from these rules, such as shares acquired pursuant to the laws of intestate succession or pursuant to a gift or testamentary transfer, pursuant to a merger or share exchange effected in compliance with the FBCA if we are a party to the agreement, or pursuant to an acquisition of our shares if the acquisition has been approved by our board of directors before the acquisition. The control share acquisition statute generally applies to any “issuing public corporation,” which means a Florida corporation which has:
One hundred or more shareholders;
Its principal place of business, its principal office, or substantial assets within Florida; and
Either (i) more than 10% of its shareholders are resident in Florida; (ii) more than 10% of its shares are owned by residents of Florida; or (iii) one thousand shareholders are resident in Florida.
The affiliated transaction (or so-called “business combination”) statute, Section 607.0901 of the FBCA, provides that we may not engage in certain mergers, consolidations, sales of assets, issuances of stock, reclassifications, recapitalizations, and other affiliated transactions with any “interested shareholder” for a period of three years following the time that such shareholder became an interested shareholder, unless:
Prior to the time that such shareholder became an interested shareholder, our board of directors approved either the affiliated transaction or the transaction which resulted in the shareholder becoming an interested shareholder; or;
Upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the shareholder becoming an interested shareholder, the interested shareholder owned at least 85% of our voting shares outstanding at the time the transaction commenced; or
At or subsequent to the time that such shareholder became an interested shareholder, the affiliated transaction is approved by our board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of shareholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting shares which are not owned by the interested shareholder.
An “interested shareholder” is generally defined as any person who is the beneficial owner of more than 15% of our outstanding voting shares. Currently, Bay Shore Trust would be considered an “interested shareholder.”
The voting requirements set forth above do not apply to a particular affiliated transaction if one or more conditions are met, including, but not limited to, the following: if the affiliated transaction has been approved by a majority of our disinterested directors; if we have not had more than 300 shareholders of record at any time during the three years preceding the date the affiliated transaction is announced; if the interested shareholder has been the beneficial owner of at least 80% of our outstanding voting shares for at least three years preceding the date the affiliated transaction is announced; or if the consideration to be paid to the holders of each class or series of voting shares in the affiliated transaction meets certain requirements of the statute with respect to form and amount, among other things.
Both the control share acquisition statute and the affiliated transactions statute may have the effect of discouraging or preventing certain change of control or takeover transactions involving us.
In addition, our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us or increase the cost of acquiring us, even if doing so would benefit our shareholders, including transactions in which shareholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions include:
nothing in our amended and restated articles of incorporation precludes future issuances without shareholder approval of the authorized but unissued shares of our common stock;
advance notice procedures apply for shareholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of shareholders;
a special meeting of shareholders can only be called by our chairman of the board of directors, our chief executive officer, our president (in the absence of a chief executive officer), a majority of our board of directors or the holders of 10% or more of all of our votes entitled to be cast on any issue proposed to be considered at the special meeting of shareholders;
no provision in our amended and restated articles of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws provides for cumulative voting, which limits the ability of minority shareholders to elect director candidates;
directors will only be able to be removed for cause;
our amended and restated articles of incorporation authorizes undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued, without the approval of the holders of our capital stock; and
certain litigation against us can only be brought in Florida.
These provisions could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other shareholders to elect directors of your choosing and cause us to take corporate actions other than those you desire. See “Description of Capital Stock.”
Our amended and restated bylaws designates the state courts located within the state of Florida as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our shareholders and the federal district courts as the exclusive forum for Securities Act claims, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, officers or other employees to us or our shareholders, (iii) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the FBCA, our amended and restated articles of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any other action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be a state court located within the state of Florida (or, if a state court located within the state of Florida does not have jurisdiction, the federal district court for the Middle District of Florida); provided that, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, or to any claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the U.S. federal district courts shall be the forum for the resolution of any arising under the Securities Act. Under the Securities Act, federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a forum selection provision as written in connection with arising under the Securities Act.
By becoming a shareholder in our company, you will be deemed to have notice of and have consented to the provisions of our amended and restated bylaws related to choice of forum. The choice of forum provisions in our amended and restated bylaws may limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us. Additionally, the enforceability of choice of forum provisions in other companies’ governing documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought against us, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. If so, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Securities or industry analysts may not regularly publish reports on us, which could cause the price of our securities or trading volumes to decline.
The trading market for our securities could be influenced by research and reports that industry and/or securities analysts may publish us, our business, the market or our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts and cannot be assured that such analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. If any of the analysts who may cover our business change their recommendation regarding our securities adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our securities would likely decline. If any analysts who may cover our business were to cease coverage or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price of our securities or trading volumes to decline.
We will likely conduct further offerings of our equity securities in the future, in which case your proportionate interest may become diluted.
We will likely be required to conduct equity offerings in the future to finance our current projects or to finance subsequent projects that we decide to undertake. If our common stock shares are issued in return for additional funds, the price per share could be lower than that paid by our current shareholders. We anticipate continuing to rely on equity sales of our common stock shares in order to fund our business operations. If we issue additional common stock shares or securities convertible into shares of our common stock, your percentage interest in us could become diluted.
We may issue shares of preferred stock in the future, which could make it difficult for another company to acquire us or could otherwise adversely affect holders of our common stock, which could depress the price of our common stock.
Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue one or more series of preferred stock. Our board of directors will have the authority to determine the preferences, limitations and relative rights of the shares of preferred stock and to fix the number of shares constituting any series and the designation of such series, without any further vote or action by our shareholders. Our preferred stock could be issued with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to the rights of our common stock. The potential issuance of preferred stock may delay or prevent a change in control of us, discouraging bids for our common stock at a premium to the market price, and materially adversely affect the market price and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends or distributions on our capital stock. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends or distributions on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to support operations and to finance expansion and therefore we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
The declaration, payment and amount of any future dividends will be made at the discretion of the board of directors, and will depend upon, among other things, the results of our operations, cash flows and financial condition, operating and capital requirements, and other factors as the board of directors considers relevant. There is no assurance that future dividends will be paid, and, if dividends are paid, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of any such dividend.
