Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Our business, prospects, financial condition, or operating results could be harmed by any of these risks, as well as other risks not currently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial. If any of such risks and uncertainties actually occurs, our business, prospects, financial condition, cash flows, or operating results could differ materially from the plans, projections, and other forward-looking statements included in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our other public filings. For more information, see the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Risks Related to Our Business
We are a medical device company that has incurred net losses in every period to date and expect to continue to incur significant losses as we develop our business, and our financial conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
We are a medical device company that has incurred net losses in each quarterly and annual period since inception and that has not yet generated any meaningful revenue. We expect to incur increasing costs as we continue to devote substantially all of our resources towards the development and anticipated further commercialization of our main platform technology, vCLAS. We cannot be certain if we will ever generate meaningful revenue or if or when we will produce sufficient revenue from operations to support our costs. Even if profitability is achieved, we may not be able to sustain profitability. We incurred net losses of $25.1 million and $75.0 million in 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $95.6 and $70.6 million, respectively. We expect to incur substantial losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future. In addition, as a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. These increased expenses may make it harder for us to achieve and sustain future profitability. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, many of which are beyond our control, including the other risks described in this report and in our other filings with the SEC. Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable could depress the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our development efforts, obtain regulatory approvals or certificates, diversify our product offerings or continue our operations.
Our independent auditors have included an explanatory paragraph in their audit report regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. This going concern risk may materially limit our ability to raise additional funds through the issuance of new debt or equity or may adversely affect the terms upon which such capital may be available. The inability to obtain sufficient financing on acceptable terms could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, and business prospects.
We are actively pursuing strategies to mitigate these risks, however, there can be no assurance that these efforts will prove successful or that we will achieve our intended financial stability. The failure to successfully address these going concern risks may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Investors should consider the substantial risks and uncertainties inherent in our business before investing in our securities.
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We have a limited operating history and no history of commercializing products, which may make it difficult for an investor to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are a clinical-stage medical device company with a limited operating history. We commenced operations in 2011, and our operations to date have been largely focused on organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital and conducting preclinical research and development activities for our product candidates. To date, we have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a product on a commercial scale, or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing and commercializing products.
We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known or unknown factors in achieving our business objectives. We will need to develop commercial capabilities, and we may not be successful in doing so.
We may need to raise additional capital to fund our development and commercialization plans.
If our available cash resources are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, due to, for example, the realization of other risks described in this Annual Report, we may be required to raise additional capital prior to such time by issuing equity or convertible debt securities, entering into a credit facility or another form of third-party funding or seeking other debt financing.
We may consider raising additional capital in the future to expand our business, to pursue strategic investments, to take advantage of financing or acquisition opportunities or for other reasons, including:
funding development and marketing efforts of our ablation technology or any other future products;
increasing our sales and marketing and other commercialization efforts to drive market adoption of our ablation technology;
expanding our technologies into additional markets;
preparing, filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights;
acquiring, licensing or defending against third party intellectual property rights;
acquiring or investing in complementary technologies, businesses or assets; and
financing capital expenditures and general and administrative expenses.
Our present and future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:
delays in execution of our development plans;
the scope and timing of our investment in our sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities;
changes we may make to our business that affect ongoing operating expenses;
the costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights;
changes we may make in our business or commercialization strategy;
changes we may make in our research and development spending plans;
our need to implement additional infrastructure and internal systems; and
other items affecting our forecasted level of expenditures and use of cash resources, including potential acquisitions.
The various ways we could raise additional capital carry potential risks. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to our stockholders could result. If we raise funds by issuing debt securities, those debt securities could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of common stock. The terms of debt securities issued or borrowings pursuant to a credit agreement could impose significant restrictions on our operations. If we raise funds through collaborations or licensing arrangements, we might be required to relinquish significant rights to our technologies or products or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.
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If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, should we require it, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges, or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue, we may finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, government or private party grants, debt financings and license and collaboration agreements. We do not currently have any other committed external source of funds. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing and equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.
If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates, grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us or commit to future payment streams. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
Changes in our business strategy or restructuring of our businesses may increase our costs or otherwise affect the profitability of our businesses or the value of our assets.
As there are changes in our business environment, we have adjusted, and may further, adjust our business strategies to meet these changes and we may otherwise decide to further restructure our operations or particular businesses or assets. Our new organization and strategies may not produce the anticipated benefits, such as supporting our growth strategies and enhancing shareholder value, and could be less successful than our previous organizational structure and strategies. In addition, external events, including changes in technology, changes in acceptance of our products and changes in macroeconomic conditions, may impair the value of our assets. When these changes or events occur, we may incur costs to change our business strategy and may need to write-down the value of assets. For example, current economic conditions, including relatively high interest rates, inflation and potential economic slowdowns, as well as our business decisions, may reduce the value of some of our assets. We also make investments in existing or new businesses, including re-investing in the expansion of our sales and build-out of our efforts in Europe. In any of these events, our costs may increase or returns on new investments may be lower than prior to the change in strategy or restructuring.
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Our growth and revenue prospects partially depend on our ability to accelerate the commercialization of our products and to capitalize on market opportunities.
Our future success is largely dependent on our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our pipeline products, which are based on innovative yet complex technologies and, at any time, can be in various stages of development. We are investing substantially all of our management efforts and financial resources in the development and commercialization of such products. For planning purposes, we estimate the timing of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development and commercialization goals, which we sometimes refer to as milestones. These milestones include the commencement or completion of scientific studies and clinical studies and the submission of regulatory applications. We base these milestones on a variety of assumptions, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. There is a risk we will not achieve these milestones on a timely basis or at all. Even if we achieve these milestones, the actual timing of the achievement of these milestones can vary dramatically compared to our estimates, often for reasons beyond our control. Our ability to achieve milestones and generate future revenue from our current and/or future products depends on a number of additional factors, including:
the rate of progress and costs and results of our clinical studies and research and development activities;
our ability to successfully complete clinical development of our products, including necessary clinical studies;
our ability to achieve acceptance of our clinical trial data by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities;
our ability to successfully develop, optimize and scale up the manufacturing processes for our products;
our ability to establish and maintain supply and manufacturing relationships with third parties that ensure adequate and legally-compliant production of our products;
our ability and/or the ability of third parties to manufacture our products, including our ability to source critical components or materials for the manufacture of our products;
our ability to complete and submit necessary applications for regulatory clearances, approvals or certifications for our products in the United States and elsewhere;
our ability to comply with requirements enforced by the FDA, and other comparable regulatory authorities with respect to our marketing of products;
our ability to meet the standards of FDA or foreign regulatory agencies and obtain necessary FDA or foreign regulatory clearances, approvals, or certifications, for our products or for future product modifications or proposed expansions in indication for any of our products that receive regulatory approval or certification;
other actions by regulators, including actions related to a class of products;
our ability to establish effective sales and marketing capabilities;
our ability to compete against more established or better funded competitors;
our ability to achieve patient, physician, and market acceptance for our products;
our ability to establish, maintain and protect our intellectual property rights; and
our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel.
In addition, because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with completing clinical studies and obtaining necessary clearances, approvals or certifications, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of our expenses, or if or when we will achieve or maintain revenues or profitability. In addition, our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we decide to or are required by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities to perform studies or trials for our products in addition to those that we currently anticipate. If we complete the development and regulatory processes of our products, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with launching and commercializing our products. Even if we generate revenues from the sale of our products, we may not be profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations. If we fail to achieve profitability or do not sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce our operations.
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Our operating results may fluctuate significantly in the future, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide.
Our quarterly and annual results of operations, including our revenue, profitability and cash flow, may vary significantly in the future, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter or other period should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly and annual financial results may fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control and, as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly and annual results include, without limitation:
the level of demand for our products, which may vary significantly from period to period;
expenditures that we may incur to acquire, develop or commercialize additional products and technologies;
the timing and cost of clinical trials, including obtaining regulatory approvals or clearances for planned or future products;
the rate at which we grow our sales force and the speed at which newly hired salespeople become effective, and the cost and level of investment therein;
the degree of competition in our industry and any change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or future partners;
coverage and reimbursement policies with respect to the procedures using our products and potential future products that compete with our products;
the timing and success or failure of clinical trials for our current or planned products or any future products we develop or competing products;
the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization activities relating to our products, which may change from time to time;
the cost of manufacturing our products, which may vary depending on the quantity of production and the terms of our agreements with third-party suppliers and manufacturers;
natural disasters, outbreaks of disease or public health crises;
the timing and nature of any future acquisitions or strategic partnerships; and
future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies.
Because our quarterly and annual results may fluctuate, period-to-period comparisons may not be the best indication of the underlying results of our business and should only be relied upon as one factor in determining how our business is performing.
In addition, this variability and unpredictability could result in us failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, it may result in a decrease in the share price of the common stock.
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There is no assurance that we will be able to execute on our business model, including achieving market acceptance of our products.
Our ability to execute our business model is dependent on a number of factors, including:
the ability of our senior management team to execute our business model;
the ability to begin or maintain our pace of product development, manufacturing and commercialization;
the ability to meet the changing needs of the catheter market;
the ability to achieve market acceptance of our product; and
the ability of our employees to perform at a high level.
If we are unable to execute our business model, or if our business model does not drive the growth that we anticipate, or if our market opportunity is not as large as we have estimated, it could adversely affect our business and our prospects.
Our success will depend, in part, on the acceptance of our products as safe, effective and, with respect to providers, cost-effective. We cannot predict how quickly, if at all, hospitals, physicians, patients or payors will accept our products or, if accepted, how frequently they will be used. Our products and planned or future products we may develop or market may never gain broad market acceptance for some or all of our targeted indications. Hospitals, physicians, patients and payors must believe that our products offer benefits over alternative treatment methods. Our future growth and profitability largely depend on our ability to increase physician awareness of our system and our products and on the willingness of hospitals, physicians, patients or payors to adopt them. These parties may not adopt our products unless they are able to determine, based on experience, clinical data, medical society recommendations and other analyses, that our products are safe, effective and, with respect to providers, cost-effective, on a stand-alone basis and relative to competitors’ products. Healthcare providers must believe that our products offer benefits over alternative treatment methods. Even if we are able to raise awareness, physicians tend to be slow in changing their medical treatment practices and may be hesitant to select our products for recommendation to their hospitals or patients for a variety of reasons, including:
long-standing relationships with competing companies and distributors that sell other products;
competitive response and negative selling efforts from providers of alternative products;
lack of experience with our products and concerns that we are relatively new to the market;
lack or perceived lack of sufficient clinical evidence, including long-term data, supporting safety or clinical benefits; and
time commitment and skill development that may be required to gain familiarity and proficiency with our products.
Physicians play a significant role in determining the type of treatment that will be utilized and provided to a patient. We focus our sales, marketing and education efforts primarily on cardiac electrophysiologists, and aim to educate referring physicians regarding the patient population that would benefit from our products. However, we cannot assure you that we will achieve broad market acceptance among these practitioners.
For example, if electrophysiologists are not made aware of our products, they may not recommend ablation for their patients or the use of our product in their hospitals. In addition, some physicians may choose to utilize our products on only a subset of their total patient population or may not adopt our products at all. If we are not able to effectively demonstrate that the use of our products is beneficial in a broad range of patients, adoption of our products will be limited and may not occur as rapidly as we anticipate or at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure you that our products will achieve broad market acceptance among hospitals and physicians. Additionally, even if our products achieve market acceptance, they may not maintain that market acceptance over time if competing products, procedures or technologies are considered safer or more cost-effective or otherwise superior. Any failure of our products to generate sufficient demand or to achieve meaningful market acceptance and penetration will harm our future prospects and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our reputation among our current or potential customers, as well as among electrophysiologists, could also be negatively affected by safety or customer satisfaction issues involving us or our products, including product recalls. Future product recalls or other safety or customer satisfaction issues relating to our reputation could negatively affect our ability to establish or maintain broad adoption of our products, which could harm our future prospects and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In the United States, before a hospital can purchase our product for the first time, our system must be approved for use by a hospital’s new product or value analysis committee, or the staff of a hospital or health system. Such approvals could deter or delay the use of our products by physicians. We cannot provide assurance that our efforts to obtain such approvals or generate adoption will be successful or increase the use of our products, and if we are not successful, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The size of the markets for our products may be smaller than estimated, limiting our ability to successfully sell our products.
Our estimates of the total addressable markets for our current products and products under development are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates, including, without limitation, the number of patients with cardiac arrhythmias and the assumed prices at which we can sell our products in markets that have not been established or that we have not yet entered. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time, thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these estimates. As a result, our estimates of the total addressable market for our current or future products may prove to be incorrect. If the actual number of patients who would benefit from our products, the price at which we can sell products or the total addressable market for our products is smaller than we have estimated, it may impair our sales growth and have an adverse impact on our business.
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If we or the third parties with whom we work experience disruption in our information technology systems, data, or security incidents, our business could be adversely affected, including our ability to operate, the loss of confidential and proprietary information, increased remediation costs, and reputational damage.
We rely, or will rely, on information technology systems to keep financial records, facilitate our research and development initiatives, manage our manufacturing operations, maintain quality control, fulfill customer orders, maintain corporate records, communicate with staff and external parties and operate other critical functions. Our information technology systems and those of the third parties with whom we work, including our vendors and partners, are potentially vulnerable to disruption due to breakdown, malicious intrusion and computer viruses or other disruptive events, including, but not limited to, natural disasters and catastrophes. Cyberattacks and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase, and cloud-based platform providers of services have been and are expected to continue to be targeted. Methods of attacks on information technology systems and data security breaches change frequently, are increasingly complex and sophisticated, including social engineering and phishing scams, and can originate from a wide variety of sources. In addition to traditional computer “hackers,” malicious code, such as viruses and worms, attacks enhanced or facilitated by AI, supply-chain attacks, supply-chain attacks, employee theft or misuse, denial-of-service attacks and sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors now engage in attacks, including advanced persistent threat intrusions In particular, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, ability to provide our products or services, loss of sensitive data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.
Despite our efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is virtually impossible for us to entirely mitigate these risks. Threat actors may also gain access to other networks and systems after a compromise of our networks and systems. For example, threat actors may use an initial compromise of one part of our environment to gain access to other parts of our environment, or leverage a compromise of our networks or systems to gain access to the networks or systems of third parties with whom we work, such as through phishing or supply chain attacks. In addition, we have not finalized our information technology and data security procedures and therefore, our information technology systems may be more susceptible to cybersecurity attacks than if such security procedures were finalized. Despite any of our current or future efforts to protect against cybersecurity attacks and data security breaches, there is no guarantee that our efforts are adequate to safeguard against all such attacks and breaches. Moreover, it is possible that we may not be able to anticipate, detect, appropriately react and respond to, or implement effective preventative measures against, all cybersecurity incidents. For example, we have been the target of unsuccessful phishing attempts in the past, and expect such attempts will continue in the future.
If our security measures, or those of our vendors and partners, are compromised due to any cybersecurity attacks or data security breaches, including as a result of third-party action, employee or customer error, malfeasance, stolen or fraudulently obtained log-in credentials or otherwise, our business and reputation may be harmed, we could become subject to litigation and we could incur significant liability. If we were to experience a prolonged system disruption in our information technology systems or those of certain of our vendors and partners, it could negatively impact our ability to serve our customers, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If operations at our facilities were disrupted, it may cause a material disruption in our business if we are not capable of restoring functionality on an acceptable timeframe. In addition, our information technology systems, and those of our vendors and partners, are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches, whether by internal bad actors, such as employees or other third parties with legitimate access to our or our third-party providers’ systems, or external bad actors, which could lead to the exposure of personal data, sensitive data and confidential information to unauthorized persons. Any such data security breaches could lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, or could lead to the exposure of personal information, including sensitive personal information, of our employees, customers and others, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. Certain data privacy and security obligations have required us to implement and maintain specific security measures or industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive information.
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Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us, or we may voluntarily choose, to notify relevant stakeholders, including affected individuals, customers, regulators, and investors, of security incidents, or to take other actions, such as providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. Such disclosures and related actions can be costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such applicable requirements could lead to adverse consequences. Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. In addition to experiencing a security incident, third parties may gather, collect, or infer sensitive information about us from public sources, data brokers, or other means that reveals competitively sensitive details about our organization and could be used to undermine our competitive advantage or market position.
In addition, any such access, disclosure or other loss or unauthorized use of information or data could result in legal claims or proceedings, regulatory investigations or actions, and other types of liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information, including federal, state and foreign data protection and privacy regulations, violations of which could result in significant penalties and fines. In addition, U.S. and international laws and regulations that have been applied to protect user privacy (including laws regarding unfair and deceptive practices in the U.S. and the GDPR in the European Union) may be subject to evolving interpretations or applications. Furthermore, defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly, divert management’s attention and harm our reputation. In addition, although we seek to detect and investigate data security incidents, security breaches and other incidents of unauthorized access to our information technology systems and data can be difficult to detect and any delay in identifying such breaches or incidents may lead to increased harm and legal exposure. Moreover, there could be public announcements regarding any cybersecurity incidents and any steps we take to respond to or remediate such incidents, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these announcements to be negative, it could, among other things, have a material adverse effect on the price of common stock.
The cost of protecting against, investigating, mitigating and responding to potential breaches of our information technology systems and data security breaches and complying with applicable breach notification obligations to individuals, regulators, partners and others can be significant. As cybersecurity incidents continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. We may not in the future, however, detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities including on a timely basis. Further, we have and may in the future experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures and patches designed to address identified vulnerabilities. The inability to implement, maintain and upgrade adequate safeguards could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may be unable to manage our anticipated growth effectively.
Our anticipated growth will place significant strains on our management, operational and manufacturing systems and processes, sales and marketing team, financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business. We must upgrade our internal business processes and capabilities to create the scalability that a growing business demands. As of December 31, 2025, we had 41 employees. To execute our anticipated growth successfully, we must continue to attract and retain qualified personnel and manage and train them effectively. Developing and commercializing the ablation technology will require us to hire and retain scientific, sales and marketing, software, manufacturing, customer service, distribution and quality assurance personnel. In addition, we expect that we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel as a public company. As a public company, our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements and effectively manage these growth activities. We may face challenges integrating, developing and motivating our rapidly growing employee base.
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Further, our anticipated growth will place additional strain on our suppliers and manufacturing facilities, resulting in an increased need for us to carefully monitor quality assurance. Any failure by us to manage our growth effectively could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our development and commercialization goals.
Our ability to successfully transition from a largely development stage company to a full scale commercial operation is uncertain given the fact that we have been in operation since 2011. As we continue to grow, we will be required to implement more complex organizational management structures and may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the benefits of our corporate culture, including our ability to quickly develop and launch new and innovative products. If we do not successfully manage our anticipated growth, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be harmed.
We may acquire other companies or technologies, or form strategic partnerships with other companies, which could divert our management’s attention, increase our capital requirements, and otherwise disrupt our operations, subject us to other risks and harm our operating results.
We may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, applications or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our ablation technology product or future products, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of our management and cause us to incur various costs and expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. We may not be able to identify desirable acquisition targets or be successful in entering into an agreement with any particular target or obtain the expected benefits of any acquisition or investment.
To date, the growth of our operations has been organic, and we have limited experience in acquiring other businesses or technologies. We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired personnel, operations and technologies, or effectively manage the combined business following an acquisition. Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities, the use of our available cash, or the incurrence of debt, which could harm our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial condition may suffer.
If we are unable to recruit and retain key executives and scientists, we may be unable to achieve our goals.
Our success depends largely on the continued services of key members of our executive management team and others in key management positions. We do not currently maintain key person life insurance policies on any of our employees. If we lose one or more key employees, we may experience difficulties in competing effectively, developing our technologies and implementing our business strategy.
In addition, our research and development programs, clinical operations and sales and marketing efforts depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientists, engineers and sales professionals. Competition for skilled personnel in our market is intense, and we have from time to time experienced, and expect to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications on acceptable terms, or at all. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we do, and any of our employees may terminate their employment with us at any time. If we hire employees from competitors or other companies, their former employers may attempt to assert that these employees or we have breached legal obligations, resulting in a diversion of our time and resources and, potentially, damages. In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the stock awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived benefits of our stock awards decline, it may harm our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects could be harmed.
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Consolidation in the medical device industry could have an adverse effect on our revenue and results of operations.
Many medical device companies are consolidating to create new companies with greater market power. As the medical device industry consolidates, competition to provide goods and services to industry participants will become more intense. These industry participants may try to use their market power to negotiate price concessions or reductions for their products. If we reduce our prices because of consolidation in the medical device industry, our revenue would decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Unfavorable U.S. or global economic conditions as a result of a pandemic, political instability, natural disasters, or otherwise, could adversely affect our ability to raise capital and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy. Unfavorable conditions in the economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth in the United States or abroad, financial and credit market fluctuations, inflation, fluctuating interest rates, international tariff policies, trade wars and other concerns regarding international trade relations, political turmoil, natural catastrophes, outbreaks of contagious diseases, geopolitical tensions, warfare and terrorist attacks, could cause a decrease in business investments, disrupt the timing and cadence of key industry events, and negatively affect the growth of our business and our results of operations. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected workforces, economies and financial markets globally, leading to a reduction in the ability of, or the inability of, partners, suppliers, vendors or other parties to meet their contractual obligations, and for a period of time, a reduction in customer spending on technology, and such conditions may reoccur in the future. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our product candidates and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause delays in payments for our services by third-party payors or our collaborators. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operation could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of common stock.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and estimates and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, equity, and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. For example, in connection with the implementation of the new revenue accounting standard, if and when we have product sales, management makes judgments and assumptions based on our interpretation of the new standard. The new revenue standard is principle-based and interpretation of those principles may vary from company to company based on their unique circumstances. It is possible that interpretation, industry practice and guidance may evolve as we apply the new standard. If our assumptions underlying our estimates and judgements relating to our critical accounting policies change or if actual circumstances differ from our assumptions, estimates or judgements, our operating results may be adversely affected and could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of common stock.
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If our facilities become unavailable or inoperable, our research and development program and commercialization launch plan could be adversely affected, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We currently maintain our research, development, manufacturing and administrative operations in a building located in Laguna Hills, California, and we do not have redundant facilities. Should our building be significantly damaged or destroyed by natural or man-made disasters, such as earthquakes, fires (both of which are prevalent in California) or other events, it could take months to relocate or rebuild, during which time our employees may seek other positions, our research, development and manufacturing would cease or be delayed and our products may be unavailable. Because of the time required to authorize manufacturing in a new facility under federal, state and non-U.S. regulatory requirements, we may not be able to resume production on a timely basis even if we were able to replace production capacity. While we maintain property and business interruption insurance, such insurance has limits and would not cover all damages, including losses caused by earthquakes or losses we may suffer due to our products being replaced by competitors’ products. If our facilities become inoperable, the inability to perform our research, development and manufacturing activities, combined with our limited inventory of materials and components and manufactured products, may cause physicians to discontinue using our products or harm our reputation, and we may be unable to re-establish relationships with such physicians in the future. Consequently, a catastrophic event at our current facility or any future facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We use hazardous chemicals and biological materials in our business. Any claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of these materials could be time consuming and costly.
Our research and development processes and manufacturing involve the controlled use of hazardous materials, including select chemicals that may be flammable, toxic or corrosive. We do not currently have research processes involving biohazard materials. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and any resultant injury from these materials. In addition, the products involve the use of a high-powered laser system, which could result in injury. We may be sued for any injury or contamination that results from our use or the use by third parties of these materials. We do not currently maintain separate environmental liability coverage and any such contamination or discharge could result in significant cost to us in penalties, damages and suspension of our operations.
International trade policies, including tariffs, sanctions and trade barriers may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects .
We operate in a global economy, and our business depends on a global supply chain for the development, manufacturing, and distribution of our products, and for the advancement of our preclinical and clinical development programs. There is inherent risk, based on the complex relationships among the United States and the countries in which we conduct our business, that political, diplomatic, and national security factors can lead to global trade restrictions and changes in trade policies and export regulations that may adversely affect our business and operations. The current international trade and regulatory environment is subject to significant ongoing uncertainty. For example, in February 2026, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) invalidated certain tariffs imposed by the U.S. government under emergency statutory authority in 2025. Shortly thereafter, President Trump signed an executive order implementing a new 10% global tariff pursuant to an alternative statutory authority, which may be raised up to 15%. It remains unclear whether and to what extent duties previously collected under the invalidated tariffs will be refunded, whether refunds will be subject to administrative or judicial processes, or whether offsets or alternative measures may be imposed. This evolving legal and policy landscape have contributed to continued volatility in the trade environment.
We source some materials from international suppliers, with reliance on foreign manufacturers, including China. Tariff policies, particularly those affecting China, could materially increase our costs and reduce our profitability, including as a result of our inability to adjust pricing in formulary-based markets. Recent and potential future changes in international trade policies, particularly regarding U.S. China trade relations present risks to our operations and financial performance.
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Unlike many industries, our ability to pass increased costs to customers may be limited by the structure of medical device pricing and reimbursement systems. In many cases, pricing of medical devices are established through annual or multi-year contracts with commercial, third-party payors, customers, and group purchasing organizations, and reimbursement methodologies established by government programs, such as Medicare. These arrangements typically include fixed pricing terms. As a result, and depending on the timing and scope of our future commercialization and the implementation of any future tariffs, cost increases due to tariffs may be difficult or impossible to pass through to customers until the next negotiation cycle.
Current or future tariffs will also result in increased research and development expenses, including with respect to increased costs associated with raw materials, equipment and research materials and components. Trade restrictions affecting the import of materials necessary for clinical trials could result in delays to our development timelines. Increased development costs and extended development timelines could place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to companies operating in regions with more favorable trade relationships and could reduce investor confidence and negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects.
The complexity of announced or future tariffs may also increase the risk that we or our customers or suppliers may be subject to civil or criminal enforcement actions in the United States or foreign jurisdictions related to compliance with trade regulations. Foreign governments may also adopt non-tariff measures, such as procurement preferences or informal disincentives to engage with, purchase from or invest in U.S. entities, which may limit our ability to compete internationally and attract non-U.S. investment, employees, customers and suppliers. Foreign governments may also take other retaliatory actions against U.S. entities, such as decreased intellectual property protection, increased enforcement actions, or delays in regulatory approvals, which may result in heightened international legal and operational risks. In addition, the United States and other governments have imposed and may continue to impose additional sanctions, such as trade restrictions or trade barriers, which could restrict us from doing business directly or indirectly in or with certain countries or parties and may impose additional costs and complexity to our business.
Trade disputes, tariffs, restrictions and other political tensions between the United States and other countries may also exacerbate unfavorable macroeconomic conditions including inflationary pressures, foreign exchange volatility, financial market instability, and economic recessions or downturns. The ultimate impact of current or future tariffs and trade restrictions remains uncertain and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and prospects. While we actively monitor these risks, any prolonged economic downturn, escalation in trade tensions, or deterioration in international perception of U.S.-based companies could materially and adversely affect our business, ability to access the capital markets or other financing sources, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, tariffs and other trade developments have and may continue to heighten the risks related to the other risk factors described in our 2024 Annual Report.
Our corporate prioritization initiative may not achieve our intended outcome and may result in significant adverse consequences.
In February 2025, we implemented a corporate prioritization initiative focusing all resources on the FULCRUM-VT clinical trial activities and our new product design optimization program. This corporate prioritization initiative may result in unintended consequences and costs, such as the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise, attrition beyond the intended number of employees, decreased morale among our remaining employees, and the risk that we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the corporate prioritization initiative. If we are unable to realize the anticipated benefits from the corporate prioritization initiative, or if we experience significant adverse consequences from the corporate prioritization initiative, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially adversely affected .
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Risks Related to our Products
If our clinical trials are unsuccessful or significantly delayed, or if we do not complete our clinical trials, our business may be harmed.
Clinical development is a long, expensive and uncertain process and is subject to delays and the risk that products may ultimately prove unsafe or ineffective in treating the indications for which they are designed. Completion of clinical trials may take several years or more. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays in obtaining regulatory approval to commence a trial, in reaching an agreement on acceptable clinical trial terms with prospective sites, in obtaining institutional review board (“ IRB ”) approval at each site, in recruiting patients to participate in a trial or in obtaining sufficient supplies of clinical trial materials.
In September 2023, we announced the first Ventricular Tachycardia (“VT”) ULTA procedure performed using the Adagio VT Cryoablation System in the United States as part of the FULCRUM-VT early feasibility (“EFS IDE”) clinical trial. Delays in the completion of these and other clinical testing could significantly affect our product development costs. The completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to: inability to enroll sufficient numbers of study subjects in a timely manner; unexpected or serious adverse effects related to our medical device candidate experienced by patients in a clinical trial; and retaining patients who have initiated a clinical trial, but may withdraw due to treatment protocol, adverse effects from the therapy, lack of effectiveness from the treatment or personal issues or who may not return for a sufficient number of post-operative visits. Clinical trials may also be delayed, suspended or terminated as a result of ambiguous or negative interim results, or results that are inconsistent with earlier results. In addition, a clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, the FDA, other regulatory authorities, or other numerous unforeseen factors or events during or because of the clinical trial process, including:
failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols;
enrollment in our clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, or we may experience high screen failure rates in our clinical trials, resulting in significant delays;
our clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical and/or preclinical testing which may be expensive and time-consuming;
trial results may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities;
the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities may find the product is not sufficiently safe for investigational use in humans;
the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities may interpret data from preclinical testing and clinical trials in different ways than we do;
there may be delays or failure in obtaining approval of our clinical trial protocols from the FDA or other regulatory authorities;
there may be delays in obtaining IRB approvals or governmental approvals to conduct clinical trials at prospective sites;
the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities may find our or our suppliers’ manufacturing processes or facilities unsatisfactory;
the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities may change their review policies or adopt new regulations that may negatively affect or delay our ability to bring a product to market or receive approvals or clearances to treat new indications;
we may have trouble in managing multiple clinical sites;
we may experience delays in agreeing on acceptable terms with third-party research organizations and trial sites that may help us conduct the clinical trials; and
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we, or regulators, may suspend or terminate our clinical trials because the participating patients are being exposed to unacceptable health or safety risks, such as the death of a patient in our iCLAS IDE trial for a former product candidate that we are no longer pursuing, in October 2021, which caused our to voluntarily pause the study for six months (between November 2021 and April 2022) in order to investigate and take corrective actions and obtain FDA approval to resume the study.
Delays in clinical development or delays in our ability to achieve regulatory clearance or approval, if at all, may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial. Moreover, failures or perceived failures in our clinical trials will delay and may prevent our product development and regulatory clearance or approval process, damage our business prospects and negatively affect our reputation and competitive position.
We have limited data and experience regarding the safety and efficacy of our products. Results of earlier trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results, and planned trials may not establish an adequate safety or efficacy profile for such products and other planned or future products, which would affect market acceptance of these products.
We have performed clinical trials with only limited patient populations. The long-term effects of using our products in a large number of patients has not been studied and the results of short-term clinical use of such products do not necessarily predict long-term clinical benefits or reveal long-term adverse effects. The results of clinical trials of our products conducted to date and ongoing or future trials and trials of our current, planned or future products may not be predictive of the results of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Our interpretation of data and results from our clinical trials do not ensure that we will achieve similar results in future clinical trials in other patient populations. In addition, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to various interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their products performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and earlier clinical trials have nonetheless failed to replicate such results in later clinical trials and subsequently failed to obtain marketing approval. Products in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy despite having progressed through nonclinical studies and earlier clinical trials.
We may not be successful in the commercialization of our products, if approved, if we fail to establish relationships and successfully collaborate with leading life science companies and research institutions or if we are unable to establish effective distribution channels and sales and marketing functions.
We have limited sales and marketing experience. If we are unable to establish effective sales and marketing capabilities, we may not be able to effectively commercialize any of our products, generate product revenue, sustain revenue growth and compete effectively. Should one or more of our products be approved, we plan to expand and leverage our sales and marketing infrastructure to increase our customer base and grow our business. Identifying and recruiting qualified sales and marketing personnel and training them on our products, applicable federal and state laws and regulations and on our internal policies and procedures requires significant time, expense and attention. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed if our efforts to expand and train our sales force do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue, and our higher fixed costs may slow our ability to reduce costs in the face of a sudden decline in demand for our products. Moreover, the members of our direct sales force are at-will employees and the loss of these personnel to competitors or otherwise could materially harm our business. In addition, our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our marketing efforts. If we fail to successfully promote, maintain and protect our brand, or if we incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to promote and maintain our brand, we may fail to attract or retain the physician acceptance necessary to realize a sufficient return on our brand building efforts, or to achieve the level of brand awareness that is critical for broad adoption of our products, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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If we are unable to establish our own sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and are forced to enter into arrangements with, and rely on, third parties to perform these services, our revenue and our profitability, if any, are likely to be lower than if we had developed such capabilities ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell, market and distribute our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We likely will have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively. If we do not establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates.
These factors make it difficult for us to forecast our financial performance and growth, and such forecasts are subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to successfully develop additional products that add functionality, reduce the cost of products sold, broaden our commercial portfolio offerings and obtain FDA 510(k) clearance or PMA approval for, and successfully commercialize, market and sell, our planned or future products in the United States or in international markets. If our assumptions regarding the risks and uncertainties we face, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change due to circumstances in our business or our markets, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
Our products may not be successful if there is inadequate physician training, practice and patient selection.
The success of our products will depend in part on the skill of the physician performing the catheter-based procedures and on their adherence to our stated patient selection criteria and proper techniques that we provide in training sessions. For example, we train physicians to ensure correct use of our products; however, physicians rely on their previous medical training and experience when performing catheter-based procedures, and we cannot guarantee that all such physicians will have the necessary skills or experience to safely and effectively perform these procedures. We do not control which physicians perform these procedures or how much training they receive, and physicians who have not completed our training sessions may nonetheless attempt to perform catheter-based procedures with our products. In addition, a perception by physicians that our products are difficult to use may negatively impact adoption. If physicians perform these procedures in a manner that is inconsistent with our labeled indications, with components that are not our products, with patients who are not indicated for treatment with our products or without adhering to or completing our training sessions, the patient outcomes may be negative or inconsistent with the outcomes achieved in clinical trials. This could negatively impact the perception of patient benefits and safety associated with our products and limit adoption of our products and catheter-based thrombectomy procedures generally, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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The life sciences industry is highly competitive. Even if our products are commercialized and achieve broad scientific and market acceptance, if we fail to improve them or introduce compelling new products, our revenue and our prospects could be harmed.
The life sciences industry is characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product introductions and enhancements and evolving industry standards. We compete primarily on the basis that our products are designed to enable more physicians to treat more patients more efficiently and effectively. Our continued success depends on our ability to:
continue to develop innovative, proprietary products that address significant clinical needs in a manner that is safe and effective for patients and easy-to-use for physicians;
obtain and maintain regulatory clearances or approvals;
demonstrate safety and effectiveness in our sponsored and third-party clinical trials;
expand our sales force across key markets to increase physician awareness;
obtain and maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for procedures using our products;
attract and retain skilled research, development, sales and clinical personnel;
cost-effectively manufacture, market and sell our products; and
obtain, maintain, enforce and defend our intellectual property rights and operate our business without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of others.
Even if we are able to achieve broad scientific and market acceptance of our ablation technologies, any one of our competitors could reduce or eliminate our commercial opportunities if they develop or market products that:
are more effective;
have fewer or less severe adverse side effects;
are easier to use; or
are less expensive than our products.
In addition, our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers will depend in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our technologies and to introduce compelling new products. The success of any enhancement to our ablation technologies or introduction of new products depends on several factors, including:
timely completion and delivery;
competitive pricing;
adequate quality testing;
integration with existing technologies;
freedom from intellectual property encumbrance;
appropriately timed and staged introduction; and
overall market acceptance.
Any new product or enhancement to the ablation technologies that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain defects, errors, vulnerabilities or bugs, or may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. The typical development cycle of new life sciences products can be lengthy and complicated, and may require new scientific discoveries or advancements, considerable resources and complex technology and engineering. Such developments may involve external suppliers and service providers, making the management of development projects complex and subject to risks and uncertainties regarding timing, timely delivery of required components or services and satisfactory technical performance of such components or assembled products. If we do not achieve the required technical specifications or successfully manage new product development processes, or if development work is not performed according to schedule, then such new technologies or products may be adversely impacted.
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We cannot provide assurance that we will be successful in developing new products or commercializing them in ways that achieve market acceptance. If we develop new products, sales of those products may reduce revenue generated from our existing products or may not compete effectively with competitor products. Moreover, any significant delays in our product launches may significantly impede our ability to enter or compete in a given market and may reduce the sales that we are able to generate from these products. We may experience delays in any phase of product development, including during research and development, clinical trials, regulatory review, manufacturing and marketing. Delays in product introductions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to successfully develop new products, enhance our ablation technologies to meet customer requirements, compete with alternative products, or otherwise gain and maintain market acceptance, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
If we are unable to establish manufacturing capacity by ourselves or with third-party partners in a timely and cost-effective manner, commercialization of our products would be delayed, which would result in lost revenue and harm our business.
We may encounter production delays or shortfalls because of our limited experience in manufacturing our products in commercial quantities. Such production delays or shortfalls may be caused by many factors, including the following:
our intent to expand our manufacturing capacity, as a result of which our production processes may have to change;
key components of our products are provided by a single supplier or limited number of suppliers, and we do not maintain large inventory levels of these components;
if we experience a shortage or quality issues in any of these components, we would need to identify and qualify new supply sources, which could increase our expenses and result in manufacturing delays;
a delay in completing validation and verification testing for new controlled environment rooms at our manufacturing facility;
state and federal regulations, including the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (“ QSR ”), for the manufacture of our products, noncompliance with which could cause an interruption in our manufacturing; and
attraction and retention of qualified employees for our operations in order to significantly increase our manufacturing output.
If we are unable to keep up with demand for our products, our growth could be impaired, and market acceptance for our products could be harmed and physicians may instead elect to use our competitors’ products. Our inability to successfully manufacture our products in sufficient quantities could materially harm our business.
In addition, our manufacturing facility and processes and those of our third-party suppliers are subject to announced or unannounced FDA and state regulatory inspections or audits for compliance with the QSR, state equivalent requirements, and international manufacturing standards. Developing and maintaining a compliant quality system is time consuming and expensive. Failure to maintain compliance with, or not fully complying with the requirements of the FDA, state, or foreign regulators, could result in enforcement actions against us or our third-party suppliers, which could include the issuance of warning letters, seizures, prohibitions on product sales, recalls and civil and criminal penalties, any one of which could significantly impact our manufacturing supply and impair our financial results.
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We are dependent on limited third-party suppliers and manufacturers for some of the components and materials used in our products, and so long as we remain dependent on them, the loss of any of these suppliers and manufacturers, or any difficulties encountered by these suppliers and manufacturers in the production of our products, could harm our business.
We rely on third-party suppliers to provide us with certain components of our products, some of which are single-source suppliers. In some cases, we do not have long-term supply agreements with, or guaranteed commitments from, our suppliers, including single-source suppliers. We depend on our suppliers to provide us with components and materials in a timely manner that meet our and their quality, quantity and cost requirements. These suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our demand. Our suppliers may also fail to comply with applicable federal, state or foreign laws or regulations, cease producing the components and materials required for our products or otherwise decide to cease doing business with us. If the suppliers, including the single-source suppliers, that we use are unable or unwilling to manufacture the components or materials in our required volumes, or at specified times, we may have to identify and qualify acceptable additional or alternative suppliers. This qualification process could take up to a few months and we may not find sufficient capacity in a timely manner or at an acceptable cost to satisfy our production requirements. Any supply interruption from our suppliers or failure to obtain alternative suppliers for any of the components used in our products would limit our ability to manufacture our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
FDA review and approval of a new supplier may be required if these components or materials become unavailable from our current suppliers. Although there may be other suppliers that have equivalent components or materials that would be available to us, FDA approval of any alternate suppliers, if required, could take several months or more to obtain, if it is able to be obtained at all. Any delay, interruption or cessation of production by our third-party suppliers of important components or materials, or any delay in qualifying new components or materials, if necessary, would prevent or delay our ability to manufacture our products.
Our products could have unknown defects or errors, which may give rise to claims against us and adversely affect market adoption of our products.
Our business is subject to significant risks associated with the design, manufacturing, distribution and use of medical devices that are placed inside the human body, including the risk that patients may be severely injured by or even die from the misuse or malfunction of our products caused by design flaws or manufacturing defects. In addition, component failures, design defects, off-label uses, or inadequate disclosure of product-related information discovered after commercial shipment or during commercial use could result in an unsafe condition or the injury or death of a patient. These problems could lead to a voluntary recall or market withdrawal of, or issuance of a safety alert relating to, our products and could result in significant costs, negative publicity and adverse competitive pressure. Furthermore, the reporting of product defects or voluntary recalls to the FDA or analogous regulatory bodies outside the United States could result in manufacturing audits, inspections and broader recalls or other disruptions to our manufacturing processes. The circumstances giving rise to recalls are unpredictable, and any recalls of existing or future products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We provide a limited warranty that our products are free of material defects and conform to specifications, and offers to repair, replace or refund the purchase price of defective products. As a result, we bear the risk of potential warranty claims on our products. In the event that we attempt to recover some or all of the expenses associated with a warranty claim against us from our suppliers or vendors, we may not be successful in claiming recovery and any recovery from such vendor or supplier may not be adequate.
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The medical device industry has historically been subject to extensive litigation over product liability claims. We may be subject to product liability claims if our products cause, or merely appear to have caused, an injury or death, even if due to physician error. In addition, an injury or death that is caused by the activities of our suppliers, such as those that provide us with components and raw materials, or by an aspect of a treatment used in combination with our products, such as a complementary drug or anesthesia, may be the basis for a claim against us by patients, hospitals, physicians or others purchasing or using our products, even if our products were not the actual cause of such injury or death. We may choose to settle any such claims even if we believe that such injuries were not due to failure of our products. An adverse outcome of any such claim involving one of our products could result in reduced market acceptance and demand for any or all of our products and could harm our reputation or brand and our ability to market our products in the future. In some circumstances, adverse events arising from or associated with the design, manufacture or marketing of our products could result in the suspension or delay of regulatory reviews of our premarket notifications or applications for marketing. Any of the foregoing problems could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Although we carry product liability insurance, including for clinical trials and product marketing, we can give no assurance that such coverage will be available or adequate to satisfy any claims. Product liability insurance is expensive, subject to significant deductibles and exclusions, and may not continue to be available on acceptable terms, if at all. Any product liability claims brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our product liability insurance rates or prevent us from securing continuing coverage, harm our reputation, significantly increase our expenses, and reduce product sales. If we are unable to obtain or maintain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms with adequate coverage or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we could be exposed to significant liabilities. Product liability claims could cause us to incur significant legal fees and deductibles and claims in excess of our insurance coverage would be paid out of cash reserves, harming our financial condition and operating results. Defending a suit, regardless of our merit or eventual outcome, could be costly, could divert management’s attention from our business and might result in adverse publicity, which could result in reduced acceptance of our products in the market, product recalls or market withdrawals.
We are required to file adverse event reports under Medical Device Reporting (“ MDR ”) regulations with the FDA, which reports are publicly available on the FDA’s website. We are required to file MDRs if our products may have caused or contributed to a serious injury or death or malfunctioned in a way that would be likely to cause or contribute to a serious injury or death if it were to recur. Any such MDR that reports a significant adverse event could result in negative publicity, which could harm our reputation and future sales. If we fail to report these events to the FDA within the required timeframes, or at all, the FDA could take enforcement action against us. Any such adverse event involving our products could also result in future voluntary corrective actions, such as recalls or customer notifications, or agency action, such as inspection or enforcement action. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending against potential lawsuits, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business, and may harm our reputation and financial results. Analogous reporting obligations exist in the European Union and other jurisdictions outside the United States. See “- Risks Related to Regulatory and Legal Compliance Matters ” for further detail.
A breakthrough device designation by the FDA for vCLAS TM may not lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval process, and it may not increase the likelihood that vCLAS TM will receive premarket approval (“PMA”) approval from the FDA.
In April 2025, we announced that the FDA granted breakthrough device designation for the vCLAS TM Cryoablation System for the treatment of drug-refractory, recurrent, sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia in patients with ischemic or non-ischemic structural heart disease. Breakthrough Device designation provides potential benefits to device developers, including more interactive and timely communications with FDA staff, use of post-market data collection when scientifically appropriate, and opportunities for flexible clinical study design. The receipt of breakthrough device designation for vCLAS TM may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures and does not ensure ultimate PMA approval by the FDA. In addition, even if a product qualifies as a breakthrough device, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification.
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Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our products and technology, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to our products, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be impaired.
We rely on patent protection as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary products and technologies, all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. If we fail to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against us. In addition, we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to maintain, recover, enforce or otherwise restrict the use of our intellectual property.
To the extent our intellectual property offers inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we would be exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our intellectual property does not provide adequate coverage of our products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent and other intellectual property disputes can be time-consuming and expensive.
Our success depends in large part on our and our licensors’ ability to obtain and maintain protection of the intellectual property we may own solely and jointly with, or license from, third parties, particularly patents, in the United States and other countries with respect to our products and technologies. We apply for patents covering our products and technologies and uses thereof, as we deem appropriate. However, obtaining, maintaining, and enforcing patents is costly, time-consuming and complex, and we may fail to apply for patents on important products and technologies in a timely fashion or at all, or we may fail to apply for patents in potentially relevant jurisdictions. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications, or maintain, enforce and protect any patents that may issue from such patent applications, at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions. It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of our patents or patent applications may exist, or may arise in the future, for example with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, assignment, recordation, document formalities, fees, claim scope or requests for patent term adjustments. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. If we delay filing a patent application, and a competitor files a patent application on the same or similar invention before we do, or the subject matter otherwise is made public by us or a competitor, our ability to secure patent rights may be limited or we may not be able to patent the invention at all. Even if we can patent the invention, we may be able to patent only a limited scope of the invention, and the limited scope may be inadequate to protect our products and technologies, or to block a competitor’s products and technologies that are similar or adjacent. Our earliest patent filings have been published. A competitor may review our published patents and arrive at the same or similar technology advances for our products as it develops. If the competitor files a patent application on such an advance before we do, then we may no longer be able to protect that aspect of our products and technologies and we may require a license from the competitor, which may not be available on commercially viable terms. Moreover, we may not develop additional proprietary products, methods and technologies that are patentable. It may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the rights to patents licensed from or to third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced by such third parties in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.
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The U.S. law relating to the patentability of certain inventions in the life sciences technology industry is uncertain and rapidly changing, which may adversely impact our existing patents or our ability to obtain patents in the future.
Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States or in other jurisdictions could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. In the last decade, the U.S. Congress made sweeping changes to patent law in passing the America Invents Act (the “ AIA ”). These changes include, among others, allowing third-party submission of prior art to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “ USPTO ”) during patent prosecution and additional procedures to challenge the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. The changes brought about by the AIA have not been extensively tested, and therefore increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have recently rendered decisions that impact the scope of patentability of certain inventions or discoveries relating to our technology and commercial goals. Specifically, these decisions have substantially increased the probability that patent claims will be ruled patent ineligible for reciting a natural phenomenon, law of nature or abstract idea. Furthermore, in view of these decisions, since December 2014, the USPTO has published and continues to publish revised guidelines for patent examiners to apply when examining claims for patent eligibility. Patent claims relating to software algorithms, biologically-derived reagents, methods for analyzing biological systems and other subject matters that underlies our technology and commercial goals are impacted by these changes.
Actions taken by the U.S. Congress, federal courts and USPTO have from time to time narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. Similar changes have been made by authorities in other jurisdictions. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, such changes create uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by authorities in various jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that may have a material adverse effect on our ability to obtain new patents and to defend and enforce our existing patents and patents that we might obtain in the future. We cannot assure you that our patent portfolio will not be negatively impacted by the current uncertain state of the law, new court rulings or changes in guidance or procedures issued by governments or patent offices around the world. From time to time, the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, the U.S. Congress or the USPTO may change the standards of patentability, scope and validity of patents within the life sciences technology and any such changes, or any similar adverse changes in the patent laws of other jurisdictions, could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations.
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We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world, which could harm our business prospects.
Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, and defending patents on our products in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States.
The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we and any future licensor may encounter difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Consequently, we and any future licensor may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in some or all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our or any future licensor’s inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors and other third parties may be able to use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and technologies and may also export infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products. Our and any future licensor’s patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent competitors from marketing competing products. In addition, certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. Furthermore, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of any patents.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of many other countries do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the misappropriation or other violations of our intellectual property rights including infringement of our patents in such countries. The legal systems in certain countries may also favor state-sponsored companies or companies headquartered in particular jurisdictions over our patents and other intellectual property protection. The absence of harmonized intellectual property protection laws and effective enforcement makes it difficult to ensure consistent respect for patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property rights on a worldwide basis. As a result, it is possible that we will not be able to enforce our rights against third parties that misappropriate our proprietary technology in those countries.
Proceedings to enforce our or any future licensor’s patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put us and any future licensor’s patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and us and any future licensor’s patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We and any future licensor may not prevail in any lawsuits that we and any future licensor initiates, or that are initiated against us or any future licensor, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our products, services and other technologies and the enforcement of intellectual property. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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We may become involved in lawsuits to defend against third-party claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property or to protect or enforce our intellectual property, any of which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful, and may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts.
Litigation may be necessary for us to enforce our patent and proprietary rights and/or to determine the scope, coverage and validity of others’ proprietary rights. Litigation on these matters has been prevalent in our industry, and we expect that this will continue. To determine the priority of inventions, we may have to initiate and participate in interference proceedings declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that could result in substantial legal fees and could substantially affect the scope of our patent protection. Also, our intellectual property may be subject to significant administrative and litigation proceedings such as invalidity, unenforceability, re-examination and opposition proceedings against our patents. The outcome of any litigation or other proceeding is inherently uncertain and might not be favorable to us, and we might not be able to obtain licenses to technology that we require, or a competitor may have already obtained an exclusive license to such technology in some or all fields. In addition, for example, if a relevant patent is owned by a competitor, that competitor may choose not to license patent rights to us. If we decide to develop alternative technology, we may not be able to do so in a timely or cost-effective manner, if at all. Even if such licenses are obtainable, they may not be available at a reasonable cost. We could therefore incur substantial costs related to royalty payments for licenses obtained from third parties, which could negatively affect our gross margins. In some cases, the outcome of litigation may be to enjoin us from commercializing a patent protected technology. We could encounter delays in product introductions, or interruptions in product sales, as we develop alternative methods or products.
In addition, if we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity, scope and coverage of the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others, the proceedings could be burdensome and expensive, even if we were to prevail.
Our commercial success may depend in part on our non-infringement of the patents or proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous significant intellectual property issues have been litigated, and will likely continue to be litigated, between existing and new participants in the life sciences market and competitors may assert that our products infringe their intellectual property rights as part of a business strategy to impede our successful entry into those markets. Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization.
An adverse determination in litigation proceedings to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liabilities or require us to seek licenses. In addition, if we are found to willfully infringe third-party patents, we could be required to pay treble damages in addition to other penalties. Adverse determinations in a judicial or administrative proceeding or failure to obtain necessary licenses could cause us to incur significant costs, place significant strain on our resources, divert management’s attention from our business and harm our reputation and prevent us from commercializing products we may develop, which would have a significant adverse impact on our business. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources.
Litigation may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management. We may not be able to prevent misappropriation of our proprietary rights, particularly in countries outside the United States where patent rights may be more difficult to enforce. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential or sensitive information could be compromised by disclosure in the event of litigation. In addition, during the course of litigation there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
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In addition, we may indemnify our customers and international distributors with respect to infringement by our products of the proprietary rights of third parties. Third parties may assert infringement claims against our customers or distributors. These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our customers or distributors, regardless of the merits of these claims. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of our customers or distributors or may be required to obtain licenses for the products they use. If we cannot obtain all necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our customers may be forced to stop using our products.
In addition, our competitors and others may have patents or may in the future obtain patents and may claim that use of our products infringes these patents. For example, because patent applications can take years to issue and are often afforded confidentiality for some period of time there may currently be pending applications, unknown to us, that later result in issued patents that could cover one or more of our products . As we move into new markets and applications for our products, incumbent participants in such markets may assert their patents and other proprietary rights against us as a means of slowing or preventing our entry into such markets, or as a means to extract substantial license and royalty payments from us.
Issued patents covering our products could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged, and could materially impact our business.
Our owned patents and any future licensed patents and patent applications may be subject to validity, enforceability, inventorship, and priority disputes. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability. Some of our patents or patent applications may be challenged at a future point in time in litigation, opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference or other similar proceedings. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents in this or any other proceeding could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents, which may lead to increased competition to our business, and which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, if we or any future licensor initiates legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering our products, the defendant could counterclaim that such patent covering our products, as applicable, is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. There are numerous grounds upon which a third party can assert invalidity or unenforceability of a patent. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements for validity/patentability, including, but not limited to, patentable subject matter, lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement or sufficiency of the written description of the invention. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld materially relevant information from the relevant patent office, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include ex parte re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review, derivation and equivalent proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions, such as opposition proceedings. Such proceedings could result in revocation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover and protect our products or exclude competing products. With respect to the validity of our patents, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which us, any future licensor, our patent counsel and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. If a defendant or other third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection for our products and technologies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license intellectual property or develop or commercialize current or future products.
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We may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our products. 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 approximately 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not until such patent applications issue as patents. We might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by each of our pending patent applications and we might not have been the first to file patent applications for these inventions. To determine the priority of these inventions, we may have to participate in interference proceedings, derivation proceedings or other post-grant proceedings declared by the USPTO, or other similar proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions, that could result in substantial cost to us and the loss of valuable patent protection. The outcome of such proceedings is uncertain. No assurance can be given that other patent applications will not have priority over our patent applications. In addition, changes to the patent laws of the United States in the last decade allow for various post-grant opposition proceedings that have not been extensively tested, and their outcome is therefore uncertain. Furthermore, if third parties bring these proceedings against our patents, regardless of the merit of such proceedings and regardless of whether we are successful, we could experience significant costs and our management may be distracted. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, the value of our technology could be materially adversely affected, and our business could be harmed.
We rely heavily on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, including parts of the ULTA and PFCA products, and to maintain our competitive position. However, trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect. In particular, we anticipate that with respect to our technologies, these trade secrets and know how will over time be disseminated within the industry through independent development, the publication of journal articles describing the methodology, and the movement of personnel between academic and industry scientific positions.
In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into agreements, including confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements, with our employees, consultants, academic institutions, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisers. However, we cannot be certain that such agreements have been entered into with all relevant parties, and we cannot be certain that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors or other third parties will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. For example, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure, which could adversely impact our ability to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in the market, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had wrongfully obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time-consuming, it could distract our personnel, and the outcome would be unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets.
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We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our confidential proprietary information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, but it is possible that these security measures could be breached. If any of our confidential proprietary information were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, absent patent protection, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position. Competitors or third parties could purchase our products and attempt to reverse-engineer or replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, design around our protected technology, develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside the scope of our intellectual property rights or independently develop our technologies without reference to our trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently discovered by a competitor or other third party, it could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We or any future licensor may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. For example, we or any future licensor may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our products. In addition, counterparties to our consulting, software development, and other agreements may assert that they have an ownership interest in intellectual property developed under such arrangements. Litigation may be necessary to defend against claims challenging ownership or inventorship of our or any future licensor’s ownership of our patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we or any future licensor fails in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our products. In such an event, we may be required to obtain licenses from third parties and such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive. If we are unable to obtain and maintain such licenses, we may need to cease the development, manufacture or commercialization of our products and technologies. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees, and certain customers or partners may defer engaging with us until the particular dispute is resolved. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may not be able to protect and enforce our trademarks and trade names or build name recognition in our markets of interest thereby harming our competitive position, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
The registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we own may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic, lapsed or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks owned by third parties. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition. In addition, third parties may have filed, and may in the future file, for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Further, we may in the future enter into agreements with owners of such third party trade names or trademarks to avoid potential trademark litigation which may limit our ability to use our trade names or trademarks in certain fields of business. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position of our products for an adequate amount of time and may adversely affect our business.
Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest effective U.S. non-provisional filing date. While extensions may be available, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. In the United States, a patent’s term may, in certain cases, be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the USPTO in examining and granting a patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over a commonly owned patent or a patent naming a common inventor and having an earlier expiration date. Even if patents covering our products are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products. If one of our products requires extended development, testing and/or regulatory review, patents protecting such products might expire before or shortly after such products are commercialized. As a result, our portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various required procedures, document submissions, fee payments and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on
our business.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States at several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payments and other similar provisions during the patent application process, and during the lifetime of the patent. In certain circumstances, we may rely on any future licensor, or third-party annuity payment service, to pay these fees due to the U.S. and non-U.S. patent agencies and to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to any future licensed intellectual property. In many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. However, there are situations in which 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 may be able to enter the market without infringing our patents and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants, independent contractors or any third parties that have access to our confidential information or trade secrets have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties or that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed trade secrets of their former employers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We have employed and expect to employ individuals who were previously employed at universities or other companies, including, for example, our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, advisors and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that our employees, advisors, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise misappropriated, used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers or other third parties, or to claims that we have improperly used or obtained such trade secrets. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights and face increased competition to our business. Any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with advisors, contractors and consultants. A loss of key research personnel work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize potential products, which could harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. This type of litigation or proceeding could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce our resources available for development activities. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of this type of litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Furthermore, individuals executing agreements with us may have pre-existing or competing obligations to a third party, such as an academic institution, and thus an agreement with we may be ineffective in perfecting ownership of inventions developed by that individual, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Furthermore, we or any future licensor may in the future be subject to claims by former or current employees, consultants or other third parties asserting an ownership right or inventorship in our owned, or any future licensed, patents or patent applications. An adverse determination in any such proceeding may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar technology, without payment to us, or could limit the duration of the patent protection covering our technology and products. Such challenges may also result in our inability to develop, manufacture or commercialize our products without infringing third-party patent rights. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we cannot license rights to use technologies on reasonable terms, we may not be able to commercialize new products in the futured and thus materially harm our business.
We may identify third-party technology that we may need to license or acquire in order to develop or commercialize our products or technologies, including the ULTA and PFCA products. However, we may be unable to secure such licenses or acquisitions. The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources, or greater development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us.
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We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. In return for the use of a third party’s technology, we may agree to pay the licensor royalties based on sales of our products or services. Royalties are a component of cost of products or technologies and would affect the margins on our products. We may also need to negotiate licenses to patents or patent applications before or after introducing a commercial product. We may not be able to obtain necessary licenses to patents or patent applications, and our business may suffer if we are unable to enter into the necessary licenses on acceptable terms or at all, if any necessary licenses are subsequently terminated, if the licensor fails to abide by the terms of the license or fails to prevent infringement by third parties, or if the licensed intellectual property rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable.
Our use of open-source software and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open-source software licenses could impose limitations on our ability to commercialize our products and provide third parties access to our proprietary software, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our products utilize open-source software that contains modules licensed for use from third-party authors under open-source licenses. In particular, some software may be provided under license arrangements that allow use of the software for research or other noncommercial purposes. Use and distribution of open-source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open-source software licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. Some open-source software licenses contain requirements that the licensee make its source code publicly available if the licensee creates modifications or derivative works using the open-source software, depending on the type of open-source software the licensee uses and how the licensee uses it. If we combine our proprietary software with open-source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open-source software licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public for free. This would allow our competitors and other third parties to create similar products with less development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of our product sales and revenue, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, some companies that use third-party open-source software have faced claims challenging their use of such open-source software and their compliance with the terms of the applicable open-source license. We may be subject to suits by third parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open-source software, or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open-source licensing terms. Use of open-source software may also present additional security risks because the public availability of such software may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to compromise or attempt to compromise our technology platform and systems.
Although we review and monitor our use of open-source software to avoid subjecting our proprietary software to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open-source software licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products and proprietary software. Moreover, we cannot assure investors that our processes for monitoring and controlling our use of open-source software in our products will be effective. If we are held to have breached the terms of an open-source software license, we could be subject to damages, required to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our products on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our products, to discontinue the sale of our products if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats, and such risk could have a material adverse effect on our business.
The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage.
For example:
others may be able to make products that are similar to products and technologies we may develop or may be able to utilize similar technologies that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we own or license now or in the future;
we, or any future licensor(s), might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patent or pending patent application that we own, license or may own in the future;
we, or any future licensor(s), might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our or their inventions;
others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our owned or future licensed intellectual property rights;
it is possible that our pending patent applications or those that we may license or own in the future will not lead to issued patents;
issued patents that we hold rights to may be held invalid or unenforceable, including as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;
our competitors might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;
we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable;
the patents of others may harm our business; and
we may choose not to file a patent for certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third party may independently derive, use, commercialize, publish or patent such intellectual property.
Should any of these events occur, they could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Risks Related to Regulatory and Legal Compliance Matters
We expect to incur substantial expenses in our pursuit of regulatory clearances and approvals for our products in the United States and can provide no assurances that we will obtain the necessary approvals from the FDA to market our products in the United States.
The United States is a key market for commercialization of our products. Before we can market our products in the United States, we must conduct and successfully complete extensive clinical trials and then receive 510(k) clearance or PMA from the FDA. The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable non-U.S. regulatory authorities may be unpredictable and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of such regulatory authorities. In addition, policies, regulations or the type and amount of preclinical and clinical data necessary to gain clearance or approval may change during the course of a product’s lifecycle. We are required to undertake and complete certain studies to generate data required to support submissions to the FDA and certain other regulatory authorities, which studies may require additional capital and time. The FDA can delay, limit or deny clearance or approval of a device for many reasons, including:
our inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or the applicable regulatory entity or notified body that our products are safe and effective for their intended uses;
the disagreement of the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory body with the design or implementation of our clinical trials or the interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;
serious and unexpected adverse device effects experienced by participants in our clinical trials;
the data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials may be insufficient to support clearance or approval, where required;
our inability to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of the product outweigh the risks;
the manufacturing process, facilities, or third-party manufacturers or suppliers we use may not meet applicable requirements;
inadequate compliance with preclinical, clinical or other regulations by us, our clinical investigators, or clinical trial service provides (e.g., contract research organizations); and
the potential for approval policies or regulations of the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory bodies to change significantly in a manner rendering our clinical data or regulatory filings insufficient for clearance or approval.
It is possible that none of our products or any products we may seek to develop in the future will ever be cleared or approved by the FDA. Any delays in, or failure to receive or maintain, clearance or approval for our products could prevent us from generating revenue from these products or achieve profitability. Furthermore, even if we were to obtain 510(k) clearance or PMA approval for our products, neither clearance nor approval by the FDA nor our existing CE Marks ensures approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions that we may target for commercialization of the vCLAS system, and approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or clearance or approval by the FDA. If we do not receive or maintain regulatory clearances or approvals for our products in the United States and other jurisdictions that we target for commercialization of our products, we will not be able to successfully commercialize our products, which could substantially impair our ability to generate revenues and materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in improper or off-label marketing or promotion of our products, including significant legal liability, fines, penalties, and injunctions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are not permitted to promote or market our products in the United States until FDA clearance or approval is obtained. After clearance or approval, our promotional materials and user training methods must comply with the requirements of the FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of unapproved, or “off-label,” uses. Practitioners may use our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a practitioner’s choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine, or criminal prosecution. Other federal, state, or foreign enforcement authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice, might also take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. In that event, our reputation could be damaged, which may lead to reduced or non-acceptance of our proposed product candidates by the market. In addition, the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims are expensive to defend and could divert the attention of our management, result in substantial damage awards against us, and harm our reputation.
Disruptions at the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies and regulatory authorities caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.
Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies and comparable regulatory authorities may also slow the time necessary for new devices to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies and regulatory authorities, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including most recently from January 31, 2026 to February 3, 2026, and from October 1, 2025 to November 12, 2205, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
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Adverse findings in post-marketing vigilance or regulatory audits could subject us to suspension or withdrawal of our certificates of conformity, mandatory product recalls and significant legal liability, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In May 2020, we received a CE Mark from our notified body (a private organization designated by the competent authorities of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), to conduct conformity assessments and verify the conformity of manufacturers and their medical devices with the Essential Requirements of the EU Medical Devices Directive and the EU Medical Devices Regulations) for our Cryoablation Console, iCLAS Cryoablation Catheter, Shaped Stylets, and Esophageal Warming Balloon Catheter allowing the CE Mark to be affixed to such products permitting such products to be placed on the market within any state in the EEA and, through mutual recognition agreements, Switzerland (subject to certain localized registration and language requirements). These are former product candidates that we are no longer pursuing. In March 2024, we received an EC certificate of conformity for the VT Cryoablation System (vCLAS™ Catheter and updated Cryoablation Console) under the EU Medical Devices Regulation (i.e., European Union Regulation 2017/745). Manufacturers of medical devices in the EEA are required to implement post-marketing vigilance procedures with respect to their CE Marked medical devices in accordance with the rules governing the Medical Device Vigilance System provided for in European Commission’s MDR Chapter VII. Such post-marketing vigilance procedures include surveillance of patient and user complaints and alleged incidents associated with the use of CE Marked medical devices. MDR Article 2(64) and (65) define incidents as any malfunction or deterioration in the characteristics and/or performance of a device made available on the market, including user error due to ergonomic features, as well as any inadequacy in information supplied by the manufacturer and any undesirable side-effects and serious incidents as any incident which, directly or indirectly, led, might lead to or might have led to (a) the death of a patient, or user or of other persons, (b) to the temporary or permanent serious deterioration in their state of health, or (c) serious public health threat. When a medical device is suspected to have a causal relationship with an incident that led or might have led to death of or the serious deterioration of the health of a patient, or user or of other person, its manufacturer or authorized representative in the EU must report it to the competent authority in whose territory the incident occurred. Serious incidents must be reported no later than 15 calendar days, and in some cases no later than 2 calendar days, after the manufacturer becomes aware of the incident. In addition to reporting the serious incidents, the manufacturer must investigate and take any corrective action required, including Field Safety Corrective Actions (“ FSCAs ”). For a reportable serious incident, the manufacturer’s investigation is monitored by the competent authority, which may intervene, or initiate an independent investigation if considered appropriate. The required corrective action depends on the seriousness of the incident and varies from the issuance of advisory notices to the implementation of FSCAs or product recalls. FSCAs must be reported by the manufacturer or its authorized representative to the competent authorities of the countries affected by the FSCA. Customers and/or the end users of the medical device must also be notified. Incidents not requiring reporting to the competent authorities must be documented, reviewed, investigated and analyzed on a regular basis by the manufacturer to determine whether trending conclusions can be made concerning the safety or performance of the medical device and whether actions must be taken in relation to the continued marketing of medical devices currently on the market.
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In May 2022, for example, we submitted a FSCA to the competent authorities relating to a serious adverse event that occurred in October 2021 during the U.S. pivotal IDE clinical study of the CE marked iCLAS™ Cryoablation System, a former product candidate that we are no longer pursuing. The U.S. IDE clinical study was put on a voluntary hold during the investigation of the incident, even though the iCLAS™ Cryoablation Catheter remained commercially available in the EU during such investigation. The procedure was performed with a guiding sheath that we had not authorized for use with our iCLAS™ Cryoablation Catheter in the study. After the catheter successfully completed 20 freeze cycles, it was removed from the patient for post-mapping and was subsequently re-inserted into the patient without completing the functional test freeze. After re-insertion, the freeze application was initiated followed by the receipt of a console alert of a system error. The patient’s heart rate declined rapidly and the presence of nitrogen in the left atrium was confirmed with intracardiac echocardiography. The patient subsequently died. After investigation, it was determined that the guiding sheath was damaged and therefore, severely compromised our iCLAS™ Cryoablation Catheter. During catheter removal, the force applied to retract our iCLAS™ Cryoablation Catheter caused its electrode band to cut into its freezing element and sever the two layers of high-pressure tubes containing the cryogen. This resulted in an external gas leak into the patient leading to air/gas embolism and death. The FSCA reported to the competent authorities described the corrective actions implemented by us including software and labeling update and retraining requirements, and the competent authorities accepted the corrective actions. The patient’s death was also reported to the FDA.
We expect to incur ongoing costs to comply with these post-market vigilance obligations in EEA markets for so long as we continue to market and sell products in those markets. Moreover, any patient or user complaints and/or adverse events discovered during such post-market vigilance could subject us to suspension or withdrawal of our EC certificates of conformity or CE Mark, mandatory product recalls and significant legal liability, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation. In addition, a notified body or competent authority in an EEA country may perform post-marketing audits on our products and premises from time to time. Failure to comply with such requests in a timely manner, and any adverse findings in any such audit, could subject us to suspension or withdrawal of our EC certificates of conformity or CE Mark, mandatory product recalls and significant legal liability, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in marketing of our products pursuant to improper regulatory classifications in the EU, including suspension or withdrawal of our certificates of conformity, mandatory product recalls and significant legal liability, fines, penalties, and injunctions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
To place a medical device on the market in the EU, a manufacturer must have a valid CE mark for the device, issued after the completion of a conformity assessment. For class I, II, or III medical devices, a third-party notified body must be involved in the conformity assessment procedure and issue an EC Certificate. For Class I devices, the manufacturer conducts its own conformity assessment and self-certifies the devices; the notified body is not involved. The components of our vCLAS Cryoablation system as placed on the market in the EU are individually classified and fall into different classifications. If an EU competent authority determines that one of our medical devices is marketed under improper classification and/or improper or invalid EC Certificate, the authority may initiate enforcement action, such as ordering us to recall and withdraw the respective medical device from the market and/or pursue criminal penalties under national member state law.
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We and the third parties with whom we work are currently subject to, and may in the future become subject to evolving, U.S. federal and state laws, regulations, contractual obligations, industry standards, and other obligations related to data privacy and security. Our (or the third parties with whom we work) actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business. Ensuring compliance with such laws could also impair our efforts to maintain and expand our future customer base and thereby decrease our revenue.
In the ordinary course of our business, we currently, and, in the future, will collect, receive, store, generate, make available, protect, secure, transfer, use or process personal data and other sensitive data, including personally identifiable information of employees, and intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by us and other parties. The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and transmission of this critical information are vital to our operations and business strategy. We are, and may increasingly become, subject to various laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations, relating to data privacy and security in the jurisdictions in which we operate. The regulatory environment related to data privacy and security is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. These laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is possible that they will be interpreted and applied in ways that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In the United States, various federal and state regulators, including governmental agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, have adopted, or are considering adopting, laws and regulations concerning personal information and data security. Certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to personal information than federal, international or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, all of which may complicate compliance efforts. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “ CCPA ”) increases privacy rights for California residents and imposes obligations on companies that process their personal information. Among other things, the CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers and provide such consumers new data protection and privacy rights, including the ability to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal information. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. It is possible that these consumer, health-related and data protection laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. If so, this could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, laws in all 50 U.S. states require businesses to provide notice to consumers whose personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. State laws are changing rapidly and there is discussion in the U.S. Congress of a new comprehensive federal data privacy law to which we would become subject if it is enacted.
Furthermore, regulations promulgated pursuant to HIPAA establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information (known as “protected health information”) and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. Determining whether protected health information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy standards and our contractual obligations can require complex factual and statistical analyses and may be subject to changing interpretation. Although we take measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other malicious or inadvertent disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, manipulated, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, breach or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, and liability under federal or state laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as the HIPAA, HITECH, and regulatory penalties. Notice of breaches must be made to affected individuals, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and for extensive breaches, notice may need to be made to the media or State Attorneys General. Such a notice could harm our reputation and our ability to compete.
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Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards govern data privacy and security. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”), the United Kingdom’s GDPR (“UK GDPR”, and together with the EU GDPR, “GDPR”), Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, or “LGPD”) (Law No. 13,709/2018), and China’s Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”) impose strict requirements for processing personal data. For example, under the GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions; fines of up to 20 million Euros under the EU GDPR, 17.5 million pounds sterling under the UK GDPR or, in each case, 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater; or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. In the ordinary course of business, we transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK) have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the United States and other countries whose privacy laws it generally believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt or have already adopted similarly stringent data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and UK to the United States in compliance with law, such as the EEA standard contractual clauses, the UK’s International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the Framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a rule entitled the Preventing Access to U.S. Sensitive Personal Data and Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern or Covered Persons, which places additional restriction on certain data transactions involving countries of concern (e.g., China, Russia, Iran) and covered persons (i.e., individuals and entities who are designated as such by the U.S. Attorney General or considered “foreign persons” and are majority owned by, organized under the laws of, a primary resident in, or a contractor of, a covered person or country of concern, as applicable) that may impact certain business activities such as vendor engagements, sale or sharing of data, employment of certain individuals, and investor agreements. Violations of the rule could lead to significant civil and criminal fines and penalties. The rule applies regardless of whether data is anonymized, key-coded, pseudonymized, de-identified or encrypted, which presents particular challenges for companies like ours and may impact our ability to transfer data in connection with certain transactions or agreements.
We publish privacy policies, marketing materials, whitepapers, and other statements, such as statements related to compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, concerning data privacy, and security. Regulators in the United States are increasingly scrutinizing these statements, and if these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, misleading, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences. All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs, such as costs related to organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees and engaging consultants, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, distract management or divert resources from other initiatives and projects, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Any failure or perceived failure by us or the third parties with whom we work, collaborators, contractors and consultants to comply with any applicable federal, state or similar foreign laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security, or could result in damage to our reputation, as well as proceedings or litigation by governmental agencies or other third parties, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, which would subject us to significant fines, sanctions, awards, penalties or judgments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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If we fail to comply with broad and complex healthcare and other laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The marketing of pharmaceutical products and related arrangements with healthcare providers, third-party payors, patients, and other third parties in the healthcare industry are subject to a wide range of federal and state healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain our business and/or financial arrangements. Some of these laws apply to us now, while other laws may apply to us only if and when we have marketed products or have marketed products that are covered by government health benefit programs or private health care insurance. These laws include:
the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving, or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service for which payment may be made under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid;
federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the FCA, which can be enforced through civil whistleblower, or qui tam actions, as well as civil monetary penalty laws can impose criminal and civil penalties, assessment, and exclusion from participation for various forms of fraud and abuse involving the federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid;
HIPAA, which imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program and also establishes requirements related to the privacy, security, and transmission of individually identifiable health information which apply to many healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payors with whom we interact;
the FDCA which, among other things, strictly regulates drug product and medical device marketing, prohibits manufacturers from marketing such products for off-label use, and regulates the distribution of samples;
federal laws that require pharmaceutical manufacturers to calculate, report, and certify certain complex product prices and other data to the government or provide certain discounts or rebates to government authorities or private entities, often as a condition of reimbursement under government healthcare programs, which data may be used in the calculation of reimbursement and/or discounts on approved products;
the so-called federal “sunshine law” or Open Payments which requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies covered under certain government health benefit programs to report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, information related to payments and other transfers of value to teaching hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare practitioners, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members;
federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers;
state laws and regulations analogous to federal laws, including anti-kickback or related laws, some of which apply regardless of whether products or services are covered by government health benefit programs or private insurance, false claims laws, laws prohibiting consumer protection and unfair competition laws, and laws governing privacy, security, and breaches of health (and other personal) information in certain circumstances, many of which differ in significant ways from federal laws and across states and are often not preempted by federal law, thus complicating compliance efforts; and
state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to obtain certain regulatory licenses to manufacture or distribute pharmaceutical products commercially and/or the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives and state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with specific compliance standards, restrict financial interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers, and/or report drug product pricing information, financial interactions with health care providers, or marketing expenditures.
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The distribution of pharmaceutical products is subject to additional requirements and regulations, including extensive record-keeping, licensing, storage, and security requirements intended to prevent the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical products.
To the extent that we implement a telehealth platform, activities undertaken and arrangements implemented in connection with such a platform may implicate other laws such as state physician, pharmacy and telehealth licensure laws, corporate practice of medicine, and fee-splitting laws.
Efforts to ensure that our activities comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Given the breadth of the laws and regulations, limited guidance for certain laws and regulations, and evolving government interpretations of the laws and regulations, governmental authorities may possibly conclude that our business practices may not comply with such laws. For example, we have engaged physicians to serve as investigators and/or consultants, including service on advisory boards, and our commercialization plan may include significant physician outreach and education. Federal and state enforcement agencies scrutinize interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and settlements in the healthcare industry. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal, and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, and other actions. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming, and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.
We are or will be subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery and anti-money laundering and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to administrative, civil and criminal fines and penalties, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are or will be subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery and anti-money laundering and similar laws, which prohibit corporations and individuals from directly or indirectly paying, offering to pay, or authorizing the payment of anything of value to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party, or political candidate in an attempt to obtain or retain business or to otherwise influence a person working in an official capacity.
This includes the FCPA, which prohibits corporations and individuals from paying, offering to pay, or authorizing the payment of anything of value directly or indirectly to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party, or political candidate in an attempt to obtain or retain business or to otherwise influence a person working in an official capacity. We are also subject to the UK Anti-Bribery Act, which prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both public and private sectors.
As we expand our commercial operations outside of the United States, we will need to comply with non-U.S. regulatory requirements, will need to expand business relationships with various third parties, and will interact more frequently with foreign officials, including regulatory authorities. Expanded programs to maintain compliance with such laws will be costly and may not be effective. Any interactions with any such parties or individuals where compensation is provided that are found to be in violation of such laws could result in substantial fines and penalties and could materially harm our business. Furthermore, any finding of a violation under one country’s laws may increase the likelihood that we will be prosecuted and be found to have violated another country’s laws. If our business practices outside the United States are found to be in violation of the FCPA, UK Anti-Bribery Act or other similar laws, we may be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
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Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, distributors and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk that our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, distributors, and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities. Misconduct by these parties could include failures to comply with applicable FDA regulations, provide accurate information to the FDA, comply with federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, accurately report financial information or data or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the health care industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Misconduct by these parties could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by these parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent such misconduct may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other health care providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded health care programs.
Recently enacted and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize our products and obtain marketing approval of our product candidates and may affect the prices we may obtain.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.
Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. Changes in healthcare policy could increase our costs and subject it to additional regulatory requirements that may interrupt commercialization of our current and future solutions. Changes in healthcare policy could increase our costs, decrease our revenue and impact sales of and reimbursement for our current and future products. For example, the ACA substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the life sciences industry. Any changes to, or repeal of, the ACA may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
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Current and future legislative proposals to further reform healthcare or reduce healthcare costs may limit coverage of or lower reimbursement for the procedures associated with the use of our products. For example, on July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “OBBBA”) was signed into law, which narrowed access to ACA marketplace exchange enrollment and declined to extend the ACA enhanced advanced premium tax credits that expired at the end of 2025, which, among other provisions in the law, are anticipated to reduce the number of Americans with health insurance. The OBBBA also is expected to reduce Medicaid spending and enrollment by implementing work requirements for some beneficiaries, capping state-directed payments, reducing federal funding, and limiting provider taxes used to fund the program. Congress is considering proposed legislation intended to further reduce healthcare costs with alternatives to replace the expired ACA subsidies. We expect that additional U.S. federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. federal government will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our products or additional pricing pressures. The cost containment measures that payors and providers are instituting and the effect of any healthcare reform initiative implemented in the future could impact our revenue from the sale of our products.
The current administration is pursuing policies to reduce regulations and expenditures across government agencies including at HHS, the FDA, CMS and related agencies. These actions, presently directed by executive orders or memoranda from the Office of Management and Budget, may propose policy changes that create additional uncertainty for our business. For example, the current administration recently called on Congress to enact “The Great Healthcare Plan,” to codify and expand Most-Favored Nation pricing, lower government subsidies to private insurance companies and increase healthcare price transparency, among other things. Other recent actions, for example, include directing agencies to reduce agency workforce and cut programs. Additionally, the current administration recently called on Congress to enact “The Great Healthcare Plan,” to codify and expand Most-Favored Nation pricing, lower government subsidies to private insurance companies and increase healthcare price transparency, among other things. These actions and policies may significantly reduce U.S. drug prices, potentially impacting manufacturers’ global pricing strategies and profitability, while increasing their operational costs and compliance risks. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision greatly reduced judicial deference to regulatory agencies, which could increase successful legal challenges to federal regulations affecting our operations. Congress may introduce and ultimately pass health care related legislation that could impact the medical device approval process.
We believe that there will continue to be proposals by legislators at both the federal and state levels, regulators and third-party payors to reduce costs while expanding individual healthcare benefits. Certain of these changes could impose additional limitations on the rates we will be able to charge for our current and future products or the amounts of reimbursement available for our current and future products from governmental agencies or third-party payors. Current and future healthcare reform legislation and policies could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
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Risks Related to Litigation and Regulation
We are subject to extensive laws and regulations of the United States and foreign regulatory agencies that could impose substantial costs, legal prohibitions and restrictions, or unfavorable changes upon our operations, and any failure to comply with these laws and regulations, including as they evolve, could delay or entirely prevent the commercialization of our products or result in litigation and substantially harm our business and results of operations.
We are and will be subject to environmental, manufacturing, and health and safety laws and regulations at numerous jurisdictional levels, including laws relating to the use, handling, storage, recycling, disposal and human exposure to hazardous materials and with respect to constructing, expanding and maintaining our facilities. Any violations of these laws may result in substantial fines and penalties, remediation costs, third party damages, or a suspension or cessation of our operations. The costs of compliance, including remediating contamination if any is found on our properties, or any related changes to our operations, may be significant. We may also face unexpected delays in obtaining permits and approvals required by such laws in connection with our manufacturing facilities, which would hinder our ability to commence or continue our commercial manufacturing operations. Such costs and delays may adversely impact our business prospects and results of operations.
In addition, the medical device industry is regulated extensively by governmental authorities, principally the FDA and corresponding state and foreign regulatory agencies and authorities, such as the EU legislative bodies and the EEA Member State Competent Authorities. The FDA and foreign regulatory agencies regulate, among other things, with respect to medical devices: design, development, manufacturing and release; laboratory, preclinical and clinical testing; labeling, packaging, content and language of instructions for use and storage; product safety and effectiveness; establishment registration and device listing; marketing, sales and distribution; regulatory authorization, including but not limited to pre-market clearance and approval; service operations; product traceability and record keeping procedures; advertising and promotion; recalls and field safety corrective actions; post-market surveillance, including reporting of deaths or serious injuries and malfunctions that, if they were to recur, could lead to death or serious injury; post-market studies; and product import and export. Any failures to comply with applicable laws, regulations and standards could result in significant expenses, delays, fines, or other sanctions. The laws and regulations to which we are subject are complex and change from time to time. Legal or regulatory changes, and FDA’s interpretation of regulations and guidance, could result in restrictions on our ability to carry on or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales. The FDA and foreign regulatory agencies enforce these regulatory requirements through, among other means, periodic announced and unannounced inspections. We do not know whether we will be found compliant in connection with any future FDA inspections. Failure to comply with applicable regulations could jeopardize our ability to sell our products and result in enforcement actions such as: warning letters; fines; injunctions; civil penalties; termination of distribution; recalls or seizures of products; delays in the introduction of products into the market; total or partial suspension of production; refusal to grant future clearances or approvals; withdrawals or suspensions of current approvals, resulting in prohibitions on sales of our products; and in the most serious cases, criminal penalties. Regulatory enforcement or inquiries, or other increased scrutiny of us, could dissuade physicians from using our products and adversely affect our reputation and the perceived safety and effectiveness of our products.
We also expect to become subject to laws and regulations applicable to the supply, manufacture, import, sale, and service of our products, including in those countries and markets we intend to enter in the future. Compliance with such regulations will require additional time, effort and expense to ensure regulatory compliance in those countries. There can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve foreign regulatory compliance in a timely manner and at our expected cost, or at all, and the costs of achieving international regulatory compliance or the failure to achieve international regulatory compliance could harm our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.
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We are subject to risks relating to disputes and other legal proceedings, product liability lawsuits, that may be time consuming and costly.
Our business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that are inherent in the design, development, testing, manufacture and marketing of medical devices. This risk exists even if a device or product is cleared or approved for commercial sale or testing by FDA or other foreign regulators and manufactured in facilities registered with and regulated by FDA or an applicable foreign regulatory authority. Any manufacturing or design defects, misuse (including, but not limited to, inadequate sterilization or product cooling) by trained medical professionals or others, or abuse associated with our products could result in patient injury or death. The medical device industry has historically been subject to extensive litigation over product liability claims, and we cannot offer any assurance that we will not face product liability suits.
In addition, an injury that is caused by the activities of our suppliers, such as those who provide us with components and raw materials, or hired medical professional field specialists, such as third-party hospitals and medical professionals carrying out field tests, may be the basis for a claim against us. Product liability or wrongful death claims may be brought against us by patients, health care providers or others coming into contact with, or providing services using, our products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against these or similar claims, or if we or our suppliers have inadequate product liability insurance, we may incur substantial liabilities and reputational harm. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:
impairment of our brand and/or business reputation;
costly litigation;
distraction of management’s attention from our primary business;
loss of revenue;
the inability to commercialize our products;
decreased demand for our products;
product recall or withdrawal from the market;
withdrawal of clinical trial participants; and
substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants.
While we may attempt to manage our product liability exposure and other related legal liabilities by proactively recalling or withdrawing from the market any defective products, any recall or market withdrawal of our products may delay the supply of those products to our customers and may impact our reputation. We can provide no assurance that we will be successful in initiating appropriate recall or market withdrawal efforts, or adequate medical training regarding the use of our devices, that may be required in the future or that these efforts will have the intended effect of preventing product malfunctions or wrongful use and the accompanying product liability that may result. Any such recalls and market withdrawals may also be used by our competitors to harm our reputation for safety or be perceived by patients as a safety risk when considering the use of our products, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We are subject to laws and regulations governing export and import controls, sanctions and embargoes. We could face liability and other serious consequences for violations which can harm our business.
We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. Such laws may require us to obtain export licenses or authorizations prior to exporting, re-exporting, or transferring our products and technology, or may even restrict or prohibit the export, reexport, or transfer of our products and services to, or otherwise transact or deal with, certain countries, territories, individuals, and entities. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents, suppliers, manufacturers, contractors or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable export and import control, and sanctions laws and regulations. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs, and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries as well as difficulties in manufacturing or continuing to develop our products, and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
Risks Related to Financing Transactions
There are risks associated with our Convertible Securities Notes that could adversely affect our business and financial condition.
We have an aggregate original principal amount of $20,000,000 of outstanding indebtedness under the Convertible Securities Notes, (as defined below) which have a maturity of April 30, 2028. The Convertible Securities Notes accrue interest at a rate of 13% per annum, which is due quarterly and, at our election, either payable-in-kind (in which case, such interest will accrue and remain unpaid until maturity) or payable in cash. Further, the Convertible Securities Notes are, at the option of the holders of the Convertible Securities Notes (subject to certain conditions), convertible into shares of common stock at a rate of $10.00 per share, each subject to adjustment in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Convertible Securities Notes.
The Convertible Securities Notes provide for certain customary events of default, including, among others, payment defaults, voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy, material misrepresentations, covenants breaches (subject to grace in certain instances), material judgements and material cross-defaults to other indebtedness. The Convertible Securities Notes also include certain customary affirmative and negative covenants, including, among others, limitations on incurring additional indebtedness, the creation of additional liens on our assets, and entering into investments, in each case subject to customary exceptions, as well as a minimum liquidity requirement and an asset sale mandatory prepayment requirement, subject to customary reinvestment rights. In addition, a Change of Control, as defined in the Convertible Securities Notes, includes, among others, certain mergers, asset sales, tender offers, business combinations and reorganizations, which would give the holders of the Convertible Securities Notes the right to redeem the outstanding Convertible Securities Notes in cash.
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Our ability to remain in compliance with the covenants under the Convertible Securities Notes depends on, among other things, our operating performance, competitive developments and financial market conditions, all of which are significantly affected by financial, business, economic and other factors, many of which we are not able to control.
The Convertible Securities Notes could have other important consequences, including the following:
the limitations imposed by the Convertible Securities Notes on our ability to incur additional debt and to take other actions might significantly impair our ability to obtain other financing. This could have serious consequences to our financial condition and results of operations and could cause us to become bankrupt or insolvent;
we may need to use a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to repay the principal and accrued and unpaid interest on the Convertible Securities Notes if an event of default occurs prior to maturity, which would reduce funds available to us to fund our business plan and other general corporate purposes;
we may be unable to refinance the Convertible Securities Notes (at all or on terms that are satisfactory) or to otherwise repay the Convertible Securities Notes at maturity, including any unpaid and accrued interest therein, and we may be unable to obtain additional financing for our business plan, working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or general corporate purposes. Any refinancing of the Convertible Securities Notes could be at significantly higher interest rates, incur significant transaction fees or include more restrictive covenants;
we may be unable to comply with the covenants in the Convertible Securities Notes due to business developments or financial market conditions, which could result in an event of default that, if not cured or waived, gives the holders of the Convertible Securities Notes the right to accelerate the Convertible Securities Notes or otherwise exercise any other remedies available to them under applicable law. Among those remedies, the holders would have the right to seize any of our assets pledged to the holders of the Convertible Securities Notes and/or to convert the Convertible Securities Notes into shares of common stock. An event of default could cause a significant decline in the value of the shares of common stock and may force us into bankruptcy or liquidation;
The conversion of the Convertible Securities Notes into shares of common stock could result in significant dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the market price of the common stock to decline; and
we may be more vulnerable to an economic downturn or recession and adverse developments in our business given our lack of revenues as a development stage company.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage any of the risks described above successfully. Further, capital and credit markets, which have been disrupted by macroeconomic pressures, have experienced increased volatility. As a result, access to additional financing may be challenging and is largely dependent upon evolving market conditions and other factors, which could materially impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
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We are subject to risks relating to increased interest rates and any adverse developments in the credit markets.
Adverse developments in the credit markets, including reduced liquidity or rising interest rates, could reduce the availability of funding for our projects. Volatility in the credit and equity markets could reduce our ability to raise additional capital through equity, equity-linked or debt financings, which could negatively impact our short-term and long-term liquidity and our ability to operate in accordance with our operating plan, or at all, or our ability to fund our growth. Additionally, our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our products and technologies, and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on favorable terms, if at all. In addition, increased interest rates could strain our customers’ budgets or cause delays in their payments to us. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our ability to raise capital, business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Tax
Our ability to use net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited as a result of the Business Combination or other ownership changes.
We have incurred NOLs during our history that have yet to be utilized. To the extent that we continue to generate NOLs, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, if at all (depending on the tax year in which such losses were incurred). Under Sections 382 and 383 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) and similar provisions of state and local law , U.S. federal, state, and local NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes (e.g., tax credits) may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in our ownership. An “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 of the Code generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of our stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state or local tax laws.
Our ability and/or the ability of the U.S. federal consolidated group of which we are a member to utilize NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities may be limited as a result of ownership changes, including potential changes arising as a result of the Business Combination or other transactions. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not yet determined the amount of the cumulative change in our ownership resulting from the Business Combination or other transactions, or any resulting limitations on our ability to utilize our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes. In addition, U.S. federal NOLs arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 may be carried forward indefinitely, but such NOL carryforwards are permitted to be utilized in any taxable year to offset no more than 80% of the taxable income in such year. If we (or the consolidated group of which we are a member) earn taxable income, such limitations could result in increased future income tax liability to us and our future cash flows could be adversely affected.
A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our stock.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides for, among other things, a U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases (including certain redemptions) of stock by publicly traded U.S. corporations and certain U.S. subsidiaries of publicly traded non-U.S. corporations (each, a “ covered corporation ”) that occur after December 31, 2022.
The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its stockholders from which shares are repurchased.
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Because we are a Delaware corporation and our securities trade on Nasdaq, we are a “covered corporation.” Accordingly, any redemptions by us may be subject to the excise tax. However, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax on a redemption of our stock would depend on a number of factors. As noted above, the excise tax would be payable by us, and not by the redeeming holder. Any redemptions by us may be subject to the excise tax. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax on a redemption of our stock would depend on a number of factors. As noted above, the excise tax would be payable by us, and not by the redeeming holder.
Unanticipated tax laws or any changes in tax rates or in the application of the existing tax laws to us may adversely impact our results of operations.
We operate and are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and a growing number of other jurisdictions throughout the world. Existing domestic and foreign tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified, or applied adversely to us (possibly with retroactive effect), which could require us to pay additional tax amounts, fines or penalties, surcharges, and interest charges for past amounts due, the amounts and timing of which are difficult to discern. Existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances could also be interpreted, changed, modified, or applied adversely to our customers (possibly with retroactive effect) and, if our customers are required to pay additional surcharges, it could adversely affect demand for our products. Furthermore, changes to federal, state, local, or international tax laws on income, sales, use, import/export, indirect, or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances on multinational corporations continue to be considered by the United States and other countries where we currently operate or plan to operate. These contemplated tax initiatives, if finalized and adopted by countries or subnational jurisdictions, and the other tax issues described above may materially and adversely impact our operating activities, effective tax rate, deferred tax assets, operating income, and cash flows.
In particular, the U.S. government may enact significant changes to the taxation of business entities including, among others, an increase in the corporate income tax rate, the imposition of minimum taxes or surtaxes on certain types of income, significant changes to the taxation of income derived from international operations, and an addition of further limitations on the deductibility of business interest. Additionally, our tax obligations could increase as a result of international tax developments, including, for example, the work led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) project that has resulted in considerable new reporting obligations worldwide (and is expected to continue to introduce further changes to the international tax system) and includes, among other proposals, the imposition of a global minimum tax of 15%. The OECD continues to publish guidance pursuant to the BEPS and other projects which, where adopted by member countries, may increase our tax obligations and affect our tax positions in many of the countries in which we do business. Furthermore, our effective tax rate may also vary significantly from period to period, including due to changes in the relative proportions of revenues and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates, changes in overall levels of pretax earnings, the future levels of tax benefits of stock-based compensation, and settlement of income tax audits.
Tax authorities may disagree with our positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realization of expected benefits.
A tax authority may disagree with tax positions that we have taken, which could result in increased tax liabilities. For example, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or another tax authority could challenge our allocation of income by tax jurisdiction and the amounts paid between our affiliated companies pursuant to our intercompany arrangements and transfer pricing policies, including amounts paid with respect to our intellectual property development. Similarly, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable nexus, often referred to as a “permanent establishment” under international tax treaties, and such an assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions. A tax authority may take the position that material income tax liabilities, interest and penalties are payable by us, in which case, we expect that we might contest such assessment. Contesting such an assessment may be lengthy and costly and if we were unsuccessful in disputing the assessment, the implications may materially and adversely impact our operating activities, effective tax rate, deferred tax assets, operating income, and cash flows.
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Risks Related to Ownership of Our Securities
The Perceptive PIPE Investor has control over key decision making as a result of its control of a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock.
The Perceptive PIPE Investor is able to exercise voting rights with respect to a majority of the voting power of our common stock. For so long as the Perceptive PIPE Investor continues to beneficially own a majority of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock, the Perceptive PIPE Investor will continue to control or significantly influence the outcome of matters submitted to stockholders of the Company for approval. This concentrated control will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future.
This concentrated control could delay, defer, or prevent a change of control, merger, consolidation, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets that our other stockholders support, or conversely this concentrated control could result in the consummation of such a transaction that our other stockholders do not support. This concentrated control could also discourage a potential investor from acquiring our common stock and might harm the trading price of our common stock. As a stockholder, even a controlling stockholder, the Perceptive PIPE Investor is entitled to vote its shares in its own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.
We may use our financial resources in ways with which you do not agree and in ways that may not yield a favorable return.
Our management has broad discretion over the use of our financial resources, including the net proceeds from all of our equity financings. Stockholders may not deem such uses desirable. Our use of our financial resources may vary substantially from our currently planned uses. We cannot assure you that we will apply such proceeds effectively or that we will invest such proceeds in a manner that will yield a favorable return or any return at all.
We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, it could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance to the performance of other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible for and intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, including, but not limited to, (a) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (b) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and (c) exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which the market value of shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of June 30 of that fiscal year, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which it has total annual gross revenue of $1.235 billion or more during such fiscal year (as indexed for inflation), (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in the prior three-year period or (iv) December 31, 2026, which is the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of ordinary shares in our initial public offering. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
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Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
As an emerging growth company, we may also take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to obtain an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our shares of common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active market for our shares of common stock and our share price may be more volatile.
Additionally, we qualify as 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 expect that we will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of any fiscal year for so long as either (a) the market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates does not equal or exceed $250 million as of the end of that year’s second quarter, or (b) our annual revenues did not equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $700 million as of the end of that year’s second quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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Our stock price may be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance.
The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors and may continue to fluctuate for these and other reasons, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
actual or anticipated fluctuations in our revenue and results of operations;
any financial projections we may provide to the public in the future, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections;
failure of securities analysts to initiate and maintain our coverage, changes in financial estimates or ratings by any securities analysts who follow us or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
announcements by us or our competitors of significant technical innovations, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, results of operations or capital commitments;
changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other life sciences companies generally, or those in the biotechnology industry in particular;
price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole;
trading volume of our common stock;
the inclusion, exclusion or removal of our common stock from any indices;
changes in our board of directors (the “Board”) or management;
transactions in common stock by directors, officers, affiliates and other major investors;
lawsuits threatened or filed against us;
changes in laws or regulations applicable to our business;
changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of debt or equity securities;
short sales, hedging and other derivative transactions involving our capital stock;
general economic conditions in the United States and other markets in which we operate;
pandemics or other public health crises;
other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events; and
the other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section.
The stock market has recently experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. The market prices of securities of companies have experienced fluctuations that often have been unrelated or disproportionate to their operating results. In the past, stockholders have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of their securities. Any similar litigation against us could result in substantial costs, divert management’s attention and resources and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We may be unable to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq in the future.
Our common stock is currently listed on Nasdaq. However, we cannot guarantee that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq. If we fail to meet the requirements of the applicable listing rules, such failure may result in a suspension of the trading of our shares or delisting in the future. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our securities to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities, prevent our securities from dropping below the minimum share price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with the listing requirements. This may further result in legal or regulatory proceedings, fines and other penalties, legal liability for us, the inability for our stockholders to trade their shares and negatively impact our share price, reputation, operations and financial position, as well as our ability to conduct future fundraising activities. If Nasdaq delists our securities and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect that our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including but not limited to:
a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
reduced liquidity for our securities;
a limited amount of news and analyst coverage for the Company; and
a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
An active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained.
Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “ADGM” and trades on that market. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our common stock will be sustained. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of the liquidity of any trading market, your ability to sell your shares of our common stock when desired or the prices that you may obtain for your shares.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time, subject to the restrictions and limitations described below. If our stockholders sell, or the market perceives that our stockholders intend to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly. All of our outstanding shares of common stock are available for sale in the public market, subject only to the restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act in the case of our affiliates.
In addition, we have filed registration statements on Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, registering the issuance of shares of common stock subject to options or other equity awards issued or reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans. Shares registered under these registration statements on Form S-8 are available for sale in the public market subject to vesting arrangements and exercise of options and the restrictions of Rule 144 in the case of our affiliates.
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We may issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities without your approval, which would dilute your ownership interests and may depress the market price of the common stock.
We have the ability to issue shares of common stock pursuant to our equity incentive plans and employee stock purchase plan. We may also issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future in connection with, among other circumstances, future acquisitions or repayment of outstanding indebtedness, without stockholder approval.
Our issuance of additional shares of common stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank could, without limitation, have the following effects:
our existing stockholders’ proportionate ownership interest in us may decrease;
the amount of cash available per share, including for payment of dividends (if any) in the future, may decrease;
the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding share of common stock may be diminished; and
the market price of our shares of common stock may decline.
If securities or industry analysts either do not publish research about us or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business or our market, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our common stock, the trading price or trading volume of our common stock could decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced in part by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts may publish about us, our business, market, or competitors. If one or more of the analysts publish research with an unfavorable rating or downgrade the common stock, provide a more favorable recommendation about our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the trading price of the common stock would likely decline. In addition, we currently expect that securities research analysts will establish and publish their own periodic projections for our business. These projections may vary widely and may not accurately predict the results we actually achieve. Our stock price may decline if the actual results do not match the projections of these securities research analysts. While we expect research analyst coverage, if no analysts commence coverage, the trading price and volume for the common stock could be adversely affected. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the trading price or trading volume of common stock to decline.
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Delaware law and provisions in our Charter and Bylaws could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our common stock.
Our Charter and Bylaws contain provisions that could depress the trading price of common stock by acting to discourage, delay, or prevent a change of control of us or changes in our management that our stockholders may deem advantageous.
These provisions include, without limitation, the following:
a classified Board so that not all members of the Board are elected at one time;
the right of the Board to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships;
director removal by stockholders solely for cause and with the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the voting power of our then-outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors;
“blank check” preferred stock that the Board could use to implement a stockholder rights plan;
the right of the Board to issue our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock without stockholder approval;
no ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;
no right of our stockholders to act by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;
limitations on the liability of and the provision of indemnification to, our director and officers;
the right of the Board to make, alter, or repeal the Bylaws; and
advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the Board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.
Any provision of our Charter or Bylaws that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of common stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for common stock.
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Our Charter provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our Charter provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Charter or Bylaws or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees and may discourage these types of lawsuits. This provision would not apply to claims brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Our Charter provides further that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. However, Section 22 of the Securities Act provides that federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over lawsuits brought under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. To the extent the exclusive forum provision restricts the courts in which claims arising under the Securities Act may be brought, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision. We note that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. If a court were to find the exclusive-forum provision contained in our Charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of its business and we do not expect to declare or pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Moreover, the terms of the Convertible Securities Notes restrict our ability to pay dividends and any additional debt we or any of our subsidiaries may incur in the future may include similar restrictions. As a result, stockholders must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.
We incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of being a public company.
As a public company listed in the United States, we incur significant additional legal, accounting and other costs. These additional costs could negatively affect our financial results. In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including regulations implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq, may increase legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. We 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, notwithstanding our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards, we fail to comply, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
Failure to comply with these rules might also make it more difficult for us to obtain some types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we might be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the Board, on committees of the Board of directors or as members of senior management.
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We are obligated to maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common stock.
We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. We are also required to disclose significant changes made in our internal control procedures on a quarterly basis. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC following the date we are no longer an emerging growth company.
During the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.
We may become subject to securities or class action litigation, which is expensive and could divert management’s attention.
Our share price may be volatile and, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities litigation, including class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Litigation of this type could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any adverse determination in litigation or any amounts paid to settle any such actual or threatened litigation could require that we make significant payments and/or could also subject us to significant liabilities.
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