CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Title of Each Class of Securities to be Registered(1) |
Proposed Offering Price |
Amount of Registration Fee(2) | ||
Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share |
$575,031,050.00 | $69,693.76 | ||
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(1) | The securities registered herein are offered pursuant to an automatic shelf registration statement. |
(2) | Calculated pursuant to Rule 457(o) based on the proposed maximum aggregate offering price, and Rule 457(r) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). In accordance with Rules 456(b) and 457(r) under the Securities Act, the registrant initially deferred payment of all of the registration fees for the Registration Statement (File No. 333-209709) filed by the registrant on February 25, 2016. |
Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-209709
Prospectus Supplement
(To Prospectus dated February 25, 2016)
3,817,000 Shares
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.
Common Stock
We are offering 3,817,000 shares of our common stock in this offering.
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SRPT. On November 6, 2018, the last reported sale price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market was $137.18 per share.
Per Share | Total | |||||||
Public offering price |
$ | 131.00 | $ | 500,027,000.00 | ||||
Underwriting discounts and commissions |
$ | 5.895 | $ | 22,501,215.00 | ||||
Proceeds to Sarepta, before expenses |
$ | 125.105 | $ | 477,525,785.00 |
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein. See Risk Factors beginning on page S-7 of this prospectus supplement, page 3 of the accompanying prospectus and under similar headings in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.
We have granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 572,550 shares from us at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions, within 30 days of the date of this prospectus supplement. If the underwriters exercise this option in full, the total underwriting discounts and commissions will be $25,876,397.25 and the total proceeds, before expenses, to us will be $549,154,652.75.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The underwriters are offering the shares of our common stock as set forth under Underwriting. Delivery of the shares of common stock will be made on or about November 13, 2018.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC | J.P. Morgan | Credit Suisse |
Cowen |
William Blair | Baird | Nomura | Cantor | H.C. Wainwright & Co. |
The date of this prospectus supplement is November 8, 2018.
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ACCOMPANYING PROSPECTUS
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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
This document is in two parts. The first part is the prospectus supplement, including the documents incorporated by reference, which describes the specific terms of this offering. The second part, the accompanying prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference, provides more general information. Generally, when we refer to this prospectus, we are referring to both parts of this document combined. Before you invest, you should carefully read this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, all information incorporated by reference herein and therein, as well as the additional information described under Where You Can Find Additional Information. These documents contain information you should consider when making your investment decision. This prospectus supplement may add, update or change information contained in the accompanying prospectus. To the extent that any statement that we make in this prospectus supplement is inconsistent with statements made in the accompanying prospectus or any documents incorporated by reference therein, the statements made in this prospectus supplement will be deemed to modify or supersede those made in the accompanying prospectus and such documents incorporated by reference therein.
You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and in any free writing prospectuses we may provide to you in connection with this offering. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized any other person to provide any information other than that contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us. Neither we nor the underwriters take any responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any information that others may give you. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The distribution of this prospectus supplement and the offering of the common stock in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus supplement must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the common stock and the distribution of this prospectus supplement outside the United States. This prospectus supplement does not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities offered by this prospectus supplement by any person in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful for such person to make such an offer or solicitation. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or the documents incorporated herein or therein by reference is accurate as of any date other than their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
In this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, unless the context specifies or implies otherwise, the terms the Company, Sarepta, we, us, and our refer to Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
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This summary highlights selected information about us, this offering and information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, in the accompanying prospectus and in the documents we incorporate by reference. This summary is not complete and does not contain all the information you should consider before investing in our common stock pursuant to this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Before making an investment decision, to fully understand this offering and its consequences to you, you should carefully read this entire prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including Risk Factors beginning on page S-7 of this prospectus supplement, the financial statements, and related notes, and the other information that we incorporated by reference herein.
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.
Overview
We are a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on helping patients through the discovery and development of unique RNA-targeted therapeutics, gene therapy and other genetic medicine approaches for the treatment of rare neuromuscular diseases. Applying our proprietary, highly-differentiated and innovative RNA-targeted platform technologies, we are able to develop candidate therapies for a broad range of diseases and disorders.
Our first commercial product in the U.S., EXONDYS 51, was granted accelerated approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 19, 2016. EXONDYS 51 is indicated for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification of a clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
A summary description of our product and main product candidates is as follows:
| EXONDYS 51, our first product, uses our PMO chemistry and exon-skipping technology to skip exon 51 of the dystrophin gene. EXONDYS 51 is designed to bind to exon 51 of dystrophin pre-messenger RNA (mRNA), resulting in exclusion, or skipping, of this exon during mRNA processing in patients with genetic mutations that are amenable to exon 51 skipping. Exon skipping is intended to promote the production of an internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein. |
We are in the process of conducting, starting or planning various EXONDYS 51 clinical trials, including studies that we need to conduct to comply with our post-marketing FDA requirements/ commitments to verify and describe clinical benefit of EXONDYS 51.
| Golodirsen, one of our main product candidates, uses our PMO chemistry and exon-skipping technology to skip exon 53 of the dystrophin gene. Golodirsen is designed to bind to exon 53 of dystrophin pre-mRNA, resulting in exclusion, or skipping, of this exon during mRNA processing in patients with genetic mutations that are amenable to exon 53 skipping. Exon skipping is intended to promote the production of an internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein. |
We are enrolling and dosing patients in ESSENCE (Study 4045-301), our Phase 3 placebo controlled confirmatory trial in patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 45 or 53 skipping using casimersen and golodirsen, respectively. Golodirsen is currently also in the clinic as part of a Phase 1/2 study. Part I has been completed, and Part II, an open-label portion of this study, is ongoing (Study 4053-101). In September 2017, we announced positive results of an analysis that included biopsies of the bicep muscle at baseline and on-treatment at the Part II, Week 48 time point. The study results demonstrated statistical significance on all primary and secondary biological endpoints. On March 12, 2018, we announced our plan to submit an NDA to the FDA by
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year-end 2018 for accelerated approval of golodirsen (SRP-4053) in patients with DMD who are amenable to skipping exon 53. Golodirsen will potentially address one of the most prevalent sets of mutations in DMD that are amenable to exon-skipping.
| Casimersen, one of our main product candidates, uses our PMO chemistry and exon-skipping technology to skip exon 45 of the dystrophin gene. Casimersen is designed to bind to exon 45 of dystrophin pre-mRNA, resulting in exclusion, or skipping, of this exon during mRNA processing in patients with genetic mutations that are amenable to exon 45 skipping. Exon skipping is intended to promote the production of an internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein. |
We are enrolling and dosing patients in ESSENCE, further described above. Pursuant to an ongoing Sarepta-sponsored Phase 1/2 clinical trial studying casimersen (Study 4045-101), we have completed a dose titration portion (Phase 1) and are currently conducting the open-label portion of the study (Phase 2). Casimersen will potentially address one of the most prevalent sets of mutations in DMD that are amenable to exon-skipping.
| SRP-5051, one of our main product candidates, uses our next-generation chemistry platform, peptide-conjugated PMO (PPMO), and our exon-skipping technology to skip exon 51 of the dystrophin gene. SRP-5051, a peptide conjugated PMO, is designed to bind to exon 51 of dystrophin pre-mRNA, resulting in exclusion, or skipping, of this exon during mRNA processing in patients with genetic mutations that are amenable to exon 51 skipping. Exon skipping is intended to promote the production of an internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein. |
In the fourth quarter of 2017, we received clearance from the FDA and commenced a first-in-human, single ascending dose, study for our PPMO for the treatment of DMD in patients who are amenable to exon 51 skipping (SRP-5051). In addition to SRP-5051, our 2018 plans currently include IND-enabling pre-clinical work on additional PPMOs.
In addition to advancing our exon-skipping product candidates for DMD, we are working with several strategic partners under various agreements to research and develop multiple treatment approaches to DMD and other rare neuromuscular diseases. These strategic partners include:
| Nationwide Childrens Hospital. Our collaboration with Nationwide Childrens Hospital includes the advancement of their micro-dystrophin gene therapy program and their Galgt2 gene therapy program under exclusive license agreements. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the IND applications for both of these programs were cleared by the FDA, and two Phase 1/2a clinical trials in individuals with DMD were initiated. On October 3, 2018, Nationwide Childrens Hospital presented positive updated results from its Phase 1/2a micro-dystrophin gene therapy clinical trial in the four individuals with DMD enrolled in the trial. |
| Myonexus Therapeutics, Inc. (Myonexus), which develops gene therapy programs for various forms of Limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs). On May 3, 2018, we entered into an agreement with Myonexus that provides us with an exclusive option to acquire Myonexus by making an option exercise payment to Myonexus plus contingent payments, if earned. |
| Lacerta Therapeutics, Inc. (Lacerta), a gene therapy company that develops central nervous system (CNS)-targeted treatments. On August 8, 2018, we entered into a license and option agreement with Lacerta, which provides us with a license to up to three new CNS-targeted gene therapy programs, including exclusive rights to Lacertas gene therapy candidate for Pompe Disease and options to two additional candidates. |
| Lysogene, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in gene therapy targeting CNS diseases. On October 15, 2018, we entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Lysogene for the development of a gene therapy, LYS-SAF302, to treat Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPS IIIA). The first patient in the LYS-SAF302 pivotal trial is expected to be dosed in the fourth quarter of 2018. |
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Under the agreement with Lysogene, we also have certain option rights to an additional CNS-targeted gene therapy candidate. |
| Genethon, with whom we are collaborating on the advancement of their micro-dystrophin gene therapy program under a sponsored research and exclusive license option agreement. |
| Duke University, with whom we are collaborating on the advancement of gene editing CRISPR/Cas9 technology for muscular dystrophy under a sponsored research and exclusive license option agreement that grants us rights to certain of Duke Universitys intellectual property for CRISPR/Cas9. |
| Summit (Oxford) Ltd. (Summit), with whom we are collaborating under an exclusive license and collaboration agreement that grants us exclusive rights to Summits utrophin modulator pipeline, including ezutromid, in Europe, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States and an option to acquire rights in Latin America. On June 27, 2018, Summit announced that it decided to discontinue the development of ezutromid after reviewing the top-line results from its Phase 2 trial. |
Our Proprietary Platform Technologies
Our RNA-targeted technologies work at the most fundamental level of biology and potentially could have a meaningful impact across a broad range of human diseases and disorders. Our lead program focuses on the development of disease-modifying therapeutic candidates for DMD, a rare genetic muscle-wasting disease caused by the absence of dystrophin, a protein necessary for muscle function. The basis of our novel RNA-targeted therapeutics is the PMO.
PMO-based compounds are highly resistant to degradation by enzymes, potentially enabling robust and sustained biological activity. In contrast to other RNA-targeted therapeutics, which are usually designed to down-regulate protein expression, our technologies are designed to selectively up-regulate or down-regulate protein expression, and more importantly, create novel proteins. PMO-based compounds have demonstrated inhibition of mRNA translation and alteration of pre-mRNA splicing. PMO-based compounds have the potential to reduce off-target effects, such as the immune stimulation often observed with ribose-based RNA technologies. We believe that our highly differentiated, novel, proprietary and innovative RNA-targeted PMO-based platforms may represent a significant improvement over other RNA-targeted technologies. In addition, PMO-based compounds are highly adaptable molecules: with minor structural modifications, they can potentially be rapidly designed to target specific tissues, genetic sequences, or pathogens, and therefore, we believe they could potentially be applied to treat a broad spectrum of diseases.
Our next generation PMO-based chemistries include PPMO, PMO-X® and PMOplus®. PPMO features covalent attachment of a cell-penetrating peptide to a PMO with the goal of enhanced delivery into the cell. In pre-clinical research, our proprietary class of PPMO compounds demonstrated an increase in dystrophin production and a more durable response compared to PMO. In addition, PPMO treatment in non-human primates is well tolerated and results in high levels of exon-skipping in skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle tissues. Pre-clinical trials also indicate that PPMOs may require less frequent dosing than PMO, and that PPMOs could potentially be tailored to reach other organs beyond muscle.
We also collaborate with different partners to explore a gene therapy approach to DMD and other rare neuromuscular diseases. The programs in collaboration with Nationwide Childrens Hospital and Genethon look to express a smaller but still functional version of dystrophin (micro-dystrophin). Micro-dystrophin is used because normal-sized dystrophin is too large to fit in an AAV. An additional program, also in collaboration with Nationwide Childrens Hospital, aims to express the enzyme Galgt2 from an AAV vector. We believe that Galgt2 modifies the dystrophin associated protein complex and up-regulates utrophin (a protein significantly homologous to dystrophin) to protect muscle from damage in the absence of dystrophin. The micro-dystrophin and Galgt2 technologies have the potential to treat all or nearly all DMD patients regardless of mutation.
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The most advanced of Myonexus programs, MYO-101, is designed to transfer a gene that codes for and restores beta-sarcoglycan protein with the goal of restoring the dystrophin associated protein complex. It utilizes the AAVrh.74 vector system, the same vector used in the micro-dystrophin gene therapy program we are developing with Nationwide Childrens Hospital.
The collaboration with Lacerta utilizes proprietary AAV capsid variants and a scalable vector manufacturing platform to develop treatments for CNS and lysosomal storage diseases. The lead candidate is a gene therapy approach with a novel AAV variant for treatment of Pompe Disease.
The program in collaboration with Lysogene focuses on the development of a gene therapy, LYS-SAF302, to treat MPS IIIA. LYS-SAF302 is an AAV-mediated gene therapy, the goal of which is to replace the faulty SGSH gene with a healthy copy of the gene. LYS-SAF302 employs the AAVrh10 virus, chosen for its ability to target the CNS. Proof-of-concept was established in MPS IIIA pre-clinical models demonstrating strong expression, broad distribution, and the ability of the compound to correct lysosomal storage defects by producing the missing enzyme.
We are also exploring, in collaboration with Duke University, the gene-editing technology CRSPR/Cas9 that aims to restore dystrophin expression by removing or excising exons directly from the dystrophin gene to correct out-of-frame mutations. CRSPR/Cas9 technology can also potentially be used to fix stop codon mutations in the dystrophin gene so that dystrophin can be translated to a function protein.
Manufacturing
We have developed proprietary state-of-the-art Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls and manufacturing capabilities that allow synthesis and purification of our product candidates to support both clinical development as well as commercialization. Our current main focus in manufacturing is to continue scaling up production of our PMO-based therapies and optimizing manufacturing for PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates. We have entered into certain manufacturing and supply arrangements with third-party suppliers which will in part utilize these capabilities to support production of certain of our product candidates and their components. In 2017, we opened a facility in Andover, Massachusetts, which significantly enhances our research and development manufacturing capabilities. However, we currently do not have internal large scale Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) manufacturing capabilities to produce our product and product candidates for commercial and/or clinical use.
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Product Candidates
The following table summarizes our lead development programs:
Corporate Information
We were originally incorporated in the State of Oregon on July 22, 1980 and, on June 6, 2013, we reincorporated in the State of Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 215 First Street, Suite 415, Cambridge, MA 02142 and our telephone number is (617) 274-4000. We maintain an Internet website at www.sarepta.com. We have not incorporated the information on our website by reference into this prospectus.
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Common stock offered by us |
3,817,000 shares |
Option to purchase additional shares of common stock |
572,550 shares |
Common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering |
70,510,348 shares (or 71,082,898 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares) |
Use of proceeds |
We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering principally for the continuation and initiation of further clinical trials, commercialization, manufacturing, business development activities including the potential licensing or acquisition of complementary products and technologies and other general corporate purposes. Please see Use of Proceeds. |
Risk factors |
See Risk Factors for a discussion of factors that you should read and consider before investing in our securities. |
Nasdaq Global Select Market symbol |
SRPT |
The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering as shown above is based on 66,693,348 shares outstanding as of September 30, 2018. This number of shares excludes the following:
| 9,056,152 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2002 Equity Incentive Plan, our Amended and Restated 2011 Equity Incentive Plan (2011 Equity Incentive Plan), our 2014 Employment Commencement Incentive Plan (2014 Equity Incentive Plan) and our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 199,544 shares of restricted stock units issuable upon vesting under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 100,000 shares subject to stock appreciation rights under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 980,190 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 163,266 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan; and |
| 4,434,693 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan. |
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Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Investors should carefully consider the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as other information in this prospectus supplement and the documents incorporated by reference herein before deciding whether to invest in our securities. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements made throughout this prospectus supplement as a result of different factors, including the risks we face described below. Other events that we do not currently anticipate or that we currently deem immaterial also affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to this Offering
Management will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds to us from this offering and may apply it to uses that do not improve our operating results or the value of your securities.
Our management will have broad discretion to use the net proceeds to us from this offering, and investors will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors and management regarding the application of these proceeds. Although we expect to use the net proceeds from this offering principally for the continuation and initiation of clinical trials, commercialization, manufacturing, business development activities including the potential licensing or acquisition of complementary products and technologies and other general corporate purposes, we have not allocated these net proceeds for specific purposes. Investors will not have the opportunity, as part of their investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. Our use of the proceeds may not improve our operating results or increase the value of the securities being offered hereby.
A substantial number of shares of common stock may be sold in the market following this offering, which may depress the market price for our common stock.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and may make it more difficult for you to sell your common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate. A substantial majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock are, and the shares of common stock sold in this offering upon issuance will be, freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
We and our executive officers and directors have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters under which we and they have agreed, subject to specified exceptions described in the section titled Underwriting, not to sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of common stock without the permission of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC for a period of 60 days and 45 days, respectively, following the date of this prospectus. We refer to such period as the lock-up period. The specified exceptions include allowing our officers and directors to sell shares of common stock pursuant to existing Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. When the lock-up period expires, we and our directors and officers subject to a lock-up agreement will be able to sell our shares in the public market. In addition, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements at any time and for any reason. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration of the lock-up agreements, the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of these agreements, could cause our market price to fall or make it more difficult for you to sell your common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate.
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Investors in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution.
Since the price per share of our common stock being offered is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, you will suffer substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. Based on a net tangible book value of our common stock of $9.36 per share as of September 30, 2018, if you purchase shares of common stock in this offering, you will suffer immediate and substantial dilution of $115.38 per share in the net tangible book value of common stock. See the section entitled Dilution below for a more detailed discussion of the dilution you will incur if you purchase common stock in this offering.
Our ability to use net operating loss and tax credit carry-forwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments is limited by provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, and it is possible that certain transactions or a combination of certain transactions, which transaction may include this offering, may result in material additional limitations on our ability to use our net operating loss and tax credit carry-forwards.
As of September 30, 2018, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss (NOL) carry-forwards of $1,039.1 million and $248.0 million, respectively, available to reduce future taxable income, which expire between 2019 and 2038. These net operating losses have been fully offset by a valuation allowance due to uncertainties surrounding our ability to realize these tax benefits. In general, if we experience a greater than 50 percent aggregate change in ownership of certain significant stockholders over a three-year period, or a Section 382 ownership change, utilization of our pre-change NOL carry-forwards incurred prior to 2018 will be subject to an annual limitation under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), and similar state laws. Such limitations may result in expiration of a portion of the NOL carry-forwards incurred prior to 2018 before utilization and may be substantial. We may experience a Section 382 ownership change in connection with this offering or as a result of future changes in our stock ownership, some of which changes are outside our control. If such change has occurred or does occur, the tax benefits related to the NOL carry-forwards may be limited or lost. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA), NOLs generated after December 31, 2017 will not be subject to expiration. In addition, the deduction for NOLs in any taxable year is limited to 80% of current year taxable year income in respect of NOLs generated during or after 2018. The TCJA also reduced the corporate income tax rate to 21%, from a prior rate of 35%. This may cause a reduction in the potential economic benefit of our NOLs and other available deferred tax assets.
Risks Related to Our Business
We are highly dependent on the commercial success of EXONDYS 51 in the U.S.; we may not be able to meet expectations with respect to EXONDYS 51 sales or attain profitability and positive cash-flow from operations.
On September 19, 2016, the FDA granted accelerated approval for EXONDYS 51 as a therapeutic treatment for DMD in patients who have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping. EXONDYS 51 is currently commercially available in the U.S. only, although it is available in certain countries outside of the U.S. on a named patient basis and through our managed access program (MAP). The commercial success of EXONDYS 51 continues to depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
| the effectiveness of our sales, managed markets, marketing efforts and support for EXONDYS 51; |
| the consistency of any new data we collect and analyses we conduct with prior results, whether they support a favorable safety and efficacy profile of EXONDYS 51 and any potential impact on our FDA accelerated approval status and/or FDA package insert for EXONDYS 51; |
| the effectiveness of our ongoing EXONDYS 51 commercialization activities, including negotiating and entering into any additional commercial, supply and distribution contracts, scaling up manufacturing and hiring any additional personnel as needed to support commercial efforts; |
| our ability to comply with FDA post-marketing requirements and commitments, including through successfully conducting additional studies that confirm clinical efficacy and safety of EXONDYS 51 |
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and acceptance of the same by the FDA and medical community since continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification of a clinical benefit in confirmatory trials; |
| the occurrence of any side effects, adverse reactions or misuse, or any unfavorable publicity in these areas; |
| the cost-effectiveness of EXONDYS 51 and whether we can consistently manufacture it in commercial quantities and at acceptable costs; |
| the rate and consistency with which EXONDYS 51 is prescribed by physicians, which depends on physicians views on the safety and efficacy of EXONDYS 51; |
| our ability to secure and maintain adequate reimbursement for EXONDYS 51, including during re-authorizations processes that may be required for patients who initially obtained coverage by third parties, including government payors, managed care organizations and private health insurers; |
| our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for EXONDYS 51, to preserve our trade secrets, to prevent third parties from infringing on our proprietary rights and to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of third parties; |
| the development or commercialization of competing products or therapies for the treatment of DMD, or its symptoms, and the existence of competing clinical trials; |
| our ability to increase awareness of the importance of genetic testing and knowing/understanding DMD mutations, and identifying and addressing procedural barriers to obtaining therapy; |
| our ability to remain compliant with laws and regulations that apply to us and our commercial activities; |
| the actual market-size, ability to identify patients and the demographics of patients eligible for EXONDYS 51, which may be different than expected; |
| the sufficiency of our drug supply to meet commercial and clinical demands which could be negatively impacted if our projections on the potential number of amenable patients and their average weight are inaccurate, we are subject to unanticipated regulatory requirements that increase our drug supply needs, our current drug supply is destroyed or negatively impacted at our manufacturing sites, storage sites or in transit, or it takes longer than we project for the number of patients we anticipate to get on EXONDYS 51 and any significant portion of our EXONDYS 51 supply expires before we are able to sell it; |
| our ability to obtain regulatory approvals to commercialize EXONDYS 51 in markets outside of the U.S.; and |
| the awareness of patients with DMD of their mutation and whether the mutation is amenable to EXONDYS 51. |
In addition, the process leading to a patients first infusion of EXONDYS 51 may be slower for certain patients. For example, the time to first infusion may take longer if a patient chooses to put in an intravenous port, which eases access to the vein. As the launch of EXONDYS 51 continues to progress, we expect the variation among patients to decline, leading to a faster time to infusion. However, delays in the process prior to first infusion could negatively impact the sales of EXONDYS 51.
We may experience significant fluctuations in sales of EXONDYS 51 from period to period and, ultimately, we may never generate sufficient revenues from EXONDYS 51 to reach or maintain profitability or sustain our anticipated levels of operations.
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We may not be able to expand the global footprint of, or obtain any significant revenues, from sales of eteplirsen outside of the U.S.
Although we contracted with third party distributors to distribute eteplirsen in certain countries outside the U.S. on a named patient basis, and initiated a limited launch of an ex-U.S. eteplirsen MAP, which we plan to expand to other jurisdictions in the future, and although we continue to pursue regulatory approval of eteplirsen in certain targeted jurisdictions, such as the EU and Israel, we may not be successful in expanding access to eteplirsen nor produce any significant revenues from eteplirsen sales outside of the U.S. For example, healthcare providers in MAP jurisdictions may not be convinced that their patients can benefit from eteplirsen or may prefer to wait until such time as eteplirsen is approved by a regulatory authority in their country before prescribing eteplirsen. Even if a healthcare provider is interested in obtaining access to eteplirsen for its patient through the MAP, the patient will not be able to obtain access to eteplirsen if payment for the drug is not secured. Additionally, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval in the jurisdictions we have targeted, such as the EU, if our product approval applications, data packages submitted to regulatory authorities, and any additional data and analyses we submit in response to requests and concerns from regulatory authorities, do not support or convince regulatory authorities of the safety and efficacy of eteplirsen. If we fail to obtain regulatory approvals, our ability to make revenues from eteplirsen sales outside of the U.S. will be limited. In addition, failure to obtain approval in one country or area may affect sales under the MAP in other countries or areas. Even if we are successful in obtaining regulatory approval of eteplirsen outside of the U.S., our revenue earning capacity will depend on commercial and medical infrastructure, pricing and reimbursement negotiations and decisions with third party payors, including government payors. On September 21, 2018, we announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Authority (EMA) has confirmed its May 31, 2018 negative opinion for a Conditional Marketing Application for eteplirsen. See also Even though EXONDYS 51 has been approved for marketing in the U.S., we may not receive approval to commercialize EXONDYS 51 outside of the U.S.
EXONDYS 51 may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could negatively impact its U.S. approval status and/or limit its commercial potential outside of the U.S.
If we or others identify previously unknown side effects, in particular if they are severe, or if known side effects are more frequent or severe than in the past, then:
| sales of EXONDYS 51 may decrease; |
| regulatory approvals for EXONDYS 51 may be restricted, withdrawn or pending applications for approvals may be rejected; |
| we may decide to, or be required to, send product warning letters or field alerts to physicians, pharmacists and hospitals; |
| additional non-clinical or clinical trials, changes in labeling or changes to manufacturing processes, specifications and/or facilities may be required; |
| our reputation in the marketplace may suffer; and |
| government investigations or lawsuits, including class action suits, may be brought against us. |
Any of the above occurrences would harm or prevent sales of EXONDYS 51, increase our expenses and impair our ability to successfully commercialize EXONDYS 51. Furthermore, as EXONDYS 51 is used in wider populations and in a less rigorously controlled environment than in clinical trials, regulatory authorities, healthcare practitioners, third party payors or patients may perceive or conclude that the use of EXONDYS 51 is associated with previously unknown serious adverse effects, undermining our commercialization efforts.
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We currently rely on third parties to manufacture EXONDYS 51 and to produce our product candidates; our dependence on these parties, including any inability on our part to accurately anticipate product demand and timely secure manufacturing capacity to meet commercial, MAP, clinical and pre-clinical product demand may impair the availability of product to successfully support various programs, including research and development and the potential commercialization of our product candidates.
We currently do not have the internal ability to undertake the manufacturing process for EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates in the quantities needed to meet commercial, clinical or MAP demand for EXONDYS 51, or to conduct our research and development programs and conduct clinical trials for our product candidates, including PPMO, golodirsen, casimersen and gene therapy-based product candidates. Therefore, we rely on, and expect to continue relying on for the foreseeable future, a limited number of third parties to manufacture and supply materials (including raw materials and subunits), API and drug product, as well as to perform additional steps in the manufacturing process, such as labeling and packaging of vials and storage of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates. There are a limited number of third parties with facilities and capabilities suited for the manufacturing process of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates, which creates a heightened risk that we may not be able to obtain materials and APIs in the quantity and purity that we require.
For example, we were notified by the Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital (the Research Institute) that they received a letter from the FDA on July 24, 2018, stating that their Phase 1/2a DMD micro-dystrophin gene therapy trial had been placed on clinical hold due to the presence of a trace amount of DNA fragment in research-grade third-party supplied plasmid (the Clinical Hold). The Research Institute, working with us, developed an action plan with immediate plans to submit for review by the FDA, which included the use of GMP-s plasmid for the program. On September 24, 2018, we announced that the FDA had lifted the Clinical Hold and that we do not anticipate any material delay to this program.
In addition, the process for adding new manufacturing capacity can be lengthy and could cause delays in our development efforts. Any interruption of the development or operation of those facilities due to, among other reasons, events such as order delays for equipment or materials, equipment malfunction, quality control and quality assurance issues, regulatory delays and possible negative effects of such delays on supply chains and expected timelines for product availability, production yield issues, shortages of qualified personnel, discontinuation of a facility or business or failure or damage to a facility by natural disasters such as earthquake or fire, could result in the cancellation of shipments, loss of product in the manufacturing process or a shortfall in available EXONDYS 51, product candidates or materials.
If these third parties were to cease providing quality manufacturing and related services to us, and we are not able to engage appropriate replacements in a timely manner, our ability to manufacture EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity required for our planned commercial, pre-clinical and clinical or MAP use of EXONDYS 51 would adversely affect our various product research, development and commercialization efforts.
We have, through our third party manufacturers, produced or are in the process of producing supply of our product candidates and EXONDYS 51, respectively, based on our current understanding of market demands and our anticipated needs for our research and development efforts, clinical trials, MAPs and commercial sales. In light of the limited number of third parties with the expertise to produce EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates, the lead time needed to manufacture them, and the availability of underlying materials, we may not be able to, in a timely manner or at all, establish or maintain sufficient commercial and other manufacturing arrangements on the commercially reasonable terms necessary to provide adequate supply of EXONDYS 51 and our other product candidates to meet demands that meet or exceed our projected needs. Furthermore, we may not be able to obtain the significant financial capital that may be required in connection with such arrangements. Even after successfully engaging third parties to execute the manufacturing process for EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates, such parties may not comply with the terms and timelines they have agreed to for various reasons, some of which may be out of their or our control, which could impact our ability to execute our business
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plans on expected or required timelines in connection with the commercialization of EXONDYS 51 and the continued development of our product candidates, including our follow-on exon-skipping product candidates, PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates. We may also be required to enter into long-term manufacturing agreements that contain exclusivity provisions and /or substantial termination penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our business prior to and after commercialization.
The third parties we use in the manufacturing process for EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates may fail to comply with current GMP (cGMP) regulations.
Our contract manufacturers are required to produce our materials, APIs and drug products under cGMP. We and our contract manufacturers are subject to periodic inspections by the FDA, EMA and corresponding state and foreign authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations. While we work diligently with all contract manufacturers to maintain full compliance, we do not have direct control over a third party manufacturers compliance with these regulations and requirements. In addition, changes in cGMP could negatively impact the ability of our contract manufacturers to complete the manufacturing process of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates in a compliant manner on the schedule we require for commercial and clinical trial use, respectively. The failure to achieve and maintain compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations, including failure to detect or control anticipated or unanticipated manufacturing errors, could result in product recalls, clinical holds, delayed or withheld approvals, patient injury or death. This risk is particularly heightened as we optimize manufacturing for our product candidates, including golodirsen, casimersen, and novel programs such as PPMO and gene therapy. For example, following the imposition of the Clinical Hold, the Research Institute, working with us, developed an action plan with immediate plans to submit for review by the FDA, which included the use of GMP-s plasmid for the Nationwide Childrens Hospitals Phase 1/2a DMD micro-dystrophin gene therapy trial. On September 24, 2018, we announced that the FDA had lifted the Clinical Hold. If our contract manufacturers fail to adhere to applicable cGMP and other applicable government regulations, or experience manufacturing problems, we will suffer significant consequences, including product seizures or recalls, postponement or cancellation of clinical trials, loss or delay of product approval, fines and sanctions, loss of revenue, termination of the development of a product candidate, reputational damage, shipment delays, inventory shortages, inventory write-offs and other product-related charges and increased manufacturing costs. If we experience any of these results, the success of our commercialization of EXONDYS 51 and/or our development efforts for our product candidates, including golodirsen, casimersen and novel programs such as PPMO and gene therapy, could be significantly delayed, fail or otherwise be negatively impacted.
We may not be able to successfully scale up manufacturing of EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity or within sufficient timelines, or be able to secure ownership of intellectual property rights developed in this process, which could negatively impact the commercial success of EXONDYS 51 and/or the development of our product candidates and next generation chemistries like PPMO and gene therapy.
We are working to increase manufacturing capacity and scale up production of some of the components of our drug products. Our focus remains on (i) achieving larger-scale manufacturing capacity for EXONDYS 51 throughout the manufacturing supply chain (ii) continuing to increase material and API production capacity to provide the anticipated amounts of drug product needed for our planned studies for our product candidates and (iii) optimizing manufacturing for our follow-on exon skipping product candidates and novel programs, including PPMO and gene therapy. We may not be able to successfully increase manufacturing capacity or scale up the production of materials, APIs and drug products, whether in collaboration with third party manufacturers or on our own, in a manner that is safe, compliant with cGMP conditions or other applicable legal or regulatory requirements, in a cost-effective manner, in a time frame required to meet our timeline for commercialization, clinical trials and other business plans, or at all. Compliance with cGMP requirements and other quality issues may arise during our efforts to increase manufacturing capacity and scale up production with our current or any new contract manufacturers. These issues may arise in connection with the underlying materials, the inherent
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properties of EXONDYS 51 or a product candidate, EXONDYS 51 or a product candidate in combination with other components added during the manufacturing and packaging process or during shipping and storage of the APIs or finished drug product. In addition, in order to release EXONDYS 51 for commercial use and demonstrate stability of product candidates for use in clinical trials (and any subsequent drug products for commercial use), our manufacturing processes and analytical methods must be validated in accordance with regulatory guidelines. We may not be able to successfully validate, or maintain validation of, our manufacturing processes and analytical methods or demonstrate adequate purity, stability or comparability of EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. If we are unable to successfully validate our manufacturing processes and analytical methods or to demonstrate adequate purity, stability or comparability, the commercial availability of EXONDYS 51 and the continued development and/or regulatory approval of our product candidates, including PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates, may be delayed or otherwise negatively impacted, which could significantly harm our business.
During work with our third party manufacturers to increase and optimize manufacturing capacity and scale up production, it is possible that they could make proprietary improvements in the manufacturing and scale-up processes for EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates, including PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates. We may not own or be able to secure ownership of such improvements or may have to share the intellectual property rights to those improvements. Additionally, it is possible that we will need additional processes, technologies and validation studies, which could be costly and which we may not be able to develop or acquire from third parties. Any failure to secure the intellectual rights required for the manufacturing process needed for large-scale clinical trials or commercialization of EXONDYS 51 or the continued development of our product candidates, including PPMO, could cause significant delays in our business plans or otherwise negatively impact the commercialization of EXONDYS 51 or the continued development of our product candidates, including PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates.
If we are unable to maintain our agreements with third parties to distribute EXONDYS 51 to patients, our results of operations and business could be adversely affected.
We rely on third parties to commercially distribute EXONDYS 51 to patients in the U.S. We have contracted with a third party logistics company to warehouse EXONDYS 51 and with distributors and specialty pharmacies to sell and distribute it to patients. A specialty pharmacy is a pharmacy that specializes in the dispensing of medications for complex or chronic conditions that require a high level of patient education and ongoing management.
This distribution network requires significant coordination with our sales and marketing and finance organizations. In addition, failure to coordinate financial systems could negatively impact our ability to accurately report product revenue from EXONDYS 51. If we are unable to effectively manage the distribution process, the sales of EXONDYS 51, as well as any future products we may commercialize, could be delayed or severely compromised and our results of operations may be harmed.
In addition, the use of third parties involves certain risks, including, but not limited to, risks that these organizations will:
| not provide us with accurate or timely information regarding their inventories, the number of patients who are using EXONDYS 51 or serious adverse events and/or product complaints regarding EXONDYS 51; |
| not effectively sell or support EXONDYS 51; |
| reduce or discontinue their efforts to sell or support EXONDYS 51; |
| not devote the resources necessary to sell EXONDYS 51 in the volumes and within the time frame we expect; |
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| be unable to satisfy financial obligations to us or others; or |
| cease operations. |
Any such events may result in decreased product sales, lower product revenue, loss of revenue, and/or reputational damage, which would harm our results of operations and business.
With respect to the pre-commercial distribution of eteplirsen to patients outside of the U.S., we have contracted with third party distributors and service providers to distribute eteplirsen in certain countries on a named patient basis and through our ex-U.S. MAP. We will need to continue building out our network for commercial distribution in jurisdictions in which eteplirsen is approved, which will also require third party contracts. The use of distributors and service providers involves certain risks, including, but not limited to, risks that these organizations will not comply with applicable laws and regulations, or not provide us with accurate or timely information regarding serious adverse events and/or product complaints regarding eteplirsen. Any such events may result in regulatory actions that may include suspension or termination of the distribution and sale of eteplirsen in a certain country, loss of revenue, and/or reputational damage, which could harm our results of operations and business.
If we are unable to successfully maintain and further develop internal commercialization capabilities, sales of EXONDYS 51 may be negatively impacted.
We have hired and trained a commercial team and put in the organizational infrastructure we believe we need to support the commercial success of EXONDYS 51 in the U.S. Factors that may inhibit our efforts to maintain and further develop commercial capabilities include:
| an inability to retain an adequate number of effective commercial personnel; |
| an inability to train sales personnel, who may have limited experience with our company or EXONDYS 51, to deliver a consistent message regarding EXONDYS 51 and be effective in convincing physicians to prescribe EXONDYS 51; |
| an inability to equip sales personnel with compliant and effective materials, including medical and sales literature to help them educate physicians and our healthcare providers regarding EXONDYS 51 and its proper administration and educate payors on the safety and efficacy profile of EXONDYS 51 to support favorable coverage decisions; and |
| unforeseen costs and expenses associated with maintaining and further developing an independent sales and marketing organization. |
If we are not successful in maintaining an effective commercial, sales and marketing infrastructure, we will encounter difficulty in achieving, maintaining or increasing projected sales of EXONDYS 51 in the U.S., which would adversely affect our business and financial condition.
We are subject to uncertainty relating to reimbursement policies which, if not favorable for EXONDYS 51, could hinder or prevent EXONDYS 51s commercial success.
Our ability to successfully maintain and/or increase EXONDYS 51 sales in the U.S. depends in part on the coverage and reimbursement levels set by governmental authorities, private health insurers and other third party payors. Third party payors are increasingly challenging the effectiveness of and prices charged for medical products and services. We may not be able to obtain or maintain adequate third party coverage or reimbursement for EXONDYS 51, or we may be required to sell EXONDYS 51 at an unsatisfactory price.
We expect that private insurers will continue to consider the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and safety of EXONDYS 51, including any new data and analyses that we are able to collect and make available in a
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compliant manner, in determining whether to approve reimbursement for EXONDYS 51 and at what levels. If any new data and information we collect is not favorable, third party insurers may make coverage decisions that negatively impact sales of EXONDYS 51. We continue to have discussions with payors, some of which may eventually deny coverage. We may not receive approval for reimbursement of EXONDYS 51 from additional insurers on a satisfactory rate or basis, in which case our business would be materially adversely affected. In addition, obtaining these approvals can be a time consuming and expensive process. Our business would be materially adversely affected if we are not able to maintain favorable coverage decisions and/or fail to receive additional favorable coverage decisions from third party insurers, in particular during re-authorization processes for patients that have already initiated therapy. Our business could also be adversely affected if insurers, including managed care organizations, the Medicare or Medicaid programs or other reimbursing bodies or payors limit the indications for which EXONDYS 51 will be reimbursed or fail to recognize accelerated approval and surrogate endpoints as clinically meaningful.
Additionally, in the wake of government and public scrutiny of pharmaceutical pricing practices, there have been efforts at the federal and state levels to implement legislation or regulations to promote transparency in drug pricing or limit drug prices. Such initiatives are likely to continue the pressure on pharmaceutical pricing, may require us to modify our business practices with healthcare practitioners, and may also increase our regulatory burdens and operating costs.
In some foreign countries, particularly Canada and the countries of Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to strict governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take 12 to 24 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory approval and product launch. In order to obtain favorable reimbursement for the indications sought or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to collect additional data, including conducting additional studies. Furthermore, several European countries have implemented government measures to either freeze or reduce pricing of pharmaceutical products. If reimbursement for our products is unavailable in any country in which reimbursement is sought, limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be materially harmed. In addition, many foreign countries are referencing to other countries official public price, hence an unsatisfactory price level in one country could consequently impinge negatively upon overall revenue.
We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of EXONDYS 51 and our future products due to a number of factors, including current and future healthcare reforms and initiatives by government health programs and private insurers (including managed care plans) to reduce healthcare costs.
Healthcare reform and other governmental and private payor initiatives may have an adverse effect upon, and could prevent commercial success of EXONDYS 51 and our other product candidates.
The U.S. government and individual states have aggressively pursued healthcare reform, as evidenced by the passing of the Healthcare Reform Act and the ongoing efforts to modify or repeal that legislation. The Healthcare Reform Act substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers and contains a number of provisions that affect coverage and reimbursement of drug products and/or that could potentially reduce the demand for pharmaceutical products such as increasing drug rebates under state Medicaid programs for brand name prescription drugs and extending those rebates to Medicaid managed care and assessing a fee on manufacturers and importers of brand name prescription drugs reimbursed under certain government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Other aspects of healthcare reform, such as expanded government enforcement authority and heightened standards that could increase compliance-related costs, could also affect our business. Modifications have been implemented under the Trump Administration and additional modifications or repeal may occur. See GOVERNMENT REGULATION-Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement-Third Party Reimbursement and Pricing in the U.S.-Healthcare and Other Reform. We cannot predict the ultimate content, timing or effect of any changes to the Healthcare Reform Act or other federal and state reform efforts. There is no assurance that federal or state health care reform will not adversely affect our
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future business and financial results, and we cannot predict how future federal or state legislative, judicial or administrative changes relating to healthcare reform will affect our business.
The U.S. government, state legislatures and foreign governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid healthcare costs, including price controls, waiver from Medicaid drug rebate law requirements, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs. We anticipate that the U.S. Congress, state legislatures and the private sector will continue to consider and may adopt healthcare policies intended to curb rising healthcare costs. These cost containment measures may include:
| controls on government funded reimbursement for drugs; |
| caps or mandatory discounts under certain government sponsored programs; |
| controls on healthcare providers; |
| challenges to the pricing of drugs or limits or prohibitions on reimbursement for specific products through other means; |
| reform of drug importation laws; |
| delegation of decision making to state Medicaid agencies and waiver of reimbursement requirements; |
| expansion of use of managed care systems in which healthcare providers contract to provide comprehensive healthcare for a fixed cost per person; and |
| prohibition on direct-to-consumer advertising or drug marketing practices. |
We are unable to predict what additional legislation, regulations or policies, if any, relating to the healthcare industry or third party coverage and reimbursement may be enacted in the future or what effect such legislation, regulations or policies would have on our business. Any cost containment measures, including those listed above, or other healthcare system reforms that are adopted, could significantly decrease the available coverage and the price we might establish for EXONDYS 51 and our other potential products, which would have an adverse effect on our net revenues and operating results.
The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 also provides the FDA enhanced post-marketing authority, including the authority to require post-marketing studies and clinical trials, labeling changes based on new safety information, and compliance with risk evaluations and mitigation strategies approved by the FDA. The FDAs exercise of this authority could result in increased development-related costs following the commercial launch of EXONDYS 51, and could result in potential restrictions on the sale and/or distribution of EXONDYS 51, even in its approved indications and patient populations.
Even though EXONDYS 51 received accelerated approval by the FDA as a treatment for DMD in patients who have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping, it faces future post-approval development and regulatory requirements, which will present additional challenges we will need to successfully navigate.
On September 19, 2016, the FDA granted accelerated approval for EXONDYS 51 as a therapeutic treatment for patients with DMD who have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping. This indication is based on an increase in dystrophin in skeletal muscles observed in some patients treated with EXONDYS 51. EXONDYS 51 will be subject to ongoing FDA requirements governing the labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, recordkeeping, and we are required to submit additional safety, efficacy and other post-marketing information.
Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification of a clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. These post-approval requirements and commitments may not be feasible and/or could impose
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significant burdens and costs on us; could negatively impact our development, manufacturing and supply of EXONDYS 51; and could negatively impact our financial results. Failure to meet post-approval commitments and requirements, including completion of enrollment and in particular, any failure to obtain positive safety and efficacy data from our ongoing and planned EXONDYS 51 studies, would lead to negative regulatory action from the FDA and/or withdrawal of regulatory approval of EXONDYS 51. In addition, on September 21, 2018, we announced that the CHMP of the EMA has confirmed its May 31, 2018 negative opinion for a Conditional Marketing Application for eteplirsen. Such negative opinion could negatively impact our approval status in the U.S.
Manufacturers of drug products and their facilities are subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMP regulations. Drug product manufacturers are required to continuously monitor and report adverse events from clinical trials and commercial use of the product. If we or a regulatory agency discover previously unknown adverse events or events of unanticipated severity or frequency, a regulatory agency may require labeling changes implementation of risk evaluation and mitigation strategy program, or additional post-marketing studies or clinical trials. If we or a regulatory agency discover previously unknown problems with a product, such as problems with a facility where the API or drug product is manufactured or tested, a regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product and/or the manufacturer, including removal of specific product lots from the market, withdrawal of the product from the market, or suspension of manufacturing. Sponsors of drugs approved under FDA accelerated approval provisions also are required to submit to FDA, at least 30 days before initial use, all promotional materials intended for use after the first 120 days following marketing approval. If we or the manufacturing facilities for EXONDYS 51 fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency may:
| issue warning letters or untitled letters; |
| seek an injunction or impose civil or criminal penalties or monetary fines; |
| suspend or withdraw or alter the conditions of our marketing approval; |
| mandate modifications to promotional materials or require us to provide corrective information to healthcare practitioners; |
| suspend any ongoing clinical trials; |
| require us to enter into a consent decree, which can include imposition of various fines, reimbursements for inspection costs, required due dates for specific actions and penalties for noncompliance; |
| refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to applications submitted by us; |
| suspend or impose restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing requirements; |
| seize or detain products, refuse to permit the import or export of products or require us to initiate a product recall; or |
| refuse to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts. |
Even though EXONDYS 51 has been approved for marketing in the U.S., we may not receive approval to commercialize EXONDYS 51 outside of the U.S.
We are not permitted to market or sell EXONDYS 51 in the EU or in any other foreign countries on a commercial basis until we receive the requisite approval from such countrys regulatory authorities. In order to market any product in a foreign country, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements for approval in those countries regarding demonstration of evidence of the products safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, labeling, distribution, advertising, and promotion, as well as pricing and reimbursement of the product. Approval procedures vary among countries, and can involve additional product testing and additional administrative review periods. The time required to obtain approval in other countries
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might differ significantly from that required to obtain approval in the U.S. In particular, in many foreign countries, it is required that a product receives pricing and reimbursement approval before the product can be distributed commercially. This can result in substantial delays, and the price that is ultimately approved in some countries may be lower than the price for which we expect to offer EXONDYS 51.
Marketing approval in one country does not ensure marketing approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining marketing approval in one country may have a negative effect on the approval process in others. Failure to obtain marketing approval in other countries or any delay or setback in obtaining such approval would impair our ability to develop foreign markets for eteplirsen and could adversely affect our business and financial condition. Any such complications may reduce our target market and delay or limit the full commercial potential of eteplirsen. Many foreign countries are undertaking cost-containment measures that could affect pricing or reimbursement of eteplirsen.
In November 2016, we submitted a marketing authorization application (MAA) for eteplirsen to the EMA and the application was validated in December 2016. As we announced on June 1, 2018, the CHMP of the EMA adopted a negative opinion for eteplirsen. On September 21, 2018, we announced that the CHMP of the EMA has confirmed its negative opinion for eteplirsen. We expect the European Commission to adopt the CHMP opinion by year-end 2018.
Obtaining approval of an MAA or any other application for approval in a foreign country is an extensive, lengthy, expensive and uncertain process, and the regulatory authority may reject an application or delay, limit or deny approval of eteplirsen for many reasons, including:
| we may not be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of foreign regulatory authorities that eteplirsen is safe and effective for the treatment of patients with DMD who have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping; |
| the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical or clinical significance required for approval by foreign regulatory authorities; |
| foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the adequacy (number, design, size, controls, conduct or implementation) of our clinical trials prior to granting approval, and we may not be able to generate the required data on a timely basis, or at all; |
| regulatory authorities may conclude that data we submit to them, including data from clinical trials or any other additional data and analyses we submit in support of an approval or in response to requests from regulatory authorities, fail to demonstrate an appropriate level of safety or efficacy of eteplirsen or that eteplirsens clinical benefits outweigh its safety risks; or such regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from pre-clinical trials or clinical trials and require that we conduct one or more additional trials; |
| regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may not accept data generated at our clinical trial sites or require us to generate additional data or information; |
| regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may impose limitations or restrictions on the approved labeling of eteplirsen, thus limiting intended users or providing an additional hurdle for market acceptance of the product; |
| regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes, or may require us to change our manufacturing process or specifications; |
| we may not be able to validate our manufacturing process to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities outside the U.S. or demonstrate adequate cGMP compliance; or |
| regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may adopt new or revised approval policies and regulations. |
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If we are unable to execute effectively our sales and marketing activities outside the U.S., we may be unable to generate sufficient product revenue.
EXONDYS 51 is our first commercial product. As a result, our sales, marketing, managerial and other non-technical capabilities are relatively new in the U.S. and we are currently in the process of building a commercial sales force in Europe. We plan to continue to build commercial infrastructure in the EU and in other key countries in order to be ready to launch eteplirsen with a relatively small specialty sales force in the event eteplirsen is ultimately approved in those jurisdictions. The establishment and development of our commercial infrastructure will continue to be expensive and time consuming, and we may not be able to successfully fully develop this capability in a timely manner or at all. We anticipate building sales, medical, marketing, managerial, distribution and other capabilities across multiple jurisdictions to prepare for potential approvals ex-U.S. Doing so will require a high degree of coordination and compliance with laws and regulations in such jurisdictions. If we are unable to effectively coordinate such activities or comply with such laws and regulations, our ability to commercialize eteplirsen in such jurisdictions will be adversely affected. Even if we are able to effectively hire a sales force and develop a marketing and sales capabilities, our sales force may not be successful in commercializing eteplirsen or any other product candidate that we develop. If we are unable to establish adequate manufacturing, sales, marketing, supply and distribution capabilities, whether independently or with third parties, we may not be able to generate product revenue and may not become profitable outside of the U.S.
EXONDYS 51 may not be widely adopted by patients, payors or healthcare providers, which would adversely impact our potential profitability and future business prospects.
EXONDYS 51s commercial success, particularly in the near term in the U.S., depends upon its level of market adoption by patients, payors and healthcare providers. If EXONDYS 51 does not achieve an adequate level of market adoption for any reason, our potential profitability and our future business prospects will be severely adversely impacted. The degree of market acceptance of EXONDYS 51 depends on a number of factors, including:
| our ability to demonstrate to the medical community, including specialists who may purchase or prescribe EXONDYS 51, the clinical efficacy and safety of EXONDYS 51 as the prescription product of choice DMD amenable to exon-51 skipping in the U.S.; |
| the effectiveness of our sales and marketing organizations and distribution networks; |
| the ability of patients or providers to be adequately reimbursed for EXONDYS 51 in a timely manner from government and private payors; |
| the actual and perceived efficacy and safety profile of EXONDYS 51, particularly if unanticipated adverse events related to EXONDYS 51 treatment arise and create safety concerns among potential patients or prescribers or if new data and analyses we obtain for eteplirsen do not support, or are interpreted by some parties to not support, the efficacy of EXONDYS 51; and |
| the efficacy and safety of our other exon-skipping product candidates, including our exon 45 and exon 53 product candidates, and third parties competitive therapies. |
The patient population suffering from DMD, LGMDs, Pompe Disease and MPS IIIA is small and has not been established with precision. If the actual number of patients is smaller than we estimate, our revenue and ability to achieve profitability may be adversely affected.
DMD, LGMD, Pompe Disease and MPS IIIA are rare, fatal genetic neuromuscular disorders. DMD affects an estimated one in approximately every 3,500 to 5,000 males born worldwide, of which up to 13% are estimated to be amenable to exon-51 skipping. LGMDs as a class affect an estimated range of approximately one in every 14,500 to one in every 123,000 individuals. Pompe Disease affects an estimated one in approximately every 40,000 individuals. MPS IIIA affects approximately 1 in 100,000 newborns. Our estimates of the size of these patient populations are based on published studies as well as internal analyses. If the results of these studies or our analysis of them do not accurately reflect the number of patients with DMD, LGMD, Pompe Disease and
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MPS IIIA, our assessment of the market may be inaccurate, making it difficult or impossible for us to meet our revenue goals, or to obtain and maintain profitability. The small population of DMD, LGMD, Pompe Disease and MPS IIIA patients may also delay patients recruitment for our clinical trials, especially in light of competing clinical trials.
Since EXONDYS 51 targets a small patient population, the per-patient drug pricing must be high in order to recover our development and manufacturing costs, fund adequate patient support programs, fund additional research and achieve profitability. We may be unable to maintain or obtain sufficient sales volumes at a price high enough to justify our product development efforts and our sales, marketing and manufacturing expenses.
We have been granted orphan drug exclusivity for EXONDYS 51 in the U.S. and an orphan drug designation for eteplirsen in the EU, however, there can be no guarantee that we will be able to maintain orphan exclusivity for such product and product candidates nor that we will receive orphan drug approval or exclusivity and prevent third parties from developing and commercializing products that are competitive to EXONDYS 51 or our other product candidates.
To date, we have been granted orphan drug exclusivity for EXONDYS 51 in the U.S and an orphan drug designation in the EU for eteplirsen. Product candidates granted orphan status in Europe can be provided with up to ten years of marketing exclusivity, meaning that another application for marketing authorization of a later, similar medicinal product for the same therapeutic indication will generally not be approved in Europe during that time period. Although we may have product candidates that obtain orphan drug exclusivity in Europe, the orphan status and associated exclusivity period may be modified for several reasons, including a significant change to the orphan medicinal product designations or status criteria after-market authorization of the orphan product ( e.g., product profitability exceeds the criteria for orphan drug designation), problems with the production or supply of the orphan drug, or a competitor drug, although similar, is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior than the initial orphan drug.
As discussed above, we are not guaranteed to receive or maintain orphan status for our current or future product candidates, and if our product candidates that are granted orphan status were to lose their status as orphan drugs or the marketing exclusivity provided for them in the U.S. or the EU, our business and operations could be adversely affected. While orphan status for any of our products, if granted or maintained, would provide market exclusivity in the U.S. and the EU for the time periods specified above upon approval, we would not be able to exclude other companies from obtaining regulatory approval of products using the same active ingredient for the same indication beyond the exclusivity period applicable to our product on the basis of orphan drug status. In addition, we cannot guarantee that another company will not receive approval to market a product candidate that is granted orphan drug status in the U.S. or the EU for the same drug and orphan indication as any of our product candidates for which we plan to file an NDA or MAA. If that were to happen, any pending NDA or MAA for our product candidate for that indication may not be approved until the competing companys period of exclusivity has expired in the U.S. or the EU, as applicable.
If we are unable to maintain or obtain orphan drug exclusivity for EXONDYS 51 or other products in the U.S., we may face increased competition.
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. A company that first obtains FDA approval for a designated orphan drug for the specified rare disease or condition generally receives orphan drug marketing exclusivity for that drug for a period of seven years from the date of its approval. This orphan drug exclusivity prevents the approval of another drug containing the same active moiety used for the same orphan indication, except in circumstances where, based on the FDAs determination, a subsequent drug is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care, or if the orphan drug manufacturer is unable to assure that a sufficient quantity of the orphan drug is available to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug exclusivity may also be lost if the FDA later determines that the initial request for
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designation was materially defective. EXONDYS 51 was granted orphan drug exclusivity in the U.S. through September 19, 2023 for the treatment of DMD in patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping. However, such exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition if the FDA determines that a subsequent drug containing the same active moiety for the same indication is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care, or if we are unable to assure the FDA that sufficient quantities of EXONDYS 51 are available to meet patient demand. In addition, orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving competing drugs for the same or similar indication containing a different active moiety or from approving a drug containing the same active moiety for a different indication. If a subsequent drug is approved for marketing for the same or similar indication, we may face increased competition, and our revenues from the sale of EXONDYS 51 will be adversely affected.
We could incur significant liability if it is determined that we are promoting any off-label use of EXONDYS 51.
Physicians are permitted to prescribe drug products for uses that are not described in the products labeling and that differ from those approved by applicable regulatory agencies. Off-label uses are common across medical specialties. Although the FDA and other regulatory agencies do not regulate a physicians choice of treatments, the FDA and other regulatory agencies do generally prohibit advertising and promotion of off-label uses of approved drug products or promotion of an approved drug on information that is not in the final, FDA-approved label for a product and restrict communications on off-label use. Accordingly, we may not promote EXONDYS 51 in the U.S. for use in any indications other than for the treatment of DMD in patients who have a confirmed mutation in the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping. Additionally, we face limitations on our ability to promote EXONDYS 51 based on any information that is not included in the final FDA-approved label, including previously published clinical data. The FDA and other regulatory authorities actively enforce laws and regulations prohibiting promotion of a product for off-label uses and the promotion of products for which marketing approval has not been obtained. A company that is found to have improperly promoted its drug product will be subject to significant liability, including civil and administrative remedies as well as criminal sanctions.
Notwithstanding the regulatory restrictions on off-label promotion, the FDA and other regulatory authorities allow companies to engage in truthful, non-misleading and non-promotional scientific exchange concerning their products and recent draft FDA guidance suggests that there are circumstances in which the FDA would not object to the promotion of certain information that is not included in the approved labeling but that is consistent with the approved labeling. We intend to engage in medical education activities and communicate with healthcare providers in compliance with all applicable laws, regulatory guidance and industry best practices. Although we have established a compliance program and continue to enhance it to ensure that all such activities are performed in a legal and compliant manner, EXONDYS 51 is our first commercial product which could increase risk of non-compliance with our internal compliance policies and applicable rules and regulations, which could negatively impact our business.
Most of our product candidates are at an early stage of development and may never receive regulatory approval.
Other than EXONDYS 51, which the FDA approved for use in the U.S. in September 2016 and for which we filed an MAA in November 2016 with the EMA, our most advanced product candidates are exon 45- and 53-skipping products (casimersen and golodirsen, respectively), PPMO DMD exon 51 skipping product (SRP-5051), and Nationwide Childrens Hospitals micro-dystrophin gene therapy program and Galgt2 gene therapy program.
We are in the process of conducting, starting or planning various EXONDYS 51 clinical trials, including trials that are required to comply with regulatory NDA requirements as well as studies we need to conduct to comply with our post-marketing FDA requirements/commitments to verify and describe clinical benefit. The
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exon 53-skipping product candidate, which we are working on with the SKIP-NMD consortium, is currently in the clinic. The Part I dose-titration portion of this Phase 1/2a study has been completed and Part II open label portion of the study is ongoing. We have also completed the dose titration portion and are conducting the open-label portion of a study for our exon 45-skipping product candidate. Additionally, we are enrolling patients for a clinical trial using exon 45- and 53-skipping product candidates, which we refer to as the ESSENCE study. We have also initiated a first in human study for PPMO DMD exon 51 (SRP-5051).
Nationwide Childrens Hospital, with whom we are collaborating, initiated Phase 1/2a clinical trials for their micro-dystrophin gene therapy program and their Galgt2 gene therapy program. On October 3, 2018, Nationwide Childrens Hospital presented positive updated results from its Phase 1/2a micro-dystrophin gene therapy clinical trial in the four individuals with DMD enrolled in the trial. In addition, Myonexus, with whom we entered into a warrant to purchase common stock of Myonexus, expects to dose the first patient in the MYO-101 program by the end of 2018. The MYO-101 program, as well as four other, less advanced, Myonexus programs, aim to develop gene therapy-based treatments for various forms of LGMD. Furthermore, Lysogene, with whom we collaborate on developing a gene therapy, LYS-SAF302, to treat MPS IIIA, expects to dose the first patient in the LYS-SAF302 pivotal trial in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The remainder of our product candidates are in discovery or early stages of development. These product candidates will require significant further development, financial resources and personnel to develop into commercially viable products and obtain regulatory approval, if at all. Given the FDA approval of EXONDYS 51, we expect that much of our effort and many of our expenditures over the next several years will be devoted to clinical development and regulatory activities associated with EXONDYS 51 and other exon-skipping candidates as part of our larger follow-on exon strategy in DMD, our other disease candidates, our proprietary chemistry, and other potential therapeutic areas that provide long-term market opportunities. We may be delayed, restricted, or unable to further develop our active and other product candidates or successfully obtain approvals needed to market them. Although EXONDYS 51 was approved under accelerated approval by the FDA in the U.S., we may not be able to obtain an approval of EXONDYS 51 in the EU.
Our RNA-targeted antisense technologies have only been incorporated into one therapeutic commercial product and additional studies may not demonstrate safety or efficacy of our technologies in other product candidates.
Our RNA-targeted platform, utilizing proprietary PMO-based technology has only been incorporated into one therapeutic commercial product to date, EXONDYS 51, however, our confirmatory trials for EXONDYS 51 must verify and describe the clinical benefits in order for EXONDYS 51 to remain approved in the U.S. Although we have conducted and are in the process of conducting clinical trials with EXONDYS 51, an exon 45-skipping product candidate and an exon 53-skipping product candidate and pre-clinical trials with our other product candidates that use our PMO-based antisense technology, additional studies may be needed to determine the safety and efficacy of our PMO-based antisense technology, including our novel PPMO technology. In addition, nonclinical models used to evaluate the activity and toxicity of product candidate compounds are not necessarily predictive of toxicity or efficacy of these compounds in the treatment of human disease. As such, there may be substantially different results observed in clinical trials from those observed in pre-clinical trials. Any failures or setbacks in developing or utilizing our PMO-based technologies, including adverse effects in humans, could have a detrimental impact on our product candidate pipeline and our ability to maintain and/or enter into new corporate collaborations regarding these technologies, which would negatively affect our business and financial condition.
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Our pre-clinical and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate acceptable levels of safety, efficacy, and quality of our product candidates, including those based on our PMO-based and gene therapy-based technologies, which could prevent or significantly delay their regulatory approval.
To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate, through extensive pre-clinical and clinical trials that the product candidate is safe and effective in humans. Ongoing and future pre-clinical and clinical trials of our product candidates may not show sufficient safety, efficacy or adequate quality to obtain or maintain regulatory approvals. For example, although the pre-clinical data for PPMO collected to date is promising, the additional data we collect, including in the clinic, may not be consistent with the pre-clinical data or show a safe benefit that warrants further development or pursuit of a regulatory approval for PPMO product candidates. Furthermore, success in pre-clinical and early clinical trials does not ensure that the subsequent trials will be successful, nor does it predict final results of a confirmatory trial. For example, on October 3, 2018, Nationwide Childrens Hospital presented positive updated results from its Phase 1/2a micro-dystrophin gene therapy clinical trial in the four individuals with DMD enrolled in the trial. The preliminary data is based on a small patient sample and reported before completion of the trial and therefore may not be predictive of future results. In addition, we cannot assure that the results of additional preliminary data or data from the completed trial or any future trial will yield results that are consistent with the preliminary data presented, that we will be able to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of AAVrh74.MHCK7.micro-Dystrophin, that later trial results will support further development, or even if such later results are favorable, that we will be able to successfully complete the development of, obtain accelerated, conditional or standard regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize AAVrh74.MHCK7.micro-Dystrophin. Similarly, we cannot provide assurances that data from our studies with respect to EXONDYS 51, golodirsen, casimersen and gene therapy-based product candidates will be positive and consistent through the study periods or that the interpretation by regulators, such as the FDA or EMA, of the data we collect for our product or product candidates will be consistent with our interpretations.
In addition, different methodologies, assumptions and applications we utilize to assess particular safety or efficacy parameters may yield different statistical results. Even if we believe the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates are promising, these data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. Pre-clinical and clinical data can be interpreted in different ways. Accordingly, the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities could interpret these data in different ways from us or our partners, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval.
If our study data do not consistently or sufficiently demonstrate the safety or efficacy of any of our product candidates, including for those that are based on our PMO-based technologies, then the regulatory approvals for such product candidates could be significantly delayed as we work to meet approval requirements, or, if we are not able to meet these requirements, such approvals could be withheld or withdrawn. The completion of pre-clinical and clinical trials and regulatory approvals may be delayed for other reasons, such as delays related to patients enrollment for reasons including small patient population, competing clinical trials and patients concerns regarding trial design; manufacturing of product candidates; and clinical holds.
If there are significant delays in obtaining or we are unable to obtain or maintain required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates in a timely manner or at all, which could impair our ability to generate sufficient revenue and have a successful business.
The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, commercialization, marketing, selling and distribution of drug products are subject to extensive regulation by applicable local, regional and national regulatory authorities and regulations may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In the U.S., approvals and oversight from federal (e.g., FDA), state and other regulatory authorities are required for these activities. Sale and marketing of our product candidates in the U.S. or other countries is not permitted until we obtain the required approvals from the applicable regulatory authorities. Our ability to obtain the government or regulatory approvals required to commercialize any of our product candidates in any jurisdiction, including in the U.S. or
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the EU, cannot be assured, may be significantly delayed or may never be achieved for various reasons including the following:
| Our non-clinical, clinical, chemistry, manufacturing and controls and other data and analyses from past, current and future studies for any of our product candidates may not be sufficient to meet regulatory requirements for marketing application approvals. The regulatory authorities could disagree with our interpretations and conclusions regarding data we provide in connection with NDA or MAA submissions for one or more of our product candidates, and may delay, reject or refuse to accept for review, or approve any NDA or MAA submission we make or identify additional requirements for product approval to be submitted upon completion, if ever. In addition, in the U.S., an FDA advisory committee could determine that our data are insufficient to provide a positive recommendation for approval of any NDA we submit to the FDA. Even if we meet FDA requirements and an advisory committee votes to recommend approval of an NDA submission, the FDA could still disagree with the advisory committees recommendation and deny approval of a product candidate based on their review. |
| The regulatory approval process for product candidates targeting orphan diseases, such as DMD, that use new technologies and processes, such as antisense oligonucleotide therapies, and alternative approaches or endpoints for the determination of efficacy is uncertain due to, among other factors, evolving interpretations of a new therapeutic class, the broad discretion of regulatory authorities, lack of precedent, small safety databases, varying levels of applicable expertise of regulators or their advisory committees, scientific developments, changes in the competitor landscape, shifting political priorities and changes in applicable laws, rules or regulations and interpretations of the same. With respect to our gene therapy-based product candidates, although the FDA has encouraged sponsors to design first-in-patient studies as potential pivotal trials in a recent draft FDA guidance on gene therapy in rare disease, there is no assurance that we will be able to rely on this guidance to expedite the development of our gene therapy-based product candidate, including Nationwide Childrens Hospitals Phase 1/2a micro-dystrophin gene therapy clinical trial. Limited data exist regarding the safety and efficacy of gene therapy-based therapeutics, and government regulation of such therapeutics is still evolving. We cannot be sure that any of our product candidates will qualify for accelerated approval or any other expedited development, review and approval programs, or that, if a drug does qualify, that the product candidates will be approved, will be accepted as part of any such program or that the review time will be shorter than a standard review. As a result of uncertainty in the approval process for products intended to treat serious rare diseases, we may not be able to anticipate, prepare for or satisfy requests or requirements from regulatory authorities, including completing and submitting planned NDAs and MAAs for our product candidates, in a timely manner, or at all. Examples of such requests or requirements could include, but are not limited to, conducting additional or redesigned trials and procedures (e.g., additional safety data, patient muscle biopsies and dystrophin analyses), repeating or completing additional analysis of our data, or providing additional supportive data. In addition, in the U.S., an FDA advisory committee or regulators may disagree with our data analysis, interpretations and conclusions at any point in the approval process, which could negatively impact the approval of our NDA or result in a decision by the Company not to proceed with an NDA submission for a product candidate based on feedback from regulators. |
| We may not have the resources required to meet regulatory requirements and successfully navigate what is generally a lengthy, expensive and extensive approval process for commercialization of drug product candidates. Any failure on our part to respond to these requirements in a timely and satisfactory manner could significantly delay or negatively impact confirmatory study timelines and/or the development plans we have for golodirsen, casimersen, PPMO, gene therapy-based product candidates or other product candidates. Responding to requests from regulators and meeting requirements for clinical trials, submissions and approvals may require substantial personnel, financial or other resources, which, as a small biopharmaceutical company, we may not be able to obtain in a timely manner or at all. In addition, our ability to respond to requests from regulatory authorities that |
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involve our agents, third party vendors and associates may be complicated by our own limitations and those of the parties we work with. It may be difficult or impossible for us to conform to regulatory guidance or successfully execute our product development plans in response to regulatory guidance, including guidance related to clinical trial design with respect to any NDA or MAA submissions. |
Due to the above factors, among others, our product candidates could take a significantly longer time to gain regulatory approval than we expect, or may never gain regulatory approval, which would delay or eliminate any potential commercialization or product revenue for us and result in a material adverse effect on the Company that could involve changes, delays in or terminations of programs in our pipeline, delays or terminations of pre-clinical and clinical trials, and termination of contracts related to the development of our product candidates which can include significant termination costs, workforce reductions and limited ability to raise additional funds to execute company plans.
Even if we are able to comply with all regulatory requests and requirements, the delays resulting from satisfying such requests and requirements, the cost of compliance, or the effect of regulatory decisions (e.g., decisions limiting labeling and indications requested by us for a product candidate) may no longer make commercialization of a product candidate desirable for us from a business perspective, which could lead us to decide not to commercialize a product candidate.
Even after approval and commercialization of a product candidate, we remain subject to ongoing regulatory compliance and oversight to maintain our approval. Conducting our confirmatory studies could take years to complete, could yield negative or uninterpretable results or could result in an FDA determination that the studies do not provide the safety and efficacy requirements to maintain regulatory approval. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties or we may not be permitted to continue marketing our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and harm our competitive position in the market place.
If we fail to comply with healthcare and other regulations, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
As a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, certain federal and state healthcare laws and regulations will apply to or affect our business. The regulations include:
| federal healthcare program anti-kickback laws, which prohibit, among other things, persons from soliciting, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce either the referral of an individual, for an item or service or the purchasing or ordering of a good or service, for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid; |
| federal false claims laws which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, information or claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid or other third party payors that are false or fraudulent; |
| the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 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 report certain calculated product prices 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; |
| the so-called federal sunshine law, which requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies to monitor and report certain financial interactions with physicians and teaching hospitals to the federal government for re-disclosure to the public; and |
| state law equivalents of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third party payor, including commercial insurers, state |
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laws regulating interactions between pharmaceutical manufactures and health care providers, and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by federal laws, thus complicating compliance efforts. |
Responding to government investigations, defending any claims raised, and any resulting fines, restitution, damages and penalties, settlement payments or administrative actions, as well as any related actions brought by stockholders or other third parties, could have a material impact on our reputation, business and financial condition and divert the attention of our management from operating our business.
The number and complexity of both federal and state laws continues to increase, and additional governmental resources are being used to enforce these laws and to prosecute companies and individuals who are believed to be violating them. In particular, the Healthcare Reform Act includes a number of provisions aimed at strengthening the governments ability to pursue anti-kickback and false claims cases against pharmaceutical manufacturers and other healthcare entities, including substantially increased funding for healthcare fraud enforcement activities, enhanced investigative powers, and amendments to the False Claims Act that make it easier for the government and whistleblowers to pursue cases for alleged kickback and false claim violations. While it is too early to predict what effect these changes will have on our business, we anticipate that government scrutiny of pharmaceutical sales and marketing practices will continue for the foreseeable future and subject us to the risk of government investigations and enforcement actions. For example, federal enforcement agencies recently have shown interest in pharmaceutical companies product and patient assistance programs for private patients, including manufacturer reimbursement support services and relationships with specialty pharmacies. Some of these investigations have resulted in significant civil and criminal settlements. Responding to a government investigation or enforcement action would be expensive and time-consuming, and could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition and growth prospects.
In connection with the commercial launch of EXONDYS 51, we are in the process of expanding our compliance program, which is based on industry best practices and is designed to ensure that our commercialization of EXONDYS 51 complies with all applicable laws, regulations and industry standards. As the requirements in this area are constantly evolving, we cannot be certain that our program will eliminate all areas of potential exposure. Although compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against such action, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our managements attention from the operation of our business. Moreover, achieving and sustaining compliance with applicable federal and state privacy, security, fraud and reporting laws may prove costly.
The EU has enacted a new data privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation, a violation of which could subject us to significant fines.
In May 2018, a new privacy regime, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will take effect and immediately be binding across all member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR increases our obligations with respect to clinical trials conducted in the EEA by expanding the definition of personal data to include coded data, and requiring changes to informed consent practices and more detailed notices for clinical trial subjects and investigators. In addition, the GDPR increases the scrutiny that clinical trial sites located in the EEA should apply to transfers of personal data from such sites to countries that are considered to lack an adequate level of data protection, such as the U.S. The GDPR imposes substantial fines for breaches of data protection requirements, which can be up to four percent of global revenue or 20 million Euros, whichever is greater, and it also confers a private right of action on data subjects for breaches of data protection requirements. Compliance with these directives will be a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business, and despite those efforts, there is a risk that we may be subject to fines and penalties, litigation and reputational harm in connection with our European activities.
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We rely on third parties to conduct some aspects of our early stage research and pre-clinical and clinical development. The inadequate performance by or loss of any of these third parties could affect the development and commercialization of our product candidate development.
We have relied upon, and plan to continue to rely upon, third parties to conduct some aspects of our early stage research and pre-clinical and clinical development with respect to certain of our product candidates, including our follow-on exon-skipping product candidates, PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates. Our third-party collaborators may not commit sufficient resources or adequately develop our programs for these candidates. If our third-party collaborators fail to commit sufficient resources to any of our product candidates or to carry out their contractual duties or obligations, our programs related to any particular product candidate could be delayed, terminated, or unsuccessful. Furthermore, if we fail to make required payments to these third-party collaborators, including up-front, milestone, reimbursement or royalty payments, or to observe other obligations in our agreements with them, these third parties may not be required to perform their obligations under our respective agreements with them and may have the right to terminate such agreements.
We also have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party contract research organizations (CROs) to monitor and manage data for our ongoing pre-clinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our pre-clinical and clinical trials, and we control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on collaborators and CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities.
The individuals at our third-party collaborators and CROs who conduct work on our behalf, including their sub-contractors, are not always our employees, and although we participate in the planning of our early stage research and pre-clinical and clinical programs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources or exercise appropriate oversight of these programs, except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third parties. If our collaborators and CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our pre-clinical and clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.
In addition, the use of third-party service providers requires us to disclose our proprietary information to these parties, which could increase the risk that this information will be misappropriated. Furthermore, if these third parties cease to continue operations and we are not able to quickly find a replacement provider or we lose information or items associated with our product candidates, our development programs may be delayed. Although we carefully manage our relationships with our third-party collaborators and CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
We are winding down our expired U.S. government contract, and thus further development of our Ebola and Marburg product candidates may be limited by our ability to obtain additional funding for these programs and by the intellectual property and other rights retained by the U.S. government.
We have historically relied on U.S. government contracts and awards to fund and support certain development programs. The July 2010 U.S. Department of Defense (the DoD)contract providing funds for our Marburg program expired in July 2014, and the Ebola portion of the contract was previously terminated by the DoD in 2012 for convenience of the DoD. We are currently involved in contract wind-down activities and may be subject to additional government audits prior to collecting final cost reimbursements and fees owed by the government. If we are not able to complete such audits or other government requirements successfully, then the
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government may withhold some or all of the currently outstanding amounts owed to us. In addition, the U.S. government may have the right to develop all or some parts of product candidates that we have developed under a U.S. government contract after such contract has terminated or expired.
We may not be able to successfully conduct clinical trials due to various process-related factors which could negatively impact our business plans.
The successful start and completion of any of our clinical trials within time frames consistent with our business plans is dependent on regulatory authorities and various factors, which include, but are not limited to, our ability to:
| recruit and retain employees, consultants or contractors with the required level of expertise; |
| recruit and retain sufficient patients needed to conduct a clinical trial; |
| enroll and retain participants, which is a function of many factors, including the size of the relevant population, the proximity of participants to clinical sites, activities of patient advocacy groups, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the existence of competing clinical trials, the availability of alternative or new treatments, side effects from the therapy, lack of efficacy, personal issues and ease of participation; |
| timely and effectively contract with (under reasonable terms), manage and work with investigators, institutions, hospitals and the CROs involved in the clinical trial; |
| negotiate contracts and other related documents with clinical trial parties and institutional review boards, such as informed consents, CRO agreements and site agreements, which can be subject to extensive negotiations that could cause significant delays in the clinical trial process, with terms possibly varying significantly among different trial sites and CROs and possibly subjecting the Company to various risks; |
| ensure adherence to trial designs and protocols agreed upon and approved by regulatory authorities and applicable legal and regulatory guidelines; |
| manage or resolve unforeseen adverse side effects during a clinical trial; |
| conduct the clinical trials in a cost-effective manner, including managing foreign currency risk in clinical trials conducted in foreign jurisdictions and cost increases due to unforeseen or unexpected complications such as enrollment delays, or needing to outsource certain Company functions during the clinical trial; and |
| execute clinical trial designs and protocols approved by regulatory authorities without deficiencies. |
If we are not able to manage the clinical trial process successfully, our business plans could be delayed or be rendered unfeasible for us to execute within our planned or required time frames, or at all.
We have incurred operating losses since our inception and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
We incurred an operating loss of $70.1 million and $204.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively. Our accumulated deficit was $1.4 billion as of September 30, 2018. Although we launched EXONDYS 51 in the U.S. in September 2016, we believe that it will take us some time to attain profitability and positive cash flow from operations. We have generally incurred expenses related to research and development of our technologies and product candidates, from general and administrative expenses that we have incurred while building our business infrastructure. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and/or as we:
| continue our launch and commercialization of EXONDYS 51 in the U.S.; |
| expand the global footprint of EXONDYS 51 outside of the U.S.; |
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| establish our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities; |
| continue our research, pre-clinical and clinical development of our product candidates; |
| respond to and satisfy requests and requirements from regulatory authorities in connection with development and potential approval of our product candidates; |
| initiate additional clinical trials for our product candidates; |
| seek marketing approvals for our product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials; |
| acquire or in-license other product candidates; |
| maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; |
| increase manufacturing capabilities including capital expenditures related to our real estate facilities and entering into manufacturing agreements; |
| hire additional clinical, quality control and scientific personnel; and |
| add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts. |
As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant operating losses at least through 2018. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical products, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when, or if, we will become profitable.
We may need additional funds to conduct our planned research, development, manufacturing and business development efforts. If we fail to attract and manage significant capital on acceptable terms or fail to enter into strategic relationships, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
We may require additional capital from time to time in the future in order to meet FDA post-marketing approval requirements and market and sell EXONDYS 51 as well as continue the development of product candidates in our pipeline, to expand our product portfolio and to continue or enhance our business development efforts. The actual amount of funds that we may need and the sufficiency of the capital we have or are able to raise will be determined by many factors, some of which are in our control and others that are beyond our control. The Company and our board of directors continue to assess optimization in the size and structure of the Company as well as in its strategic plans. For example, in March 2016, we announced a long-term plan to consolidate facilities within Massachusetts and closing our Corvallis, Oregon offices by end of that year. In June 2017, we announced the opening of our research and manufacturing center in Andover, Massachusetts. In addition, we recently established our European headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. Any failure on our part to strategically and successfully manage the funds we raise, with respect to factors within our control, could impact our ability to successfully commercialize EXONDYS 51 and continue developing our product candidates. Some of the factors partially or entirely outside of our control that could impact our ability to raise funds, as well as the sufficiency of funds the Company has to execute its business plans successfully, include the success of our research and development efforts, the status of our pre-clinical and clinical testing, costs and timing relating to securing regulatory approvals and obtaining patent rights, regulatory changes, competitive and technological developments in the market, regulatory decisions, and any commercialization expenses related to any product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. An unforeseen change in these factors, or others, might increase our need for additional capital.
While we are currently well capitalized, we could seek additional financing from the sale and issuance of equity or equity-linked or debt securities in the future, and we cannot predict that financing will be available when and as we need financing or that, if available, the financing terms will be commercially reasonable. If we are unable to obtain additional financing when and if we require it, or on commercially reasonable terms, this would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
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If we are able to consummate such financings, the trading price of our common stock could be adversely affected and/or the terms of such financings may adversely affect the interests of our existing stockholders. To the extent we issue additional equity securities or convertible securities, our existing stockholders could experience substantial dilution in their economic and voting rights. Additional 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. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborators or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates, or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects.
Further, we may also enter into relationships with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to perform research and development with respect to our technologies, research programs, conduct clinical trials or market our product candidates. Other than pre-clinical collaborations with academic or research institutions and government entities for the development of additional exon-skipping product candidates for the treatment of DMD, we currently do not have a strategic relationship with a third party to perform research or development using our technologies or assist us in funding the continued development and commercialization of any of our programs or product candidates. If we were to have such a strategic relationship, such third party may require us to issue equity to such third party, relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us.
Servicing our 1.50% notes due 2024 (the Notes) requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow to pay our debt.
In 2017, we issued $570 million aggregate principal amount of Notes. Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, or to refinance our indebtedness, including the Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to many factors, including, economic, financial, competitive and other, beyond our control. We do not expect our business to be able to generate cash flow from operations, in the foreseeable future, sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures and may therefore be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our Notes, which are non-callable and mature in 2024, will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations, and limit our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to repurchase the Notes as required upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to repurchase the Notes.
Holders of the Notes will have the right to require us to repurchase their Notes for cash upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. A fundamental change may also constitute an event of default or prepayment under, and result in the acceleration of the maturity of, our then-existing indebtedness. We cannot assure you that we will have sufficient financial resources, or will be able to arrange financing, to pay the fundamental change repurchase price in cash with respect to any Notes surrendered by holders for repurchase upon a fundamental change. In addition, restrictions under our then existing credit facilities or other indebtedness, if any, may not allow us to repurchase the Notes upon a fundamental change. Our failure to repurchase the Notes upon a fundamental change when required would result in an event of default with respect to the Notes which could, in turn, constitute a default under the terms of our other indebtedness, if any. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes.
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Capped call transactions entered into in connection with our Notes may impact the value of our common stock.
In connection with the Notes, we entered into capped call transactions (the capped call transactions) with certain financial institutions. The capped call transactions are expected to generally reduce the potential dilution upon conversion of the Notes into shares of our common stock. In connection with establishing their initial hedges of the capped call transactions, these financial institutions or their respective affiliates entered into various derivative transactions with respect to our common stock and/or to purchase our common stock. The financial institutions, or their respective affiliates, may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to our common stock and/or purchasing or selling our common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions prior to the maturity of the Notes. This activity could also cause or avoid an increase or a decrease in the market price of our common stock or the Notes, which could affect the value of our common stock.
The estimates and judgments we make, or the assumptions on which we rely, in preparing our consolidated financial statements could prove inaccurate.
Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of our assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, the amounts of charges accrued by us and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Such estimates and judgments include revenue recognition, inventory, valuation of stock-based awards, research and development expenses and income tax. We base our estimates on historical experience, facts and circumstances known to us and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. We cannot provide assurances, however, that our estimates, or the assumptions underlying them, will not change over time or otherwise prove inaccurate. If this is the case, we may be required to restate our consolidated financial statements, which could, in turn, subject us to securities class action litigation. Defending against such potential litigation relating to a restatement of our consolidated financial statements would be expensive and would require significant attention and resources of our management. Moreover, our insurance to cover our obligations with respect to the ultimate resolution of any such litigation may be inadequate. As a result of these factors, any such potential litigation could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and cause our stock price to decline, which could in turn subject us to securities class action litigation.
Comprehensive tax reform in the United States could adversely affect our business and financial condition.
The TCJA was enacted on December 22, 2017 in the United States. The TCJA contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, elimination of U.S. tax on foreign earnings (subject to certain important exceptions), one-time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense, immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits.
Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the TCJA is uncertain, and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. We are still in the process of evaluating the TCJA and do not know the full effect it will have on our business, including our consolidated financial statements. The TCJA is complex and far-reaching and we cannot predict with certainty the impact its enactment will have on us. Moreover, that effect, whether adverse or favorable, may not become evident for some period of time. Further, we urge stockholders to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to the Tax Reform Act and the potential tax consequences of investing in our common stock.
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If we fail to retain our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, our future growth and our ability to compete would suffer.
We are highly dependent on the efforts and abilities of the principal members of our senior management. Additionally, we have scientific personnel with significant and unique expertise in RNA-targeted therapeutics and related technologies. The loss of the services of any one of the principal members of our managerial team or staff may prevent us from achieving our business objectives.
The competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology field is intense, and our future success depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate such personnel. In order to develop and commercialize our products successfully, we will be required to retain key management and scientific employees. In certain instances, we may also need to expand or replace our workforce and our management ranks. In addition, we rely on certain consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in the formulation and advancement of our research and development programs. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by other entities or have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with third parties that limit their availability to us, or both. If we are unable to attract, assimilate or retain such key personnel, our ability to advance our programs would be adversely affected.
If we are unable to effectively manage our growth, execute our business strategy and implement compliance controls and systems, the trading price of our common stock could decline. Any failure to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect investor confidence in our reported financial information.
We anticipate continued growth in our business operations due, in part, to the commercialization of EXONDYS 51. This future growth could create a strain on our organizational, administrative and operational infrastructure. Our ability to manage our growth properly and maintain compliance with all applicable rules and regulations will require us to continue to improve our operational, legal, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. We may not be able to build or maintain the management and human resources and infrastructure necessary to support the growth of our business. The time and resources required to implement systems and infrastructure that may be needed to support our growth is uncertain, and failure to complete implementation in a timely and efficient manner could adversely affect our operations.
We may engage in future acquisitions or collaborations with other entities that complement or expand our business. We may not be able to complete such transactions, and such transactions, if executed, may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.
We actively evaluate various strategic transactions on an ongoing basis, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, technologies or businesses. We may face competition from other companies in pursuing acquisitions and similar transactions in the biotechnology industry. Our ability to complete transactions may also be limited by applicable antitrust and trade regulation laws and regulations in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions in which we or the operations or assets we seek to acquire carry on business. To the extent that we are successful in undertaking acquisitions or collaborations with other entities, such transactions may entail numerous risks, including increased operating expenses and cash requirements, assimilation of operations and products and/or product candidates, retention of key employees, diversion of our managements attention, and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships of the acquired entities. In addition, if we undertake acquisitions, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense.
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Our success, competitive position and future revenue depend in part on our ability and the abilities of our licensors and other collaborators to obtain and maintain patent protection for our technologies, product and product candidates, to preserve our trade secrets, to prevent third parties from infringing on our proprietary rights and to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of third parties.
We currently directly hold various issued patents and patent applications, or have exclusive license or option rights to issued patents and patent applications, in each case in the U.S. as well as other countries that protect our platform technology, product and product candidates, including EXONDYS 51, golodirsen, casimersen, SRP-5051 as well as our gene therapy-based product candidates (micro-dystrophin and Galgt2). We anticipate filing additional patent applications both in the U.S. and in other countries. The patent process, however, is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and we can provide no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining and defending patents or in avoiding infringement of the rights of others. Even when our patent claims are allowed, the claims may not issue, or in the event of issuance, may not be sufficient to protect the technology owned by, optioned, or licensed to us or our collaborators. Even if our patents and patent applications do provide our product, product candidates and platform technology with a basis for exclusivity, we and our collaborators may not be able to develop or commercialize such product and product candidates (whether PMO-based or gene therapy-based) or platform technology due to patent positions held by one or more third parties.
We may not be able to obtain and maintain patent protection for our product or product candidates necessary to prevent competitors from commercializing competing product candidates. Our patent rights might be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or otherwise not provide any competitive advantage, and we might not be successful in challenging the patent rights of our competitors through litigation or administrative proceedings. Additionally, in order to maintain or obtain freedom to operate for our products and product candidates (whether PMO-based or gene therapy-based), we may incur significant expenses, including those associated with entering into agreements with third parties that require milestone and royalty payments. For example, in July 2017, we and The University of Western Australia on the one hand, and the BioMarin Parties and AZL on the other hand, executed a Settlement Agreement pursuant to which all existing efforts pursuing ongoing litigation, opposition and other administrative proceedings would be stopped as between the Settlement Parties and the Settlement Parties would cooperate to withdraw the Actions before the European Patent Office (except for actions involving third parties), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, except for the cross-appeal of the Interlocutory Decision of the Opposition Division dated April 15, 2013 of the European Patent Office of EP 1619249B1 in which we withdrew our appeal and the BioMarin Parties and AZL will continue with its appeal, with us having the right to provide input on the appeal. Any adverse rulings on the appeal, or any of the Actions that continue irrespective of the settlement, could come at any time and, if negative, could adversely affect our business and result in a decline in our stock price. Defending our patent positions may continue to require significant financial resources and could negatively impact other Company objectives. In addition, the expected benefits and opportunities related to the Settlement Agreement and the License Agreement may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected due to challenges and uncertainties regarding the sales of EXONDYS 51, the research and development of future exon-skipping products, BioMarins retained rights to convert the exclusive patent license under the Settlement Agreement to a co-exclusive license, BioMarin continuing certain oppositions and appeals, and patent oppositions that have been filed by other third parties, and patent oppositions and other patent challenges that may be filed by third parties in the future.
The patent positions of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. This uncertainty is heightened for our PMO-based product and product candidates and gene therapy-based product candidates for which there has been little patent litigation involving such technologies. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology patents has emerged to date in the U.S. and tests used for determining the patentability of patent claims in all technologies are in flux. In addition, there is no assurance as to the degree and range of protections any of our patents, if issued, may afford us or whether patents will be issued. Patents which may be issued to us may be subjected to further governmental review that may ultimately result in the reduction of their scope of protection, and pending patent applications may have their requested breadth of
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protection significantly limited before being issued, if issued at all. The pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences patent situation outside the U.S. can be even more uncertain.
The DMD patent landscape is continually evolving, and we may be able to assert that certain activities engaged in by third parties infringe on our current or future patent rights. There has been, and we believe that there will continue to be, significant litigation in the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. As such, the patents and patent applications that we own, license, have optioned, and rely on for exclusivity for our product candidates may be challenged. In the U.S., our patents may be challenged in an Inter Partes Review proceeding or other related proceeding. In other countries, other procedures are available for a third party to challenge the validity of our patent rights. For instance, we have rights to European Patent No. 2206781, which protects golodirsen. This patent was opposed at the European Patent Office. On December 19, 2017, the Opposition Division issued a Decision ordering the revocation of this patent. We have appealed this Decision. Patents we have rights to from BioMarin that cover our PMO-based candidates including golodirsen are involved in third party opposition proceedings in Europe. While a third party opposition proceeding against a patent we have rights to from BioMarin in Japan was resolved in our favor in a final decision, the possibility remains that this same patent can be challenged again by a different third party or in a different venue. These patents that we are defending in third party opposition proceedings, however, are not expected to be the sole basis for exclusivity for our product candidates, if at all, in view of their standard expiration dates.
As a matter of public policy, there might be significant pressure on governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection or impose compulsory licenses for disease treatments that prove successful. For instance, a group that includes Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requesting that HHS take title to five patents that cover eteplirsen under the Bayh-Dole Act as a remedy for allegedly failing to disclose NIH funding of inventions resulting from NIH grants. An investigation into the allegations by KEI is ongoing. Additionally, jurisdictions other than the U.S. might have less restrictive patent laws than the U.S., giving foreign competitors the ability to exploit these laws to create, develop and market competing products. The USPTO and patent offices in other jurisdictions have often required that patent applications concerning pharmaceutical and/or biotechnology-related inventions be limited or narrowed substantially to cover only the specific innovations exemplified in the patent application, thereby limiting the scope of protection against competitive challenges. Accordingly, even if we or our licensors are able to obtain patents, the patents might be substantially narrower than anticipated.
On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the Leahy-Smith Act), was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law, including provisions that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted, and may also affect patent litigation. The USPTO has issued regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, but many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act have only recently become effective. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could 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 and financial condition. For instance, a third party may petition the PTAB seeking to challenge the validity of some or all of the claims in any of our patents through an Inter Partes Review (IPR) or other post-grant proceeding. Should the PTAB institute an IPR (or other) proceeding and decide that some or all of the claims in the challenged patent are invalid, such a decision, if upheld on appeal, could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
The full impact of several recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to patent law is not yet known. For example, on March 20, 2012, in Mayo Collaborative Services, DBA Mayo Medical Laboratories, et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Court held that several claims drawn to measuring drug metabolite levels from patient samples and correlating them to drug doses were not patentable subject matter. The decision appears to impact diagnostics patents that merely apply a law of nature via a series of routine steps and it has created uncertainty around the ability to patent certain biomarker-related method claims. Additionally, on June 13, 2013,
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in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the Court held that claims to isolated genomic DNA are not patentable, but claims to complementary DNA molecules were held to be valid. The effect of the decision on patents for other isolated natural products is uncertain and, as with the Leahy-Smith Act, these decisions could 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 and financial condition.
Our business prospects will be impaired if third parties successfully assert that EXONDYS 51, our product candidates, those of our collaborators, or technologies infringe proprietary rights of such third parties.
Our competitors may make significant investments in competing technologies, and might have or obtain patents that limit, interfere with or eliminate our ability to make, use and sell EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates in important commercial markets.
If EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates (whether PMO-based or gene therapy-based) or technologies infringe enforceable proprietary rights of others, we could incur substantial costs and may have to:
| obtain rights or licenses from others, which might not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all; |
| abandon development of an infringing product candidate; |
| redesign EXONDYS 51, product candidates or processes to avoid infringement; |
| pay damages; and/or |
| defend litigation or administrative proceedings which might be costly whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial diversion of financial and management resources. |
Any of these events could substantially harm our potential earnings, financial condition and operations. The patent landscape of our product candidates (whether PMO-based or gene therapy-based) is continually evolving and multiple parties, including both commercial entities and academic institutions, may have rights to claims or may be pursuing additional claims that could provide these parties a basis to assert that EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates infringe on the intellectual property rights of such parties. Similarly, we may be able to assert that certain activities engaged in by these parties infringe on our current or future patent rights. To the extent that we enforce our patents, an alleged infringer may deny infringement and/or counter-claim that our patents are not valid, and if successful, could negatively impact our patent estate. There has been, and we believe that there will continue to be, significant litigation in the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. We also cannot be certain that other third parties will not assert patent infringement in the future with respect to any of our development programs.
We face intense competition and rapid technological change, which may result in other companies discovering, developing or commercializing competitive products.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are highly competitive and subject to significant and rapid technological change. We are aware of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are actively engaged in research and development in areas related to antisense technology, gene therapy technology and other technologies, or that are developing alternative approaches to or therapeutics for the disease indications on which we are focused. Some of these competitors are developing or testing product candidates that now, or may in the future, compete directly with EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates. For example, we believe that companies including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), Roche Innovation Center Copenhagen (formerly Santaris Pharma A/S), Wave Life Sciences, Daiichi Sankyo and Nippon Shinyaku share a focus on RNA-targeted drug discovery and development. Competitors with respect to EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates (whether PMO-based or gene therapy-based) include Nippon Shinyaku, Daiichi Sankyo, Wave Life Sciences, Solid, Pfizer, Shire plc; and other companies such as PTC have also been
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working on DMD programs. Additionally, several companies and institutions have entered into collaborations or other agreements for the development of product candidates, including mRNA, gene therapy and gene editing (CRIPSR and AAV, among others) and small molecule therapies that are potential competitors for therapies being developed in the muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular and rare disease space, including, but not limited to, Biogen Inc., Ionis, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sanofi, Shire, Eli Lilly, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Moderna Therapeutics, Inc., Summit, Akashi, Catabasis, Capricor Therapeutics, Oxford University, Exonics Therapeutics, and Editas Medicine. Although BioMarin announced on May 31, 2016 its intent to discontinue clinical and regulatory development of drisapersen as well as its other clinical stage candidates, BMN 044, BMN 045 and BMN 053, then-currently in Phase 2 studies for distinct forms of DMD, it further announced its intent to continue to explore the development of next generation oligonucleotides for the treatment of DMD.
If any of our competitors are successful in obtaining regulatory approval for any of their product candidates, it may limit our ability to gain or keep market share in the DMD space or other diseases targeted by our exon-skipping platform and product candidate pipeline.
It is possible that our competitors will succeed in developing technologies that limit the market size for EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates, impact the regulatory approval process for our product candidates that are more effective than our product candidates or that would render our technologies obsolete or noncompetitive. Our competitors may, among other things:
| develop safer or more effective products; |
| implement more effective approaches to sales and marketing; |
| develop less costly products; |
| obtain regulatory approval more quickly; |
| have access to more manufacturing capacity; |
| develop products that are more convenient and easier to administer; |
| form more advantageous strategic alliances; or |
| establish superior intellectual property positions. |
We may be subject to product liability claims and our insurance may not be adequate to cover damages.
The current and future use of our product candidates by us and our collaborators in clinical trials, expanded access programs, the sale of EXONDYS 51 and future products, or the use of our products under emergency use vehicles may expose us to liability claims inherent to the manufacture, clinical testing, marketing and sale of medical products. These claims might be made directly by consumers or healthcare providers or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies, our collaborators or others selling such products. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, we may experience financial losses in the future due to such product liability claims. We have obtained limited general commercial liability insurance coverage for our clinical trials. We intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products in connection with the FDAs approval of EXONDYS 51. However, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against all losses. If a successful product liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.
Our operations involve the use of hazardous materials, and we must comply with environmental laws, which can be expensive, and may affect our business and operating results.
Our research and development activities involve the use of hazardous materials, including organic and inorganic solvents and reagents. Accordingly, we are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling, manufacturing, exposure to and disposal of these hazardous materials. In
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addition, we are subject to environmental, health and workplace safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures, exposure to blood-borne pathogens and the handling of bio-hazardous materials. Although we believe that our activities conform in all material respects with such environmental laws, there can be no assurance that violations of these laws will not occur in the future as a result of human error, accident, equipment failure or other causes. Liability under environmental, health and safety laws can be joint and several and without regard to fault or negligence. The failure to comply with past, present or future laws could result in the imposition of substantial fines and penalties, remediation costs, property damage and personal injury claims, loss of permits or a cessation of operations, and any of these events could harm our business and financial condition. We expect that our operations will be affected by other new environmental, health and workplace safety laws on an ongoing basis, and although we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any such new laws, they may impose greater compliance costs or result in increased risks or penalties, which could harm our business.
We rely significantly on information technology and any failure, inadequacy, interruption or security lapse of that technology, including any cyber security incidents, could harm our ability to operate our business effectively.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and that of our suppliers, as well as personally identifiable information of EXONDYS 51 patients, clinical trial participants and employees. Similarly, our third party providers possess certain of our sensitive data. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information, including our data being breached at third party providers, could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, disrupt our operations and damage our reputation, which could adversely affect our business.
We may incur substantial costs in connection with litigation and other disputes.
In the ordinary course of business we may, and in some cases have, become involved in lawsuits and other disputes such as securities claims, intellectual property challenges, including interferences declared by the USPTO, and employee matters. It is possible that we may not prevail in claims made against us in such disputes even after expending significant amounts of money and company resources in defending our positions in such lawsuits and disputes. The outcome of such lawsuits and disputes is inherently uncertain and may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our stock price is volatile and may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control.
The market prices for and trading volumes of securities of biotechnology companies, including our securities, has historically been volatile. Our stock has had significant swings in trading prices, in particular in connection with our public communications regarding feedback received from regulatory authorities. For example, over the last thirty months, our stock has increased as much as 74% in a single day or decreased as much as 55% in a single day. The market has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to:
| the commercial performance of EXONDYS 51 in the U.S.; |
| the timing of our submissions to regulatory authorities and regulatory decisions and developments; |
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| positive or negative clinical trial results or regulatory interpretations of data collected in clinical trials conducted by us, our strategic partners, our competitors or other companies with investigational drugs targeting the same, similar or related diseases to those targeted by us; |
| delays in beginning and completing pre-clinical and clinical trials for potential product candidates; |
| delays in entering or failing to enter into strategic relationships with respect to development and/or commercialization of EXONDYS 51 or our product candidates or entry into strategic relationships on terms that are not deemed to be favorable to our Company; |
| technological innovations, product development or additional commercial product introductions by ourselves or competitors; |
| changes in applicable government regulations or regulatory requirements in the approval process; |
| developments concerning proprietary rights, including patents and patent litigation matters, such as developments in the interferences declared by the USPTO, including in the near term any outcomes of ongoing interference proceedings and over the longer term the outcomes from any related appeals; |
| public concern relating to the commercial value, efficacy or safety of any of our products; |
| our ability to obtain funds, through the issuance of equity or equity linked securities or incurrence of debt, or other corporate transactions; |
| comments by securities analysts; |
| developments in litigation such as the stockholder lawsuits against us; |
| changes in senior management; or |
| general market conditions in our industry or in the economy as a whole. |
Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of a companys stock, including ours, regardless of actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular companys securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managements attention and resources.
Provisions of our certificate of incorporation, bylaws and Delaware law might deter acquisition bids for us that might be considered favorable and prevent or frustrate any attempt to replace or remove the then-current management and board of directors.
Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us or effect a change in our board of directors and management. These provisions include:
| when the board is comprised of six or more directors, classification of our board of directors into two classes, with one class elected each year; |
| directors may only be removed for cause by the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of voting stock; |
| prohibition of cumulative voting of shares in the election of directors; |
| right of the board of directors to elect directors to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the board of directors or the resignation, death, disqualification or removal of a director; |
| express authorization of the board of directors to make, alter or repeal our bylaws; |
| prohibition on stockholder action by written consent; |
| advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings; |
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| the ability of our board of directors to authorize the issuance of undesignated preferred stock, the terms and rights of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval, including rights superior to the rights of the holders of common stock; and |
| a super-majority (66 2/3%) of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of capital stock are required to amend, rescind, alter or repeal our bylaws and certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation. |
In addition, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which may prohibit certain business combinations with stockholders owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock. These and other provisions in our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws and in the Delaware General Corporation Law could make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to obtain control of our board of directors or initiate actions that are opposed by the then-current board of directors.
Our revenues and operating results could fluctuate significantly, which may adversely affect our stock price.
Our revenues and operating results may vary significantly from year-to-year and quarter-to-quarter as well as in comparison to the corresponding quarter of the preceding year. Variations my result from one or more factors, including, without limitation:
| timing of purchase orders; |
| changes in coverage and reimbursement policies of health plans and other health insurers, especially in relation to those products that are currently manufactured, under development or identified for future development by us; |
| re-authorizations processes that may be required for patients who initially obtained coverage by third parties, including government payors, managed care organizations and private health insurers; |
| transition from temporary billing codes established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to permanent medical codes; |
| timing of approval of applications filed with the FDA; |
| timing of product launches and market acceptance of products launched; |
| changes in the amounts spent to research, develop, acquire, license or promote new and existing products; |
| results of clinical trial programs; |
| serious or unexpected health or safety concerns with our product or product candidates; |
| introduction of new products by others that render our product obsolete or noncompetitive; |
| the ability to maintain selling prices and gross margin on our product; |
| increases in the cost of raw materials contained within our product; |
| manufacturing and supply interruptions, including product rejections or recalls due to failure to comply with manufacturing specifications; |
| timing of revenue recognition relating to our distribution agreements; |
| the ability to protect our intellectual property from being acquired by other entities; |
| the ability to avoid infringing the intellectual property of others; and |
| the addition or loss of customers. |
In addition, in one or more future periods, our results of operations may fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline.
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A significant number of shares of our common stock are issuable pursuant to outstanding stock awards, and we expect to issue additional stock awards and shares of common stock in the future. Exercise of these awards and sales of shares will dilute the interests of existing security holders and may depress the price of our common stock.
As of September 30, 2018, there were approximately 66.7 million shares of common stock outstanding and outstanding awards to purchase 9.2 million shares of common stock under various incentive stock plans. Additionally, as of September 30, 2018, there were approximately 4.4 million shares of common stock available for future issuance under our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, approximately 0.2 million shares of common stock available for issuance under our 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and approximately 1.0 million shares of common stock available for issuance under our 2014 Employment Commencement Incentive Plan. We may issue additional common stock and warrants from time to time to finance our operations. We may also issue additional shares to fund potential acquisitions or in connection with additional stock options or other equity awards granted to our employees, officers, directors and consultants under our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan or our 2014 Employment Commencement Incentive Plan. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or warrants to purchase common stock and the perception that such issuances may occur or exercise of outstanding warrants or stock options may have a dilutive impact on other stockholders and could have a material negative effect on the market price of our common stock.
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This prospectus supplement and the SEC filings that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus contain or incorporate by reference forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can generally identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words such as believe, anticipate, expect, intend, plan, will, may, estimate, could, continue, ongoing, predict, potential, likely, seek and other similar expressions, as well as variations or negatives of these words. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other forward-looking information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
| our expectations regarding the continued growth of our business operations due, in part, to the commercialization of EXONDYS 51; |
| our pipeline, technologies and next-generation approaches and their respective potential benefits, including the potential of our PMO based compounds to reduce off-target effects and be rapidly designed to target specific tissues, genetic sequences, or pathogens; the potential of our PPMO to be tailored to reach other organs beyond muscle; the potential of micro-dystrophin and GALGT2 to treat all or nearly all DMD patients regardless of mutation; and CRSPR/Cas9s potential to be used to fix stop codon mutations in the dystrophin gene so that dystrophin can be translated to a function protein; |
| our belief that our highly differentiated, novel, proprietary and innovative RNA-targeted PMO-based platforms may represent a significant improvement over other RNA-targeted technologies; |
| our belief that our PMO-based compounds could potentially be applied to treat a broad spectrum of diseases; |
| our belief that golodirsen and casimersen will potentially address one of the most prevalent sets of mutations in DMD that are amenable to exon-skipping; |
| the timely completion and satisfactory outcome of our post-marketing requirements and commitments, including verification of a clinical benefit for EXONDYS 51 in confirmatory trials; |
| our ability to successfully expand the global footprint of eteplirsen in jurisdictions in which we have yet to obtain or do not have any near term ability or plans to obtain a full regulatory approval, including through obtaining an approval from the EMA, establishing compliant and successful MAPs, expanding our MAPs to include more countries over time, entering into any additional distribution, service and other contracts and building out the commercial, medical and other company infrastructure necessary to support the launch and support the distribution of eteplirsen in jurisdictions outside of the U.S.; |
| our expectation that the European Commission will adopt the CHPM negative opinion by year-end 2018; |
| the potential acceptance of EXONDYS 51, and our product candidates if they receive regulatory approval, in the marketplace and the accuracy of our projections regarding the market size in each of the jurisdictions that we target; |
| our ability to further secure long term supply of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates, including our PPMO, to satisfy our planned commercial, MAP, named-patient program and clinical needs; |
| our expectations regarding our ability to successfully conduct or accelerate research, development, pre-clinical, clinical and post-approval trials, and our expectations regarding the timing, design and results of such trials, including the potential consistency of data produced by these trials with prior results, as well as any new data and analyses relating to the safety profile and potential clinical benefits of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates, including golodirsen, casimersen, PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates; |
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| expected milestones and payments in connection with our agreement with Myonexus, Myonexus, Lacerta and Lysogene, including the expectation to dose the first patients in the MYO-101 program and in the LYS-SAF302 pivotal trial in the fourth quarter of 2018; |
| the impact of regulations and regulatory decisions and guidelines by the FDA and other regulatory agencies on our business, as well as the development of our product candidates and our financial and contractual obligations; |
| since the release of the Clinical Hold, there will be no material delay to our gene therapy micro-dystrophin program; |
| the possible impact of any competing products on the commercial success of EXONDYS 51 and our product candidates and our ability to compete against such products; |
| our expectation that private insurers will continue to consider the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and safety of EXONDYS 51, in determining whether to approve reimbursement for EXONDYS 51 and at what levels; |
| our ability to enter into research, development or commercialization alliances with universities, hospitals, independent research centers, non-profit organizations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and other entities for specific molecular targets or selected disease indications and our ability to selectively pursue opportunities to access certain intellectual property rights that complement our internal portfolio through license agreements or other arrangements; |
| our expectations regarding the potential benefits of the partnership, licensing and/or collaboration arrangements and other strategic arrangements and transactions we have entered into or may enter into in the future; |
| the extent of protection that our patents provide and our pending patent applications may provide, if patents issue from such applications, to our technologies and programs, and our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our technologies and programs; |
| our plans and ability to file and progress to issue additional patent applications to enhance and protect our new and existing technologies and programs; |
| our ability to invalidate some or all of the claims of patents issued to competitors and pending patent applications if issued to competitors, and the potential impact of those claims on the potential commercialization and continued commercialization, where authorized, of EXONDYS 51 and the potential commercialization of our product candidates, including golodirsen, casimersen, PPMO and gene therapy-based product candidates; |
| our ability to operate our business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; |
| our intention to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products in connection with the FDAs approval of EXONDYS 51; |
| our belief that our balance of cash, cash equivalents and investments is sufficient to fund our current operational plan for at least the next twelve months and statements about our future capital needs; |
| our estimates regarding future revenues, research and development expenses, other expenses, capital requirements and payments to third parties; |
| our ability to raise additional funds to support our business plans and strategies, including business development; |
| our expectations relating to potential funding from government and other sources for the development of some of our product candidates; |
| our ability to attract and retain key employees needed to execute our business plans and strategies and our expectations regarding our ability to manage the impact of any loss of key employees; |
| our ability to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations; |
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| the impact of the potential achievement of performance conditions and milestones relating to our stock awards; and |
| our beliefs and expectations regarding milestone, royalty or other payments that could be due to third parties under existing agreements. |
All forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, the risk factors set forth under the heading Risk Factors in this prospectus supplement, and in the section entitled Risk Factors incorporated herein by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and our subsequent filings with the SEC, incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement. Please reference Where You Can Find Additional Information. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus supplement. Except to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations of the SEC, we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus supplement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances described in this prospectus supplement may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
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We anticipate that the net proceeds to us, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us, will be approximately $477.1 million, or approximately $548.7 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase up to 572,550 of additional shares of common stock.
We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering principally for the continuation and initiation of further clinical trials, commercialization, manufacturing, business development activities including the potential licensing or acquisition of complementary products and technologies and other general corporate purposes. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures for each purpose may vary significantly depending upon numerous factors, including the status of our product development and clinical trial efforts, regulatory approvals, competition and our ability to obtain government funding or other non-dilutive financing for the development of certain of our product candidates. We reserve the right to change the use of proceeds as a result of certain contingencies such as competitive developments, opportunities to acquire technologies or products and other factors. Pending application of the proceeds of sale of the securities, we intend to invest the net proceeds of the sale in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments.
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MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL TAX CONSIDERATIONS FOR
NON-U.S. HOLDERS OF COMMON STOCK
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations relating to the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock by Non-U.S. Holders (defined below), but does not purport to be a complete analysis of all the potential tax considerations. This summary is based upon the Code, the Treasury regulations promulgated or proposed thereunder and administrative and judicial interpretations thereof, all as of the date hereof and all of which are subject to change at any time, possibly on a retroactive basis. This summary is limited to the tax consequences to those persons who hold our common stock as capital assets within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code.
This summary does not purport to deal with all aspects of U.S. federal income and estate taxation that might be relevant to particular Non-U.S. Holders in light of their particular investment circumstances or status, nor does it address specific tax considerations that may be relevant to particular persons (including, for example, financial institutions, broker-dealers, insurance companies, partnerships or other pass-through entities, certain U.S. expatriates, tax-exempt organizations, controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies, corporations that accumulate earnings to avoid U.S. federal income tax, or persons in special situations, such as those who have elected to mark securities to market or those who hold common stock as part of a straddle, hedge, conversion transaction, synthetic security or other integrated investment). In addition, this summary does not address U.S. federal alternative minimum, the unearned income Medicare contribution tax, certain estate and gift tax considerations or considerations under the tax laws of any state, local or non-U.S. jurisdiction.
This summary is for general information only. Non-U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning the U.S. federal income and estate taxation, state, local and non-U.S. taxation and other tax consequences to them of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock, as well as the application of state, local and non-U.S. income and other tax laws.
For purposes of this summary, a Non-U.S. Holder means a beneficial owner of common stock that for U.S. federal income tax purposes is not an entity treated as a partnership and is not:
| an individual who is a citizen or resident of the U.S., |
| a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation) created or organized under the laws of the U.S., any state thereof, or the District of Columbia, |
| an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source, or |
| a trust if (a) a court within the U.S. is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust, and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (b) a valid election to be treated as a U.S. person is in effect with respect to such trust. |
If a partnership, or an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, holds common stock, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the partners tax status and upon the activities of the partnership. Accordingly, partnerships and other entities that are classified as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes that hold our common stock and partners in such partnerships should consult their tax advisors.
Dividends
We did not declare or pay cash dividends on our common stock in 2017, 2016 or 2015. We currently expect to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors.
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Distributions on Our Common Stock
As discussed under Dividends above, we do not currently expect to pay dividends. In the event that we do make a distribution of cash or property with respect to our common stock, any such distributions will be treated as a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles). If a distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will be treated first as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of the Non-U.S. Holders tax basis in our common stock and thereafter as capital gain from the sale or exchange of such stock. Any such distribution would also be subject to the discussion below under the section titled Additional Withholding and Information Reporting Requirements. Dividends paid to a Non-U.S. Holder generally will be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax unless such Non-U.S. Holder provides us or our agent, as the case may be, with a properly executed:
1. | U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or successor form) claiming, under penalties of perjury, a reduction in withholding under an applicable income tax treaty, or |
2. | IRS Form W-8ECI (or successor form) stating that a dividend paid on common stock is not subject to withholding tax because it is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business of the Non-U.S. Holder (in which case such dividend generally will be subject to regular graduated U.S. tax rates as described below). |
The certification described above must be provided to us or another applicable withholding agent prior to the payment of the dividends and must be updated periodically. The certification requirement also may require a Non-U.S. Holder that provides an IRS form or that claims treaty benefits to provide its U.S. taxpayer identification number. Special certification and other requirements apply in the case of certain Non-U.S. Holders that are intermediaries or pass-through entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Each Non-U.S. Holder is urged to consult its tax advisor about the specific methods for satisfying these requirements. A claim for exemption will not be valid if the person receiving the applicable form has actual knowledge or reason to know that the statements on the form are false.
If dividends are effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business of the Non-U.S. Holder (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment), the Non-U.S. Holder, although exempt from the withholding tax described above (provided that the certifications described above are satisfied), will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on such dividends on a net income basis in the same manner as if it were a resident of the U.S. In addition, if such Non-U.S. Holder is a non-U.S. corporation and dividends are effectively connected with its U.S. trade or business (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment), such Non-U.S. Holder may be subject to an additional branch profits tax equal to 30% (unless reduced by an applicable income treaty) in respect of such effectively-connected income.
If a Non-U.S. Holder is eligible for a reduced rate of U.S. federal withholding tax pursuant to an income tax treaty, such holder may obtain a refund or credit of any excess amount withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for refund with the IRS.
Disposition of Our Common Stock
Subject to the discussion below under the section titled Additional Withholding and Information Reporting Requirements, in general, a Non-U.S. Holder will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax or withholding tax on gain recognized on a sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of a share of our common stock, unless:
| the gain is effectively connected with a trade or business of the Non-U.S. Holder in the U.S. (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment); |
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| the Non-U.S. Holder is a nonresident alien who is present in the U.S. for 183 days or more in the taxable year of the disposition and meets certain other conditions; or |
| we are or have been a United States real property holding corporation, as defined in the Code (a USRPHC), at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding the disposition and the Non-U.S. Holders holding period in the share of our common stock. |
We believe we are not, and do not anticipate becoming, a USRPHC. However, because the determination of whether we are a USRPHC depends on the fair market value of our U.S. real property relative to the fair market value of other business assets, there can be no assurance that we will not become a USRPHC in the future. Even if we become a USRPHC, a Non-U.S. Holder would not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of our common stock so long as our common stock continues to be regularly traded on an established securities market and such Non-U.S. Holder does not own and is not deemed to own (directly, indirectly or constructively) more than 5% of our common stock at any time during the shorter of the five year period ending on the date of disposition and the holders holding period.
If a Non-U.S. Holder is engaged in a trade or business in the U.S. and gain recognized by the Non-U.S. Holder on a sale or other disposition of our common stock is effectively connected with the conduct of such trade or business, the Non-U.S. Holder will generally be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the Non-U.S. Holder were a U.S. person, subject to an applicable income tax treaty providing otherwise. Additionally, a non-U.S. corporation may also, under certain circumstances, be subject to an additional branch profits tax imposed at a rate of 30% (or, if applicable, a lower income tax treaty rate). Non-U.S. Holders whose gain from dispositions of our common stock may be effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the U.S. are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to the U.S. tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock.
A nonresident alien who is subject to U.S. federal income tax because such individual was present in the U.S. for 183 days or more in the taxable year of the taxable disposition of our common stock will be subject to a flat 30% tax on the gain derived from such disposition, which may be offset by U.S. source capital loss.
Backup Withholding and Information Reporting
Generally, we must report annually to the IRS and to each Non-U.S. Holder certain information including the Non-U.S. Holders name, address and taxpayer identification number, the aggregate amount of distributions on our common stock paid to that Non-U.S. Holder during the calendar year and the amount of tax withheld, if any.
Backup withholding tax is imposed on dividends and certain other types of payments to certain U.S. persons (currently at a rate of 28%). In general, backup withholding tax will not apply to payments of dividends on common stock or proceeds from the sale of common stock payable to a Non-U.S. Holder if the certification described above under Distributions on Our Common Stock is duly provided by such Non-U.S. Holder or the Non-U.S. Holder otherwise establishes an exemption, provided that the payor does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that the Non-U.S. Holder is a U.S. person or that the conditions of any claimed exemption are not satisfied. Certain information reporting may still apply to distributions even if an exemption from backup withholding is established. Copies of any information returns reporting the distributions to a Non-U.S. Holder and any withholding also may be made available to the tax authorities in the country in which a Non-U.S. Holder resides under the provisions of an applicable income tax treaty.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amounts withheld under the backup withholding tax rules from a payment to a Non-U.S. Holder will be allowed as a refund or a credit against such Non-U.S. Holders U.S. federal income tax liability, provided that the requisite procedures are followed.
Non-U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding their particular circumstances and the availability of and procedure for obtaining an exemption from backup withholding.
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Additional Withholding and Information Reporting Requirements
Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code and related Treasury Regulations, together with other Treasury Department or IRS guidance issued thereunder, and intergovernmental agreements, legislation, rules and other official guidance adopted pursuant to such intergovernmental agreements (commonly referred to as FATCA) generally impose a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% on payments to certain non-U.S. entities (including certain intermediaries), including dividends on our common stock and, on or after January 1, 2019, the gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of shares of our common stock, unless such persons comply with a complicated U.S. information reporting, disclosure and certification regime. This regime requires, among other things, a broad class of persons to enter into agreements with the IRS to obtain, disclose and report information about their investors and account holders. An intergovernmental agreement between the U.S. and an applicable foreign country may, however, modify these requirements. Prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible impact of these rules on their investment in our common stock, and the possible impact of these rules on the entities through which they hold our common stock, including, without limitation, the process and deadlines for meeting the applicable requirements to prevent the imposition of this 30% withholding tax under FATCA.
U.S. Federal Estate Tax
Common stock owned or treated as owned by an individual who is a Non-U.S. Holder at the time of death generally will be included in the individuals gross estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes and may be subject to U.S. federal estate tax unless an applicable estate or other tax treaty provides otherwise.
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Purchasers of common stock offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus will suffer immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value per share of common stock. Our net tangible book value as of September 30, 2018 was approximately $624.5 million, or approximately $9.36 per share of common stock. Net tangible book value per share represents the amount of total tangible assets less total liabilities, divided by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2018.
Dilution in net tangible book value per share represents the difference between the amount per share paid by purchasers of shares in this offering and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering. After giving effect to the sale of 3,817,000 shares of common stock in this offering at a public offering price of $131.00 per share, and after deduction of the estimated offering expenses payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2018 would have been approximately $1,101.6 million, or $15.62 per share of common stock. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $6.26 per share of common stock to our existing shareholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $115.38 per share of common stock to investors participating in this offering. The following table illustrates this per share dilution:
Public offering price per share |
$ | 131.00 | ||||||
Net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2018 |
$ | 9.36 | ||||||
Increase per share attributable to this offering |
$ | 6.26 | ||||||
As adjusted net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2018, after giving effect to this offering |
$ | 15.62 | ||||||
Dilution per share to new investors participating in this offering |
$ | 115.38 | ||||||
|
|
The above table is based on 66,693,348 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2018 and excludes the following:
| 9,056,152 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2002 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 199,544 shares of restricted stock units issuable upon vesting under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 100,000 shares subject to stock appreciation rights under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 980,190 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan; |
| 163,266 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan; and |
| 4,434,693 shares of our common stock available for future issuance under our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan. |
To the extent that any options or warrants are exercised, new options are issued under our equity incentive plans, or we otherwise issue additional shares of common stock in the future, there will be further dilution to new investors.
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If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase 572,550 additional shares of common stock at the public offering price of $131.00 per share, the adjusted net tangible book value after this offering would be $16.51 per share, representing an increase in net tangible book value of $7.14 per share to existing stockholders and immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $114.49 per share to investors purchasing our common stock in this offering at the public offering price.
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We are offering the shares of common stock described in this prospectus supplement through a number of underwriters. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC are acting as book-running managers of the offering and as representatives of the underwriters. We have entered into an underwriting agreement with the underwriters. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter has severally agreed to purchase, at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement, the number of shares of common stock listed next to its name in the following table:
Name |
Number of Shares | |||
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC |
1,374,120 | |||
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC |
1,145,100 | |||
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC |
648,890 | |||
Cowen and Company, LLC | 267,190 | |||
William Blair & Company, L.L.C. | 133,595 | |||
Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated | 76,340 | |||
Nomura Securities International, Inc. | 76,340 | |||
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. | 57,255 | |||
H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC | 38,170 | |||
Total |
3,817,000 | |||
|
|
The underwriters are committed to purchase all the common shares offered by us if they purchase any shares. The underwriting agreement also provides that if an underwriter defaults, the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may also be increased or the offering may be terminated. The offering of the shares by the underwriters is subject to receipt and acceptance and subject to the underwriters right to reject any order in whole or in part.
The underwriters propose to offer the shares of common stock directly to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement. After the public offering of the shares, the offering price and other selling terms may be changed by the underwriters.
The underwriters have a 30 day option to buy up to 572,550 additional shares of common stock from us. If any shares are purchased with this option, the underwriters will purchase shares in approximately the same proportion as shown in the table above. If any additional shares of common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.
The underwriting fee is equal to the public offering price per share of common stock less the amount paid by the underwriters to us per share of common stock. The underwriting fee is $5.895 per share. The underwriters have advised us that they propose to offer the shares of common stock to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and to certain dealers, which may include the underwriters, at that price less a concession not in excess of $1.179 per share of common stock. The following table shows the per share and total underwriting discounts and commissions we will pay to the underwriters assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional shares.
No Exercise | Full Exercise | |||||||
Per share |
$ | 5.895 | $ | 5.895 | ||||
Total to be paid by us |
$ | 22,501,215.00 | $ | 25,876,397.25 |
We estimate that the total expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, but excluding the underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $0.4 million. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriters up to an aggregate of $10,000 for fees incurred by them in connection with any required filings with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
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We and our directors and executive officers have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters prior to the commencement of this offering pursuant to which we and each of these persons or entities for a period of 60 days and 45 days, respectively, after the date of this prospectus supplement, may not, subject to limited exceptions, including the ability to sell shares under currently existing Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, without the prior written consent of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (i) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, lend, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock or any other securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of our common stock or (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the common stock, whether any such transaction described in clause (i) or (ii) above is to be settled by delivery of shares of our common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise.
We have agreed to indemnify the several underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol SRPT.
In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock while this offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of the common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of shares of common stock than they are required to purchase in this offering, and purchasing shares of common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be covered shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters option referred to above, or may be naked shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriters may close out any covered short position either by exercising their option, in whole or in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriters may purchase shares through the option. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering. To the extent that the underwriters create a naked short position, they will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.
The underwriters have advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M of the Securities Act, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representatives of the underwriters purchase common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representatives can require the underwriters that sold those shares as part of this offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.
These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriters commence these activities, they may discontinue them at any time. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the Nasdaq Global Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.
In addition, in connection with this offering certain of the underwriters (and selling group members) may engage in passive market making transactions in our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market prior to the pricing and completion of this offering. Passive market making consists of displaying bids on the Nasdaq Global Market no higher than the bid prices of independent market makers and making purchases at prices no higher than these independent bids and effected in response to order flow. Net purchases by a passive market maker on each day are generally limited to a specified percentage of the passive market makers average daily trading
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volume in the common stock during a specified period and must be discontinued when such limit is reached. Passive market making may cause the price of our common stock to be higher than the price that otherwise would exist in the open market in the absence of these transactions. If passive market making is commenced, it may be discontinued at any time.
A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the web sites maintained by one or more underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the representatives to underwriters and selling group members that may make Internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.
Other Relationships
The underwriters and their respective affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include sales and trading, commercial and investment banking, advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, market making, brokerage and other financial and non-financial activities and services. Certain of the underwriters and their respective affiliates have provided, and may in the future provide, a variety of these services to the Company and to persons and entities with relationships with the Company, for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses.
In the ordinary course of their various business activities, the underwriters and their respective affiliates, officers, directors and employees may purchase, sell or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade securities, derivatives, loans, commodities, currencies, credit default swaps and other financial instruments for their own account and for the accounts of their customers, and such investment and trading activities may involve or relate to assets, securities and/or instruments of the Company (directly, as collateral securing other obligations or otherwise) and/or persons and entities with relationships with the Company. The underwriters and their respective affiliates may also communicate independent investment recommendations, market color or trading ideas and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such assets, securities or instruments and may at any time hold, or recommend to clients that they should acquire, long and/or short positions in such assets, securities and instruments.
Selling Restrictions
European Economic Area
In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a Relevant Member State) an offer to the public of our common shares may not be made in that Relevant Member State, except that an offer to the public in that Relevant Member State of our common shares may be made at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Directive:
(a) | to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive; |
(b) | to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Directive), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representatives for any such offer; or |
(c) | in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive, |
provided that no such offer of shares of our common stock shall result in a requirement for the publication by us or any underwriter of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.
For the purposes of this provision, the expression an offer to the public in relation to our common shares in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and our common shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase our common shares, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the
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Prospectus Directive in that Member State, the expression Prospectus Directive means Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended), including by Directive 2010/73/EU, and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State.
This European Economic Area selling restriction is in addition to any other selling restrictions set out below.
United Kingdom
Each underwriter has represented and agreed that:
(a) | it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) received by it in connection with the issue or sale of the shares of our common stock in circumstances in which Section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply to us; and |
(b) | it has complied and will comply with all applicable provisions of the FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the shares of our common stock in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom. |
Canada
The shares may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the shares must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.
Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchasers province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchasers province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.
Pursuant to section 3A.3 (or, in the case of securities issued or guaranteed by the government of a non-Canadian jurisdiction, section 3A.4) of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.
Hong Kong
The ADSs may not be offered or sold by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to professional investors within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a prospectus within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the ADSs may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to ADSs which are or are intended to be disposed of only
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to persons outside Hong Kong or only to professional investors within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.
Singapore
This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the ADSs may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the ADSs be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the SFA), (ii) to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.
Where the ADSs are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 by a relevant person which is: (a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or (b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary is an accredited investor, ADSs, debentures and units of ADSs and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries rights and interest in that trust shall not be transferable for 6 months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the ADSs under Section 275 except: (1) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA; (2) where no consideration is given for the transfer; or (3) by operation of law.
Japan
The securities have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law) and each underwriter has agreed that it will not offer or sell any securities, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan.
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The validity of the shares of common stock offered hereby will be passed upon by Ropes & Gray LLP, Boston, Massachusetts. Certain legal matters in connection with this offering will be passed upon for the underwriters by Goodwin Procter LLP, New York, New York.
The consolidated financial statements of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017, and managements assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017 have been incorporated by reference herein in reliance upon the reports of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We have filed a registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC for the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including the information incorporated by reference herein and therein, do not include all of the information contained in the registration statement. You should refer to the registration statement and its exhibits for additional information.
We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC under the Exchange Act. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SECs Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the Public Reference Room. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments to those reports, and other information that we file with or furnish to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act can also be accessed free of charge on our website at http://www.sarepta.com under the Investor RelationsSEC Filings caption. These filings will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not part of this prospectus supplement.
You should rely only on the information provided in, and incorporated by reference in, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and the registration statement to which this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus form a part. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information. Our securities are not being offered in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. The information contained in documents that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the dates of those documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
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INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE
The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference the information we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document that we have filed separately with the SEC. You should read the information incorporated by reference because it is an important part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following information or documents that we have filed with the SEC:
| our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2018; |
| our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2018, June 30, 2018 and September 30, 2018, filed with the SEC on May 3, 2018 August 8, 2018 and October 31, 2018, respectively; |
| our amendment to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q/A for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018; |
| our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as filed with the SEC on March 1, 2018, March 12, 2018, June 6, 2018, June 27, 2018, July 26, 2018, August 1, 2018, September 21, 2018, September 24, 2018 and October 24, 2018 (except, with respect to each of the foregoing, for portions of such reports which were deemed to be furnished and not filed); and |
| the description of our common stock contained in our Current Report on Form 8-K12B filed with the SEC on June 6, 2013. |
All reports and other documents we subsequently file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the termination of this offering, but excluding any information furnished to, rather than filed with, the SEC, will also be incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and deemed to be part of this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus from the date of the filing of such reports and documents.
Any statement contained in any document incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus supplement to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus supplement or accompanying prospectus modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus.
We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request, a copy of any or all documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, but not delivered with the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into the documents that this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus incorporates. You should direct written requests to: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., 215 First Street, Suite 415, Cambridge, MA 02142, or you may call us at (617) 274-4000.
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PROSPECTUS
SAREPTA THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Debt Securities, Warrants and Units
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. or certain selling securityholders may, from time to time offer, in one or more classes or series, separately or together, and in amounts, at prices and on terms to be set forth in one or more supplements to this prospectus, common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock or debt securities, or any combination of the foregoing, either individually or as units comprised of two or more other securities.
We refer to the common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and units registered hereunder collectively as the securities in this prospectus. We will offer our securities in amounts, at prices and on terms determined at the time of the offering of any such security.
The prospectus provides a general description of the securities we or any selling securityholder may offer. The specific terms of each series or class of the securities will be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement and will include, as applicable: (i) in the case of common stock, any public offering price; (ii) in the case of preferred stock, the specific title and any dividend, liquidation, redemption, conversion, voting and other rights and any public offering price; (iii) in the case of debt securities, the specific terms of such debt securities; (iv) in the case of warrants, the duration, offering price, exercise price and detachability; and (v) in the case of units, the constituent securities comprising the units, the offering price and detachability.
We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you in connection with these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus may add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the documents incorporated by reference before you invest in any of our securities. This prospectus may not be used to sell securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.
Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol SRPT. On February 24, 2016, the last reported sale price on The NASDAQ Global Select Market was $14.43 per share. There is currently no market for the other securities we may offer.
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Please carefully read the information under the heading Risk Factors beginning on page 3 of this prospectus before you invest in our securities. This information may also be included in any supplement, any related free writing prospectus and/or any other future filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.
NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THESE SECURITIES OR DETERMINED IF THIS PROSPECTUS IS TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
We may offer and sell these securities to or through one or more underwriters, dealers and agents, or directly to purchasers, on a continuous or delayed basis. In addition, certain selling securityholders may offer and sell our securities from time to time. We will provide specific information about any selling securityholders in one or more supplements to this prospectus. If any underwriters, dealers or agents are involved in the sale of any of the securities, their names, and any applicable purchase price, fee, commission or discount arrangement between or among them will be set forth, or will be calculable from the information set forth, in the applicable prospectus supplement. See the sections entitled Plan of Distribution and About This Prospectus for more information. The price to the public of those securities and the net proceeds we or any selling securityholders expect to receive from that sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement. No securities may be sold without delivery of this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such series of securities.
The date of this Prospectus is February 25, 2016.
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using a shelf registration process. Under this shelf process, we or any selling securityholder may, from time to time, offer or sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings.
This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities offered by us or any selling securityholder. Each time we or any selling securityholder sell securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information about the terms of that offering. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add to, update or change information contained in the prospectus or in any documents that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and, accordingly, to the extent inconsistent, information in this prospectus is superseded by the information in the prospectus supplement or the related free writing prospectus.
You should only rely on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. We have not authorized any other person to provide you with different information. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any information that others may give you. You should read the entire prospectus and any prospectus supplement and any related issuer free writing prospectus, as well as the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement, before making an investment decision. The prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement, if any, do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor do this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. You should assume that the information in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of the document and that any information we have incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date of the document incorporated by reference, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of a security. We do not imply or represent by delivering this prospectus that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., or its business, financial condition or results of operations, are unchanged after the date on the front of this prospectus or that the information in this prospectus is correct as any time after such date.
In this prospectus, unless the context otherwise requires, Sarepta, the Company, we, us, our and similar names refer to Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
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Our Business
We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of unique RNA-targeted therapeutics for the treatment of rare, infectious and other diseases. Applying our proprietary, highly-differentiated and innovative platform technologies, we are able to target a broad range of diseases and disorders through distinct RNA-targeted mechanisms of action. We are primarily focused on rapidly advancing the development of our potentially disease-modifying Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug candidates, including our lead DMD product candidate, eteplirsen, designed to skip exon 51. On August 25, 2015, we announced the filing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of our new drug application (NDA) for eteplirsen for the treatment of DMD amenable to exon 51 skipping. We are also developing therapeutics using our technology for the treatment of drug resistant bacteria and infectious, rare and other human diseases.
Recent Developments
On January 20, 2016, the FDA postponed the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee meeting for the review of eteplirsen previously scheduled for January 22, 2016 due to severe weather. On February 8, 2016, we announced that the FDA notified us that the Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date for eteplirsen had been extended to May 26, 2016 due to our submission of four-year clinical effectiveness data on January 8, 2016 to the FDA, which the FDA designated as a major amendment to the eteplirsen NDA.
Corporate Information
We were originally incorporated in the State of Oregon on July 22, 1980 and, on June 6, 2013, we reincorporated in the State of Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 215 First Street, Suite 415, Cambridge, MA 02142 and our telephone number is (617) 274-4000. We maintain an Internet website at www.sarepta.com. We have not incorporated the information on our website by reference into this prospectus, and you should not consider it to be a part of this prospectus.
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Investment in any securities offered pursuant to this prospectus involves risks. You should carefully consider the risk factors incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K we file after the date of this prospectus, together with any amendments or supplements thereto and all other information contained or incorporated by reference into this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Exchange Act, and the risk factors and other information contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, before acquiring any of such securities. The occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities. Please also refer to the section below titled Forward-Looking Statements. Additional risks not known to us or that we believe are immaterial may also significantly impair our business operations and could result in a loss of all or part of your investment in the offered securities.
This prospectus and the SEC filings that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus contain or incorporate by reference forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can generally identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words such as believe, anticipate, expect, intend, plan, will, may, estimate, could, continue, ongoing, predict, potential, likely, seek and other similar expressions, as well as variations or negatives of these words. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other forward-looking information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
| our expectations regarding the timing of research, development, preclinical and clinical trial results, data and analyses relating to the safety profile and potential clinical benefits of our product candidates, including eteplirsen, our phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO) chemistries, our other PMO-based chemistries and our other RNA-targeted technologies; |
| our expectations regarding the FDAs interpretation of our data and information on our product candidates, PMO and PMO-based chemistries and RNA-targeted technologies and the impact of the FDAs interpretations on our FDA submissions (including our NDAs and investigational new drug applications (INDs)), filing decisions by the FDA, potential advisory committee meeting dates and advisory committee recommendations, and FDA product approval decisions and related timelines; |
| our estimates regarding how long our currently available cash, cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to finance our operations and business plans and statements about our future capital needs; |
| our current and planned investment in and activities in preparation for a potential commercial launch of eteplirsen, including continuing to negotiate and enter into commercial and supply contracts, scaling up manufacturing and hiring commercial positions and the impact of winding down or terminating these commitments if the FDA does not approve our eteplirsen NDA; |
| our ability to raise additional funds to support our business plans and the impact of our credit and security agreement with MidCap Financial on our financial condition and future operations; |
| our expectations regarding our ability to become a leading developer and marketer of PMO-based and RNA-targeted therapeutics and commercial viability of our product candidates, chemistries and technologies; |
| the potential safety, efficacy, potency and utility of our product candidates, chemistries and technologies in the treatment of DMD and in rare, infectious and other diseases; |
| our expectations regarding the timing, completion and receipt of results from our ongoing development programs for our pipeline of product candidates including their potential consistency with prior results; |
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| our ability to effectively manage the clinical trial process for our product candidates on a timely basis, including our ability to conduct a placebo-controlled confirmatory study for eteplirsen in the U.S. using an exon 53-skipping product candidate; |
| our expectations regarding our ability to engage a number of manufacturers with sufficient capability and capacity to meet our manufacturing needs, including with respect to the manufacture of subunits, drug substance (APIs) and drug product, within the time frames and quantities needed to provide our product candidates, including eteplirsen, to patients in larger scale clinical trials or in potential commercial quantities, and meet regulatory and Company quality control requirements; |
| the impact of regulations as well as regulatory decisions by the FDA and other regulatory agencies on our business, including with respect to our eteplirsen NDA submission as well as the development of our product candidates and our financial and contractual obligations; |
| our expectations regarding the potential markets for our product candidates; |
| our expectations regarding our manufacturing and scale-up techniques and our ability to synthesize and purify our product candidates to adequately support clinical development and potential commercialization; |
| the potential acceptance of our product candidates, if introduced, in the marketplace; |
| the possible impact of competing products on our product candidates and our ability to compete against such products; |
| the impact of potential difficulties in product development, manufacturing, or the commercialization of our product candidates, including difficulties in establishing the commercial infrastructure necessary for the commercialization of eteplirsen; |
| our expectations regarding partnering opportunities and other strategic transactions; |
| the extent of protection that our patents provide and our pending patent applications may provide, if patents issue from such applications, to our technologies and programs; |
| our plans and ability to file and progress to issue additional patent applications to enhance and protect our new and existing technologies and programs; |
| our ability to invalidate some or all of the claims of patents issued to competitors and pending patent applications if issued to competitors, and the potential impact of those claims on the potential commercialization of our product candidates; |
| our ability to successfully challenge the patent positions of our competitors and successfully defend our patent positions in the actions that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may take or has taken with respect to our patent claims or those of third parties, including with respect to interferences that have been declared between our patents and patent applications held by BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., relating to eteplirsen and SRP-4053 and our expectations regarding the impact of these interferences on our business plans, including our current commercialization plans for eteplirsen and SRP-4053; |
| our ability to operate our business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; |
| our ability to enter into contracts, including collaborations or licensing agreements, with respect to our technology and product candidates, with third parties, including government entities; |
| our estimates regarding future revenues, research and development expenses, other expenses, capital requirements and payments to third parties; |
| the timing and outcomes of ongoing interference proceedings and related appeals; |
| the impact of litigation on us, including actions brought by stockholders; |
| our ability to attract and retain key employees needed to execute our business plans and strategies and our expectations regarding our ability to manage the impact of any loss of key employees; |
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| our ability to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations; |
| our expectations relating to potential funding from government and other sources for the development of some of our product candidates; |
| the impact of the potential achievement of performance conditions and milestones relating to our restricted stock awards; |
| our beliefs and expectations regarding milestone, royalty or other payments that could be due to third parties under existing agreements; |
| our succession plan, including the search for a permanent full-time CEO and the effect that the changes in management could have on the Company, its business plans and its regulatory and clinical discussions and relationships; and |
| other factors set forth in the section entitled Risk Factors incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K we file after the date of this prospectus. |
All forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and the risk factors incorporated by reference into this prospectus. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus. Except to the extent required by law or the rules and regulations of the SEC, we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances described in this prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES
The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, our ratio of earnings to fixed charges and our ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends. For purposes of computing the ratio of earnings to fixed charges and the ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends, earnings consist of income or loss from continuing operations before income taxes and fixed charges. Fixed charges consist of interest expense and an estimate of the interest component of rent expense. In each of the periods presented, earnings were insufficient to cover fixed charges and combined fixed charges and deemed dividends on preferred stock and the extent of such deficiencies in each period is shown below. For additional details regarding the computation of the deficiency of earnings available to cover fixed charges, see Exhibit 12.1 hereto. You should read these ratios in connection with our consolidated financial statements, including the notes to those statements, incorporated by reference in this prospectus.
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
Ratio of earnings to fixed charges (1)(2) |
| | | | | |||||||||||||||
Deficiency of earnings available to cover fixed charges |
$ | (2,318 | ) | $ | (121,287 | ) | $ | (111,985 | ) | $ | (135,789 | ) | $ | (220,030 | ) |
(1) | The ratio of earnings to fixed charges represents the number of times that fixed charges are covered by earnings. In each of the periods presented, earnings were negative and calculation of such ratios is not meaningful. |
(2) | We have authority to issue up to 3,333,333 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share; however, there are currently no shares of preferred stock outstanding and we do not have a preferred stock dividend obligation. Therefore, the ratio of earnings to fixed charges and preferred stock dividends is equal to the ratio of earnings to fixed charges and is not disclosed separately. |
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Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities for one or more of the following purposes:
| to fund research and development, including clinical trials and expansion of manufacturing capacity; |
| to finance capital expenditures and capacity expansions; and/or |
| for general corporate purposes and working capital. |
Until we apply the proceeds from a sale of securities to their intended purposes, we may invest these proceeds in highly liquid, investment grade securities. We cannot predict whether the proceeds invested will yield a favorable return.
The specific allocations of the proceeds we receive from the sale of our securities will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES WE MAY SELL
We or any selling securityholder may offer shares of our common stock and preferred stock, various series of debt securities and warrants to purchase any of such securities, either individually or in units, from time to time under this prospectus, together with any applicable prospectus supplement and related free writing prospectus, in amounts, at prices and on terms to be determined by market conditions at the time of offering. If we issue any debt securities at a discount from their original stated principal amount, then, for purposes of calculating the total dollar amount of all securities issued under this prospectus, we will treat the initial offering price of the debt securities as the total original principal amount of the debt securities. Each time we or any selling securityholder offer securities under this prospectus, we will provide offerees with a prospectus supplement that will describe the specific amounts, prices and other important terms of the securities being offered, including, to the extent applicable:
| designation or classification; |
| aggregate principal amount or aggregate offering price; |
| maturity, if applicable; |
| original issue discount, if any; |
| rates and times of payment of interest or dividends, if any; |
| conversion or exchange prices or rates, if any, and if applicable, any provisions for changes to or adjustments in the conversion or exchange prices or rates and in the securities or other property receivable upon conversion or exchange; |
| ranking; |
| restrictive covenants, if any; |
| voting or other rights, if any; and |
| important United States federal income tax considerations. |
The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus or in documents we have incorporated by reference. However, no prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus will offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.
We or any selling securityholder may sell the securities to or through underwriters, dealers or agents or directly to purchasers or as otherwise set forth below under Plan of Distribution. We, as well as any agents acting on our behalf, reserve the sole right to accept and to reject in whole or in part any proposed purchase of securities. Each prospectus supplement will set forth the names of any underwriters, dealers, agents or other entities involved in the sale of securities described in that prospectus supplement and any applicable fee, commission or discount arrangements with them, details regarding any over-allotment option granted to them, and net proceeds to us. The following is a summary of the securities that we may offer with this prospectus.
For the complete terms of our common stock and preferred stock, please refer to our articles of incorporation and bylaws that are incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or may be incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. The summary below and that contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus are qualified in their entirety by reference to our articles of incorporation and bylaws, as in effect at the time of any offering of securities under this prospectus.
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COMMON STOCK
We are authorized to issue 99,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which 45,666,357 shares were issued and outstanding as of February 19, 2016. Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders and do not have cumulative voting rights. An election of directors by our stockholders shall be determined by a majority of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately any dividends as may be declared by our board of directors, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any series of preferred stock that is outstanding at the time of the dividend. In the event of our liquidation or dissolution, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately our net assets available for distribution to stockholders after payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock. All shares of common stock will, when issued, be duly authorized, fully paid and nonassessable. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of common stock are subject to the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that the Company may designate and issue in the future.
PREFERRED STOCK
We are authorized to issue up to 3,333,333 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which no shares are issued and outstanding as of the date of this prospectus, in one or more series. Our board of directors may, without further action by our stockholders, from time to time, direct the issuance of shares of preferred stock in one or more series and may, at the time of issuance, determine the rights, preferences and limitations of each series, including voting rights, dividend rights and redemption and liquidation preferences. Satisfaction of any dividend preferences of outstanding shares of our preferred stock would reduce the amount of funds available for the payment of dividends on shares of our common stock. Holders of shares of our preferred stock may be entitled to receive a preference payment in the event of any liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of our Company before any payment is made to the holders of shares of our common stock. In some circumstances, the issuance of shares of preferred stock may render more difficult or tend to discourage a merger, tender offer or proxy contest, the assumption of control by a holder of a large block of our securities or the removal of incumbent management. The issuance of preferred stock with voting and conversion rights could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and reduce the likelihood that holders of shares of our common stock will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation.
If we offer a specific class or series of preferred stock under this prospectus, we will describe the terms of the preferred stock in the prospectus supplement for such offering and will file a copy of the certificate establishing the terms of the preferred stock with the SEC. To the extent required, this description will include:
| the title and stated value; |
| the number of shares offered, the liquidation preference per share and the purchase price; |
| the dividend rate(s), period(s) and/or payment date(s), or method(s) of calculation for such dividends; |
| whether dividends will be cumulative or non-cumulative and, if cumulative, the date from which dividends will accumulate; |
| the procedures for any auction and remarketing, if any; |
| the provisions for a sinking fund, if any; |
| the provisions for redemption, if applicable; |
| any listing of the preferred stock on any securities exchange or market; |
| whether the preferred stock will be convertible into our common stock, and, if applicable, the conversion price (or how it will be calculated) and conversion period; |
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| whether the preferred stock will be exchangeable into debt securities, and, if applicable, the exchange price (or how it will be calculated) and exchange period; |
| voting rights, if any, of the preferred stock; |
| a discussion of any material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the preferred stock; |
| the relative ranking and preferences of the preferred stock as to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the affairs of the Company; and |
| any material limitations on issuance of any class or series of preferred stock ranking senior to or on a parity with the series of preferred stock as to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company. |
The preferred stock offered by this prospectus, when issued, will not have, or be subject to, any preemptive or similar rights.
Anti-Takeover Effects of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and Delaware Law
Certain provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors and the holders of our capital stock.
Delaware Law
We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. This statute regulating corporate takeovers prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:
| prior to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; |
| upon completion of the transaction that resulted in the interested stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the number of shares outstanding (a) shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers, and (b) shares owned by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or |
| on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder. |
Generally, a business combination includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An interested stockholder is any person who, together with such persons affiliates and associates (i) owns 15% or more of a corporations voting securities or (ii) is an affiliate or associate of a corporation and was the owner of 15% or more of the corporations voting securities at any time within the three year period immediately preceding a business combination of the corporation governed by Section 203. We expect the existence of this provision to have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions our board of directors does not approve in advance. We also anticipate that Section 203 may discourage takeover attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by our stockholders.
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Staggered board of directors
Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws divide our board of directors into two classes with staggered two-year terms, when the board is comprised of more than six members. Seven individuals currently serve on our board of directors, which is divided into two classes. At each annual meeting of stockholders, a class of directors is to be elected for a two-year term to succeed the directors of the same class whose terms are then expiring. As a result, a portion of our board of directors will be elected each year. Our bylaws authorize our board of directors to fix the number of directors from time to time by a resolution of the majority of our board of directors, provided the board shall consist of a minimum of one and a maximum of seven members. The division of our board of directors into two classes with staggered two-year terms may delay or prevent a change of our management or a change in control. Between stockholder meetings, directors may be removed by a vote of a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of voting stock only for cause, and the board of directors may appoint new directors to fill the vacancies. Under our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office unless our board of directors determines by resolution that any such vacancies or newly created directorships shall be filled by the stockholders. These provisions may prevent a stockholder from removing incumbent directors and simultaneously gaining control of the board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees. The classification of our board of directors and the limitations on the ability of our stockholders to remove directors, change the authorized number of directors and fill vacancies could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, control of our company.
Stockholder action; special meeting of stockholders; advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations
Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws provide that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders at an annual meeting or special meeting of stockholders may only be taken if it is properly brought before such meeting and may not be taken by written action in lieu of a meeting. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws also provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders can only be called by our president or our board of directors, or by our president at the request of holders of not less than one-tenth of all outstanding shares of capital stock. In addition, our bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of the meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our board of directors, or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has delivered timely written notice in proper form to our secretary of the stockholders intention to bring such business before the meeting. These provisions could have the effect of delaying until the next stockholder meeting stockholder actions that are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities. These provisions also could discourage a third party from making a tender offer for our common stock, because even if it acquired a majority of our outstanding voting stock, it would be able to take action as a stockholder, such as electing new directors or approving a merger, only at a duly called stockholders meeting and not by written consent.
Super-majority voting
The Delaware General Corporation Law provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporations certificate of incorporation or bylaws, unless a corporations certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Certain provisions of our bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in any annual election of directors. In addition, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in any election of directors is required to amend or repeal or to adopt any provisions inconsistent with any of the provisions of our certificate of incorporation described above.
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Transfer Agent
The transfer agent for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
Listing
Our common stock is quoted on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol SRPT.
DEBT SECURITIES
The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes certain general terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of debt securities, we will describe the specific terms of the series in a supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the supplement to what extent the general terms and provisions described in this prospectus apply to a particular series of debt securities.
We may issue debt securities either separately, or together with, or upon the conversion or exercise of or in exchange for, other securities described in this prospectus. Debt securities may be our senior, senior subordinated or subordinated obligations and, unless otherwise specified in a supplement to this prospectus, the debt securities will be our direct, unsecured obligations and may be issued in one or more series. The senior debt securities and the subordinated debt securities are together referred to in this prospectus as the debt securities. We may issue debt securities under an indenture to be entered between us and a trustee. The indenture does not limit the amount of securities that may be issued under it and provides that debt securities may be issued in one or more securities. Our board of directors or a committee designated by the board will determine the terms of the debt securities being offered. This prospectus contains only general terms and provisions of the debt securities. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the particular terms of the debt securities offered thereby. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the debt securities being offered, as well as the complete indenture that contains the terms of the debt securities. The form of indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and any supplemental indenture or forms of debt securities containing the terms of debt securities we offer under this prospectus will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will be incorporated by reference from another report that we file with the SEC.
The debt securities will be issued under an indenture between us and a trustee. We have summarized select portions of the indenture below. The summary is not complete. The form of the indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement and you should read the indenture for provisions that may be important to you. In the summary below, we have included references to the section numbers of the indenture so that you can easily locate these provisions. Capitalized terms used in the summary and not defined herein have the meanings specified in the indenture.
General
The terms of each series of debt securities will be established by or pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and set forth or determined in the manner provided in a resolution of our board of directors, in an officers certificate or by a supplemental indenture. (Section 2.2) The particular terms of each series of debt securities will be described in a prospectus supplement relating to such series (including any pricing supplement or term sheet).
We can issue an unlimited amount of debt securities under the indenture that may be in one or more series with the same or various maturities, at par, at a premium, or at a discount. (Section 2.1) We will set forth in a
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prospectus supplement (including any pricing supplement or term sheet) relating to any series of debt securities being offered, the aggregate principal amount and the following terms of the debt securities, if applicable:
| the title and ranking of the debt securities (including the terms of any subordination provisions); |
| the price or prices (expressed as a percentage of the principal amount) at which we will sell the debt securities; |
| any limit on the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities; |
| the date or dates on which the principal of the securities of the series is payable; |
| the rate or rates (which may be fixed or variable) per annum or the method used to determine the rate or rates (including any commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index) at which the debt securities will bear interest, the date or dates from which interest will accrue, the date or dates on which interest will commence and be payable and any regular record date for the interest payable on any interest payment date; |
| the place or places where principal of, and interest, if any, on the debt securities will be payable (and the method of such payment), where the securities of such series may be surrendered for registration of transfer or exchange, and where notices and demands to us in respect of the debt securities may be delivered; |
| the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and the terms and conditions upon which we may redeem the debt securities; |
| any obligation we have to redeem or purchase the debt securities pursuant to any sinking fund or analogous provisions or at the option of a holder of debt securities and the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and in the terms and conditions upon which securities of the series shall be redeemed or purchased, in whole or in part, pursuant to such obligation; |
| the dates on which and the price or prices at which we will repurchase debt securities at the option of the holders of debt securities and other detailed terms and provisions of these repurchase obligations; |
| the denominations in which the debt securities will be issued, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof; |
| whether the debt securities will be issued in the form of certificated debt securities or global debt securities; |
| the portion of principal amount of the debt securities payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity date, if other than the principal amount; |
| the currency of denomination of the debt securities, which may be United States Dollars or any foreign currency, and if such currency of denomination is a composite currency, the agency or organization, if any, responsible for overseeing such composite currency; |
| the designation of the currency, currencies or currency units in which payment of principal of, premium and interest on the debt securities will be made; |
| if payments of principal of, premium or interest on the debt securities will be made in one or more currencies or currency units other than that or those in which the debt securities are denominated, the manner in which the exchange rate with respect to these payments will be determined; |
| the manner in which the amounts of payment of principal of, premium, if any, or interest on the debt securities will be determined, if these amounts may be determined by reference to an index based on a currency or currencies other than that in which the debt securities are denominated or designated to be payable or by reference to a commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index; |
| any provisions relating to any security provided for the debt securities; |
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| any addition to, deletion of or change in the Events of Default described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities and any change in the acceleration provisions described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities; |
| any addition to, deletion of or change in the covenants described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities; |
| any depositaries, interest rate calculation agents, exchange rate calculation agents or other agents with respect to the debt securities; |
| the provisions, if any, relating to conversion or exchange of any securities of such series, including if applicable, the conversion or exchange price and period, provisions as to whether conversion or exchange will be mandatory, the events requiring an adjustment of the conversion or exchange price and provisions affecting conversion or exchange; and |
| any other terms of the debt securities, which may supplement, modify or delete any provision of the indenture as it applies to that series, including any terms that may be required under applicable law or regulations or advisable in connection with the marketing of the securities. (Section 2.2) |
We may issue debt securities that provide for an amount less than their stated principal amount to be due and payable upon declaration of acceleration of their maturity pursuant to the terms of the indenture. We will provide you with information on the federal income tax considerations and other special considerations applicable to any of these debt securities in the applicable prospectus supplement.
If we denominate the purchase price of any of the debt securities in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, or if the principal of and any premium and interest on any series of debt securities is payable in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, we will provide you with information on the restrictions, elections, general tax considerations, specific terms and other information with respect to that issue of debt securities and such foreign currency or currencies or foreign currency unit or units in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Transfer and Exchange
Each debt security will be represented by either one or more global securities registered in the name of The Depository Trust Company, or the Depositary, or a nominee of the Depositary (we will refer to any debt security represented by a global debt security as a book-entry debt security), or a certificate issued in definitive registered form (we will refer to any debt security represented by a certificated security as a certificated debt security) as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. Except as set forth under the heading Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System below, book-entry debt securities will not be issuable in certificated form.
Certificated Debt Securities. You may transfer or exchange certificated debt securities at any office we maintain for this purpose in accordance with the terms of the indenture. (Section 2.4) No service charge will be made for any transfer or exchange of certificated debt securities, but we may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with a transfer or exchange. (Section 2.7)
You may effect the transfer of certificated debt securities and the right to receive the principal of, premium and interest on certificated debt securities only by surrendering the certificate representing those certificated debt securities and either reissuance by us or the trustee of the certificate to the new holder or the issuance by us or the trustee of a new certificate to the new holder.
Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System. Each global debt security representing book-entry debt securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, the Depositary, and registered in the name of the Depositary or a nominee of the Depositary. Please see Global Securities.
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Global Securities
The debt securities of any series may be represented, in whole or in part, by one or more global securities. Each global security will:
| be registered in the name of a depositary, or its nominee, that we will identify in a prospectus supplement; |
| be deposited with the depositary or nominee or custodian; and |
| bear any required legends. |
No global security may be exchanged in whole or in part for debt securities registered in the name of any person other than the depositary or any nominee unless:
| the depositary has notified us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as depositary or has ceased to be qualified to act as depositary; |
| an event of default is continuing with respect to the debt securities of the applicable series; or |
| any other circumstance described in a prospectus supplement has occurred permitting or requiring the issuance of any such security. |
As long as the depositary, or its nominee, is the registered owner of a global security, the depositary or nominee will be considered the sole owner and holder of the debt securities represented by the global security for all purposes under the indentures. Except in the above limited circumstances, owners of beneficial interests in a global security will not be:
| entitled to have the debt securities registered in their names; |
| entitled to physical delivery of certificated debt securities; or |
| considered to be holders of those debt securities under the indenture. |
Payments on a global security will be made to the depositary or its nominee as the holder of the global security. Some jurisdictions have laws that require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. These laws may impair the ability to transfer beneficial interests in a global security.
Institutions that have accounts with the depositary or its nominee are referred to as participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in a global security will be limited to participants and to persons that may hold beneficial interests through participants. The depositary will credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the respective principal amounts of debt securities represented by the global security to the accounts of its participants.
Ownership of beneficial interests in a global security will be shown on and effected through records maintained by the depositary, with respect to participants interests, or any participant, with respect to interests of persons held by participants on their behalf.
Payments, transfers and exchanges relating to beneficial interests in a global security will be subject to policies and procedures of the depositary. The depositary policies and procedures may change from time to time. Neither any trustee nor we will have any responsibility or liability for the depositarys or any participants records with respect to beneficial interests in a global security.
Payment and Paying Agents
Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, the provisions described in this paragraph will apply to the debt securities. Payment of interest on a debt security on any interest payment date will be made to the person in whose name the debt security is registered at the close of business on the regular record date. Payment
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on debt securities of a particular series will be payable at the office of a paying agent or paying agents designated by us. However, at our option, we may pay interest by mailing a check to the record holder. The trustee will be designated as our initial paying agent.
We may also name any other paying agents in a prospectus supplement. We may designate additional paying agents, change paying agents or change the office of any paying agent. However, we will be required to maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of a particular series.
All moneys paid by us to a paying agent for payment on any debt security that remain unclaimed for a period ending the earlier of:
| 10 business days prior to the date the money would be turned over to the applicable state; or |
| at the end of two years after such payment was due, will be repaid to us. Thereafter, the holder may look only to us for such payment. |
Covenants
We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement any restrictive covenants applicable to any issue of debt securities. (Article IV)
No Protection In the Event of a Change of Control
Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the debt securities will not contain any provisions which may afford holders of the debt securities protection in the event we have a change in control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change in control) which could adversely affect holders of debt securities.
Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets
We may not consolidate with or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to any person (a successor person) unless:
| we are the surviving corporation or the successor person (if other than Sarepta Therapeutics) is a corporation organized and validly existing under the laws of any U.S. domestic jurisdiction and expressly assumes our obligations on the debt securities and under the indenture; and |
| immediately after giving effect to the transaction, no Default or Event of Default, shall have occurred and be continuing. |
Notwithstanding the above, any of our subsidiaries may consolidate with, merge into or transfer all or part of its properties to us. (Section 5.1)
Events of Default
Event of Default means with respect to any series of debt securities, any of the following:
| default in the payment of any interest upon any debt security of that series when it becomes due and payable, and continuance of such default for a period of 30 days (unless the entire amount of the payment is deposited by us with the trustee or with a paying agent prior to the expiration of the 30-day period); |
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| default in the payment of principal of any security of that series at its maturity; |
| default in the performance or breach of any other covenant or warranty by us in the indenture (other than a covenant or warranty that has been included in the indenture solely for the benefit of a series of debt securities other than that series), which default continues uncured for a period of 60 days after we receive written notice from the trustee or we and the trustee receive written notice from the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series as provided in the indenture; |
| certain voluntary or involuntary events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization of our company; and |
| any other Event of Default provided with respect to debt securities of that series that is described in the applicable prospectus supplement. (Section 6.1) |
No Event of Default with respect to a particular series of debt securities (except as to certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization) necessarily constitutes an Event of Default with respect to any other series of debt securities. (Section 6.1) The occurrence of certain Events of Default or an acceleration under the indenture may constitute an event of default under certain indebtedness of ours or our subsidiaries outstanding from time to time.
If an Event of Default with respect to debt securities of any series at the time outstanding occurs and is continuing, then the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may, by a notice in writing to us (and to the trustee if given by the holders), declare to be due and payable immediately the principal of (or, if the debt securities of that series are discount securities, that portion of the principal amount as may be specified in the terms of that series) and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all debt securities of that series. In the case of an Event of Default resulting from certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization, the principal (or such specified amount) of and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all outstanding debt securities will become and be immediately due and payable without any declaration or other act on the part of the trustee or any holder of outstanding debt securities. At any time after a declaration of acceleration with respect to debt securities of any series has been made, but before a judgment or decree for payment of the money due has been obtained by the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may rescind and annul the acceleration if all Events of Default, other than the non-payment of accelerated principal and interest, if any, with respect to debt securities of that series, have been cured or waived as provided in the indenture. (Section 6.2) We refer you to the prospectus supplement relating to any series of debt securities that are discount securities for the particular provisions relating to acceleration of a portion of the principal amount of such discount securities upon the occurrence of an Event of Default.
The indenture provides that the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture unless the trustee receives indemnity satisfactory to it against any cost, liability or expense which might be incurred by it in exercising such right of power. (Section 7.1(e)) Subject to certain rights of the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee with respect to the debt securities of that series. (Section 6.12)
No holder of any debt security of any series will have any right to institute any proceeding, judicial or otherwise, with respect to the indenture or for the appointment of a receiver or trustee, or for any remedy under the indenture, unless:
| that holder has previously given to the trustee written notice of a continuing Event of Default with respect to debt securities of that series; and |
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| the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, and offered reasonable indemnity or security, to the trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee, and the trustee has not received from the holders of not less than a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series a direction inconsistent with that request and has failed to institute the proceeding within 60 days. (Section 6.7) |
Notwithstanding any other provision in the indenture, the holder of any debt security will have an absolute and unconditional right to receive payment of the principal of, premium and any interest on that debt security on or after the due dates expressed in that debt security and to institute suit for the enforcement of payment. (Section 6.8)
The indenture requires us, within 120 days after the end of our fiscal year, to furnish to the trustee a statement as to compliance with the indenture. (Section 4.3) If a Default or Event of Default occurs and is continuing with respect to the securities of any series and if it is known to a responsible officer of the trustee, the trustee shall mail to each securityholder of the securities of that series notice of a Default or Event of Default within 90 days after it occurs. The indenture provides that the trustee may withhold notice to the holders of debt securities of any series of any Default or Event of Default (except in payment on any debt securities of that series) with respect to debt securities of that series if the trustee determines in good faith that withholding notice is in the interest of the holders of those debt securities. (Section 7.5)
Modification and Waiver
We and the trustee may modify and amend the indenture or the debt securities of any series without the consent of any holder of any debt security:
| to cure any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency; |
| to comply with covenants in the indenture described above under the heading Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets; |
| to provide for uncertificated securities in addition to or in place of certificated securities; |
| to make any change that does not adversely affect the rights of any holder of debt securities; |
| to provide for the issuance of and establish the form and terms and conditions of debt securities of any series as permitted by the indenture; |
| to effect the appointment of a successor trustee with respect to the debt securities of any series and to add to or change any of the provisions of the indenture to provide for or facilitate administration by more than one trustee; or |
| to comply with requirements of the Commission in order to effect or maintain the qualification of the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act. (Section 9.1) |
We may also modify and amend the indenture with the consent of the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series affected by the modifications or amendments. We may not make any modification or amendment without the consent of the holders of each affected debt security then outstanding if that amendment will:
| reduce the amount of debt securities whose holders must consent to an amendment, supplement or waiver; |
| reduce the rate of or extend the time for payment of interest (including default interest) on any debt security; |
| reduce the principal of or premium on or change the fixed maturity of any debt security or reduce the amount of, or postpone the date fixed for, the payment of any sinking fund or analogous obligation with respect to any series of debt securities; |
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| reduce the principal amount of discount securities payable upon acceleration of maturity; |
| waive a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or interest on any debt security (except a rescission of acceleration of the debt securities of any series by the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the then outstanding debt securities of that series and a waiver of the payment default that resulted from such acceleration); |
| make the principal of or premium or interest on any debt security payable in currency other than that stated in the debt security; |
| make any change to certain provisions of the indenture relating to, among other things, the right of holders of debt securities to receive payment of the principal of, premium and interest on those debt securities and to institute suit for the enforcement of any such payment and to waivers or amendments; or |
| waive a redemption payment with respect to any debt security. (Section 9.3) |
Except for certain specified provisions, the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all debt securities of that series waive our compliance with provisions of the indenture. (Section 9.2) The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all the debt securities of such series waive any past default under the indenture with respect to that series and its consequences, except a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or any interest on any debt security of that series; provided, however, that the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may rescind an acceleration and its consequences, including any related payment default that resulted from the acceleration. (Section 6.13)
Defeasance of Debt Securities and Certain Covenants in Certain Circumstances
Legal Defeasance. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, we may be discharged from any and all obligations in respect of the debt securities of any series (subject to certain exceptions). We will be so discharged upon the deposit with the trustee, in trust, of money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities.
This discharge may occur only if, among other things, we have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel stating that we have received from, or there has been published by, the United States Internal Revenue Service a ruling or, since the date of execution of the indenture, there has been a change in the applicable United States federal income tax law, in either case to the effect that, and based thereon such opinion shall confirm that, the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit, defeasance and discharge and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit, defeasance and discharge had not occurred. (Section 8.3)
Defeasance of Certain Covenants. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, upon compliance with certain conditions:
| we may omit to comply with the covenant described under the heading Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets and certain other covenants set forth in the indenture, as well as any additional covenants which may be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement; and |
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| any omission to comply with those covenants will not constitute a Default or an Event of Default with respect to the debt securities of that series (covenant defeasance). |
The conditions include:
| depositing with the trustee money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal of, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities; and |
| delivering to the trustee an opinion of counsel to the effect that the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit and related covenant defeasance and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit and related covenant defeasance had not occurred. (Section 8.4) |
Covenant Defeasance and Events of Default. In the event we exercise our option to effect covenant defeasance with respect to any series of debt securities and the debt securities of that series are declared due and payable because of the occurrence of any Event of Default, the amount of money and/or U.S. government obligations or foreign government obligations on deposit with the trustee will be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of their stated maturity but may not be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of the acceleration resulting from the Event of Default. However, we shall remain liable for those payments. (Section 8.4)
Governing Law
The indenture and the debt securities, including any claim or controversy arising out of or relating to the indenture or the securities, will be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to conflict of law principles that would result in the application of any law other than the laws of the State of New York. (Section 10.10)
WARRANTS
We may issue warrants for the purchase of shares of our common stock or preferred stock or of debt securities. We may issue warrants independently or together with other securities, and the warrants may be attached to or separate from any offered securities. Each series of warrants will be issued under a separate warrant agreement to be entered into between us and the investors or a warrant agent. Our board of directors or a committee designated by the board will determine the terms of the warrants. This prospectus contains only general terms and provisions of the warrants. The following summary of material provisions of the warrants and warrant agreements are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the warrant agreement and warrant certificate applicable to a particular series of warrants. The terms of any warrants offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants. Specific warrant agreements will contain additional important terms and provisions and we will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from another report that we file with the SEC, the form of each warrant agreement relating to warrants offered under this prospectus.
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The particular terms of any issue of warrants will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to the issue. Those terms may include:
| the number of shares of common stock or preferred stock purchasable upon the exercise of warrants to purchase such shares and the price at which such number of shares may be purchased upon such exercise; |
| the designation, stated value and terms (including, without limitation, liquidation, dividend, conversion and voting rights) of the series of preferred stock purchasable upon exercise of warrants to purchase preferred stock; |
| the principal amount of debt securities that may be purchased upon exercise of a debt warrant and the exercise price for the warrants, which may be payable in cash, securities or other property; |
| the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence and the date on which the right will expire; |
| United States federal income tax consequences applicable to the warrants; and |
| any additional terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures, and limitations relating to the exchange, exercise and settlement of the warrants. |
Holders of equity warrants will not be entitled:
| to vote, consent or receive dividends; |
| receive notice as shareholders with respect to any meeting of shareholders for the election of our directors or any other matter; or |
| exercise any rights as shareholders of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. |
Each warrant will entitle its holder to purchase the principal amount of debt securities or the number of shares of preferred stock or common stock at the exercise price set forth in, or calculable as set forth in, the applicable prospectus supplement. Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants at any time up to the specified time on the expiration date that we set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void.
A holder of warrant certificates may exchange them for new warrant certificates of different denominations, present them for registration of transfer and exercise them at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. Until any warrants to purchase debt securities are exercised, the holder of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the debt securities that can be purchased upon exercise, including any rights to receive payments of principal, premium or interest on the underlying debt securities or to enforce covenants in the applicable indenture. Until any warrants to purchase common stock or preferred stock are exercised, the holders of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the underlying common stock or preferred stock, including any rights to receive dividends or payments upon any liquidation, dissolution or winding up on the common stock or preferred stock, if any.
UNITS
We may issue units consisting of our common stock or preferred stock, debt securities and/or warrants to purchase any of these securities in one or more series. We may evidence each series of units by unit certificates that we will issue under a separate agreement. We may enter into unit agreements with a unit agent. Each unit agent will be a bank or trust company that we select. We will indicate the name and address of the unit agent in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of units.
The following description, together with the additional information included in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the general features of the units that we may offer under this prospectus. You should
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read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of units being offered, as well as the complete unit agreements that contain the terms of the units. Specific unit agreements will contain additional important terms and provisions and we will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from another report that we file with the SEC, the form of each unit agreement relating to units offered under this prospectus.
If we offer any units, certain terms of that series of units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following, as applicable:
| the title of the series of units; |
| identification and description of the separate constituent securities comprising the units; |
| the price or prices at which the units will be issued; |
| the date, if any, on and after which the constituent securities comprising the units will be separately transferable; |
| a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the units; and |
| any other terms of the units and their constituent securities. |
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We may sell the securities offered through this prospectus (i) to or through underwriters or dealers, (ii) directly to purchasers, including our affiliates, (iii) through agents, or (iv) through a combination of any these methods. The securities may be distributed at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed, market prices prevailing at the time of sale, prices related to the prevailing market prices, or negotiated prices. The prospectus supplement will include the following information:
| the terms of the offering; |
| the names of any underwriters or agents; |
| the name or names of any managing underwriter or underwriters; |
| the purchase price of the securities; |
| the net proceeds from the sale of the securities; |
| any delayed delivery arrangements; |
| any underwriting discounts, commissions or agency fees and other items constituting underwriters or agents compensation; |
| any initial public offering price; |
| any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers; and |
| any commissions paid to agents. |
We may engage in at-the-market offerings into an existing trading market in accordance with Rule 415(a)(4). Any at-the-market offering will be through an underwriter or underwriters acting as principal or agent for us.
We may issue to the holders of our common stock on a pro rata basis for no consideration, subscription rights to purchase shares of our common stock or preferred stock. These subscription rights may or may not be transferable by shareholders. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the specific terms of any offering of our common or preferred stock through the issuance of subscription rights, including the terms of the subscription rights offering, the terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the subscription rights and, if applicable, the material terms of any standby underwriting or purchase arrangement entered into by us in connection with the offering of common or preferred stock through the issuance of subscription rights.
Sale Through Underwriters or Dealers
If underwriters are used in the sale, the underwriters will acquire the securities for their own account, including through underwriting, purchase, security lending or repurchase agreements with us. The underwriters may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions. Underwriters may sell the securities in order to facilitate transactions in any of our other securities (described in this prospectus or otherwise), including other public or private transactions and short sales. Underwriters may offer securities to the public either through underwriting syndicates represented by one or more managing underwriters or directly by one or more firms acting as underwriters. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to certain conditions, and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all the offered securities if they purchase any of them. The underwriters may change from time to time any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers.
If dealers are used in the sale of securities offered through this prospectus, we will sell the securities to them as principals. They may then resell those securities to the public at varying prices determined by the dealers at the time of resale. The prospectus supplement will include the names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction.
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Direct Sales and Sales Through Agents
We may sell the securities offered through this prospectus directly. In this case, no underwriters or agents would be involved. Such securities may also be sold through agents designated from time to time. The prospectus supplement will name any agent involved in the offer or sale of the offered securities and will describe any commissions payable to the agent. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, any agent will agree to use its reasonable best efforts to solicit purchases for the period of its appointment.
We may sell the securities directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any sale of those securities. The terms of any such sales will be described in the prospectus supplement.
Delayed Delivery Contracts
If the prospectus supplement indicates, we may authorize agents, underwriters or dealers to solicit offers from certain types of institutions to purchase securities at the public offering price under delayed delivery contracts. These contracts would provide for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. The contracts would be subject only to those conditions described in the prospectus supplement. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the commission payable for solicitation of those contracts.
Market Making, Stabilization and Other Transactions
Unless the applicable prospectus supplement states otherwise, each series of offered securities will be a new issue and will have no established trading market. We may elect to list any series of offered securities on an exchange. Any underwriters that we use in the sale of offered securities may make a market in such securities, but may discontinue such market making at any time without notice. Therefore, we cannot assure you that the securities will have a liquid trading market.
Any underwriter may also engage in stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Rule 104 under the Securities Exchange Act. Stabilizing transactions involve bids to purchase the underlying security in the open market for the purpose of pegging, fixing or maintaining the price of the securities. Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of the securities in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover syndicate short positions.
Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the securities originally sold by the syndicate member are purchased in a syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions. Stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would be in the absence of the transactions. The underwriters may, if they commence these transactions, discontinue them at any time.
Derivative Transactions and Hedging
We, the underwriters or other agents may engage in derivative transactions involving the securities. These derivatives may consist of short sale transactions and other hedging activities. The underwriters or agents may acquire a long or short position in the securities, hold or resell securities acquired and purchase options or futures on the securities and other derivative instruments with returns linked to or related to changes in the price of the securities. In order to facilitate these derivative transactions, we may enter into security lending or repurchase agreements with the underwriters or agents. The underwriters or agents may effect the derivative transactions through sales of the securities to the public, including short sales, or by lending the securities in order to facilitate short sale transactions by others. The underwriters or agents may also use the securities purchased or borrowed from us or others (or, in the case of derivatives, securities received from us in settlement of those derivatives) to directly or indirectly settle sales of the securities or close out any related open borrowings of the securities.
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Electronic Auctions
We may also make sales through the Internet or through other electronic means. Since we may from time to time elect to offer securities directly to the public, with or without the involvement of agents, underwriters or dealers, utilizing the Internet or other forms of electronic bidding or ordering systems for the pricing and allocation of such securities, you will want to pay particular attention to the description of that system we will provide in a prospectus supplement.
Such electronic system may allow bidders to directly participate, through electronic access to an auction site, by submitting conditional offers to buy that are subject to acceptance by us, and which may directly affect the price or other terms and conditions at which such securities are sold. These bidding or ordering systems may present to each bidder, on a so-called real-time basis, relevant information to assist in making a bid, such as the clearing spread at which the offering would be sold, based on the bids submitted, and whether a bidders individual bids would be accepted, prorated or rejected. For example, in the case of debt security, the clearing spread could be indicated as a number of basis points above an index treasury note. Of course, many pricing methods can and may also be used.
Upon completion of such an electronic auction process, securities will be allocated based on prices bid, terms of bid or other factors. The final offering price at which securities would be sold and the allocation of securities among bidders would be based in whole or in part on the results of the Internet or other electronic bidding process or auction.
General Information
Agents, underwriters, and dealers may be entitled, under agreements entered into with us, to indemnification by us against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Our agents, underwriters, and dealers, or their affiliates, may be customers of, engage in transactions with or perform services for us, in the ordinary course of business.
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Ropes & Gray LLP, Boston, Massachusetts will provide us with an opinion as to certain legal matters in connection with the securities being offered hereby. Additional legal matters may be passed on for us, or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The consolidated financial statements of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2015, and managements assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015 have been incorporated by reference herein in reliance upon the reports of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We file annual, quarterly and other reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SECs Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the Public Reference Room. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments to those reports, and other information that we file with or furnish to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act can also be accessed free of charge on our website at http://www.sarepta.com under the Investor RelationsSEC Filings caption. These filings will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not part of this prospectus.
INFORMATION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference the information we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document that we have filed separately with the SEC. You should read the information incorporated by reference because it is an important part of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following information or documents that we have filed with the SEC:
| our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 (including the portions of our proxy statement for our 2015 annual meeting of shareowners incorporated by reference therein), filed with the SEC on February 25, 2015; and |
| the description of our common stock contained in our Current Report on Form 8-K12B filed with the SEC on June 6, 2013. |
All reports and other documents we subsequently file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the termination of this offering, but excluding any information furnished to, rather than filed with, the SEC, will also be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and deemed to be part of this prospectus from the date of the filing of such reports and documents.
Any statement contained in any document incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.
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We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request, a copy of any or all documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus, but not delivered with the prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into the documents that this prospectus incorporates. You should direct written requests to: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., 215 First Street, Suite 415, Cambridge, MA 02142, or you may call us at (617) 274-4080.
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3,817,000 Shares
Common Stock
Prospectus Supplement
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC
J.P. Morgan
Credit Suisse
Cowen
William Blair
Baird
Nomura
Cantor
H.C. Wainwright & Co.