Blueprint
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
____________________________
FORM 10-Q
☒ QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION
13 OR 15(d) OF THE
|
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
|
For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2018
|
OR
|
☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION
13 OR 15(d) OF THE
|
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
|
For the transition period from to
|
Commission File Number 000-30929
__________________
TG THERAPEUTICS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
(State
or other jurisdiction of incorporation or
organization)
|
36-3898269
(I.R.S.
Employer Identification No.)
|
|
2 Gansevoort Street, 9th Floor
New York, New York 10014
(Address
including zip code of principal executive offices)
(212) 554-4484
(Registrant's
telephone number, including area code)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports
required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such
shorter period that the registrant was required to file such
reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for
the past 90 days.
Yes
☒ No ☐
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically,
if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted
pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this
chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period
that the registrant was required to submit and post such
files).
☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer,
an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting
company, or an emerging growth company. See definition of
“large accelerated filer,” “accelerated
filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and
“emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange
Act.
Large
accelerated filer ☐
|
Accelerated
filer ☒
|
|
|
Non-accelerated
filer ☐
|
Smaller
reporting company ☐
|
|
Emerging
growth company ☐
|
If an
emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant
has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying
with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided
pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate
by checkmark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined
in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes
☐ No ☒
There
were 82,897,273 shares of the registrant’s common stock,
$0.001 par value, outstanding as of November 5, 2018.
TG THERAPEUTICS, INC.
FORM 10-Q
FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL
CAUTIONARY NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
|
3
|
|
|
PART I
|
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
|
4
|
|
|
|
Item
1
|
Financial
Statements:
|
4
|
|
|
|
|
Condensed
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2018 (unaudited)
and December 31, 2017
|
4
|
|
|
|
|
Condensed
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three and nine months
ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 (unaudited)
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
Condensed
Consolidated Statement of Stockholders’ Equity for the nine
months ended September 30, 2018 (unaudited)
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
Condensed
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the nine months ended
September 30, 2018 and 2017 (unaudited)
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
Notes
to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(unaudited)
|
8
|
|
|
|
Item
2
|
Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations
|
19
|
|
|
|
Item
3
|
Quantitative
and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
|
30
|
|
|
|
Item
4
|
Controls
and Procedures
|
30
|
|
|
|
PART II
|
OTHER INFORMATION
|
31
|
|
|
|
Item
1
|
Legal
Proceedings
|
31
|
|
|
|
Item
1A
|
Risk
Factors
|
31
|
|
|
|
Item
6
|
Exhibits
|
54
|
2
SPECIAL CAUTIONARY NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
Certain
matters discussed in this report, including matters discussed under
the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” may
constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act,
and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause our actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from the future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "may," "expect," “plan,”
“intend” and similar expressions are generally intended
to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual results may
differ materially from the results anticipated in these
forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including,
without limitation, those discussed under the captions “Risk
Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and
elsewhere in this report, as well as other factors which may be
identified from time to time in our other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, or in the documents
where such forward-looking statements appear. All written or oral
forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly
qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Such
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements about our
●
expectations
for increases or decreases in expenses;
●
expectations
for the clinical and pre-clinical development, manufacturing,
regulatory approval, and commercialization of our pharmaceutical
product candidates or any other products we may acquire or
in-license;
●
use of
clinical research centers and other contractors;
●
expectations
as to the timing of commencing or completing pre-clinical and
clinical trials and the expected outcomes of those
trials;
●
expectations
for incurring capital expenditures to expand our research and
development and manufacturing capabilities;
●
expectations
for generating revenue or becoming profitable on a sustained
basis;
●
expectations
or ability to enter into marketing and other partnership
agreements;
●
expectations
or ability to enter into product acquisition and in-licensing
transactions;
●
expectations
or ability to build our own commercial infrastructure to
manufacture, market and sell our drug candidates;
●
expectations
for the acceptance of our products by doctors, patients or
payors;
●
ability
to compete against other companies and research
institutions;
●
ability
to secure adequate protection for our intellectual
property;
●
ability
to attract and retain key personnel;
●
ability
to obtain reimbursement for our products;
●
estimates
of the sufficiency of our existing cash and cash equivalents and
investments to finance our operating requirements, including
expectations regarding the value and liquidity of our
investments;
●
stock
price volatility; and
●
expectations
for future capital requirements.
The
forward-looking statements contained in this report reflect our
views and assumptions only as of the date this report is signed.
Except as required by law, we assume no responsibility for updating
any forward-looking statements.
We
qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary
statements. In addition, with respect to all of our forward-looking
statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
3
PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
TG Therapeutics, Inc.
Condensed
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in
thousands, except share and per share amounts)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Assets
|
|
|
Current
assets:
|
|
|
Cash and cash
equivalents
|
$70,718
|
$56,718
|
Short-term
investment securities
|
27,024
|
27,999
|
Interest
receivable
|
80
|
108
|
Prepaid research
and development
|
11,389
|
8,056
|
Other current
assets
|
526
|
437
|
Total current
assets
|
109,737
|
93,318
|
Restricted
cash
|
1,239
|
587
|
Leasehold interest,
net
|
2,331
|
2,429
|
Equipment,
net
|
268
|
248
|
Goodwill
|
799
|
799
|
Total
assets
|
$114,374
|
$97,381
|
|
|
|
Liabilities
and stockholders’ equity
|
|
|
Current
liabilities:
|
|
|
Accounts payable
and accrued expenses
|
$37,917
|
$25,877
|
Accrued
compensation
|
2,082
|
1,800
|
Current portion of
deferred revenue
|
152
|
152
|
Notes
payable
|
91
|
128
|
Total current
liabilities
|
40,242
|
27,957
|
Deferred
rent
|
1,436
|
1,364
|
Deferred revenue,
net of current portion
|
952
|
1,067
|
Total
liabilities
|
42,630
|
30,388
|
Commitments and
contingencies
|
|
|
Stockholders’
equity:
|
|
|
Preferred stock,
$0.001 par value per share 10,000,000 shares authorized, none
issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2018 and December 31,
2017)
|
--
|
--
|
Common stock,
$0.001 par value per share (150,000,000 shares authorized,
82,973,332 and 73,181,750 shares issued; 82,932,023 and 73,140,441
shares outstanding at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017,
respectively)
|
83
|
73
|
Additional paid-in
capital
|
546,380
|
422,017
|
Treasury stock, at
cost, 41,309 shares at September 30, 2018 and December 31,
2017
|
(234)
|
(234)
|
Accumulated
deficit
|
(474,485)
|
(354,863)
|
Total
stockholders’ equity
|
71,744
|
66,993
|
Total liabilities
and stockholders’ equity
|
$114,374
|
$97,381
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed
consolidated financial statements.
4
TG Therapeutics, Inc.
Condensed
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in
thousands, except share and per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
|
Three
months ended September 30,
|
Nine
months ended September 30,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
License
revenue
|
$38
|
$38
|
$114
|
$114
|
|
|
|
|
|
Costs and
expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
Research and
development:
|
|
|
|
|
Non-cash
stock expense associated with in–licensing
agreements
|
-
|
-
|
4,000
|
-
|
Noncash
compensation
|
644
|
1,814
|
4,391
|
5,387
|
Other research and
development
|
32,754
|
25,335
|
98,724
|
71,150
|
Total research and
development
|
33,398
|
27,149
|
107,115
|
76,537
|
|
|
|
|
|
General and
administrative:
|
|
|
|
|
Noncash
compensation
|
(817)
|
3,076
|
7,037
|
6,988
|
Other general and
administrative
|
1,785
|
1,398
|
6,212
|
4,266
|
Total general and
administrative
|
968
|
4,474
|
13,249
|
11,254
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total costs and
expenses
|
34,366
|
31,623
|
120,364
|
87,791
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating
loss
|
(34,328)
|
(31,585)
|
(120,250)
|
(87,677)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other (income)
expense:
|
|
|
|
|
Interest
income
|
(258)
|
(79)
|
(591)
|
(174)
|
Other (income)
expense
|
(119)
|
30
|
(37)
|
113
|
Total other income,
net
|
(377)
|
(49)
|
(628)
|
(61)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
loss
|
$(33,951)
|
$(31,536)
|
$(119,622)
|
$(87,616)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic and diluted
net loss per common share
|
$(0.43)
|
$(0.48)
|
$(1.61)
|
$(1.45)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average
shares used in computing basic and diluted net loss per common
share
|
78,221,069
|
65,079,128
|
74,399,243
|
60,552,084
|
|
|
|
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed
consolidated financial statements.
5
TG Therapeutics, Inc.
Condensed
Consolidated Statement of Stockholders’ Equity
(in
thousands, except share amounts)
(Unaudited)
|
Common Stock
|
|
Treasury
Stock
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional
paid-in capital
|
|
|
|
|
Balance at January 1,
2018
|
73,181,750
|
$73
|
$422,017
|
41,309
|
$(234)
|
$(354,863)
|
$66,993
|
Issuance of restricted
stock
|
1,521,211
|
2
|
(2)
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
Forfeiture of restricted
stock
|
(155,446)
|
*
|
*
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
Issuance of common stock in
At-the-Market offerings (net of offering costs of $2.0
million)
|
8,091,949
|
8
|
108,937
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
108,945
|
Compensation in respect of
restricted stock granted to employees, directors and
consultants
|
--
|
--
|
11,428
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
11,428
|
Shares issued in connection with
in-licensing agreements
|
333,868
|
*
|
4,000
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
4,000
|
Net loss
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
(119,622)
|
(119,622)
|
Balance at September 30,
2018
|
82,973,332
|
$83
|
$546,380
|
41,309
|
$(234)
|
$(474,485)
|
$71,744
|
* Amount less than one thousand dollars.
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed
consolidated financial statements.
6
TG Therapeutics, Inc.
Condensed
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in
thousands)
(Unaudited)
|
Nine months
ended September 30,
|
|
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING
ACTIVITIES:
|
|
|
Net loss
|
$(119,622)
|
$(87,616)
|
Adjustments to reconcile net loss
to net cash used in operating activities:
|
|
|
Noncash stock compensation
expense
|
11,428
|
12,375
|
Noncash licensing
expense
|
4,000
|
--
|
Depreciation
|
64
|
62
|
Amortization of premium on
investment securities
|
(51)
|
54
|
Change in fair value of notes
payable
|
(37)
|
113
|
Changes in assets and
liabilities:
|
|
|
(Increase) decrease in other
current assets
|
(3,421)
|
148
|
Decrease in leasehold
interest
|
98
|
88
|
Decrease in accrued interest
receivable
|
28
|
84
|
Decrease in other
assets
|
--
|
162
|
Increase in accounts payable and
accrued expenses
|
12,321
|
2,666
|
Increase in deferred
rent
|
71
|
73
|
Decrease in deferred
revenue
|
(114)
|
(114)
|
Net cash used in operating
activities
|
(95,235)
|
(71,905)
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING
ACTIVITIES:
|
|
|
Purchases of property, plant and
equipment
|
(84)
|
(2)
|
Investment in held-to-maturity
securities
|
(24,574)
|
--
|
Proceeds from maturity of
short-term securities
|
25,600
|
19,800
|
Net cash provided by investing
activities
|
942
|
19,798
|
|
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING
ACTIVITIES:
|
|
|
Proceeds from the exercise of
warrants
|
--
|
2,143
|
Proceeds from sale of common stock,
net
|
108,945
|
116,778
|
Net cash provided by financing
activities
|
108,945
|
118,921
|
|
NET INCREASE IN CASH, CASH
EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH
|
14,652
|
66,814
|
|
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND
RESTRICTED CASH AT BEGINNING OF PERIOD
|
57,305
|
25,614
|
|
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND
RESTRICTED CASH AT END OF PERIOD
|
$71,957
|
$92,428
|
|
|
|
Reconciliation to amounts on
consolidated balance sheets:
|
|
|
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$ 70,718
|
$91,842
|
Restricted
cash
|
1,239
|
586
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and
restricted cash
|
$71,957
|
$92,428
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reclassification
of deferred financing costs to additional paid-in
capital
|
$--
|
$(3)
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed
consolidated financial statements.
7
TG Therapeutics, Inc.
Notes
to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(unaudited)
Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this report to
“TG,” the “Company,” “we,”
“us” and “our” refer to TG Therapeutics,
Inc. and our subsidiaries.
NOTE 1 – ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING
POLICIES
Description of Business
We are a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development
and commercialization of novel treatments for B-cell malignancies
and autoimmune diseases. Our lead therapeutic candidates are
TG-1101 (ublituximab), a novel, glycoengineered monoclonal antibody
that targets a unique epitope on the CD20 antigen found on mature
B-lymphocytes and TGR-1202 (umbralisib), an orally available PI3K
delta inhibitor. The delta isoform of PI3K is strongly expressed in
cells of hematopoietic origin and is believed to be important in
the proliferation and survival of B-lymphocytes. Both TG-1101 and
TGR-1202, or the combination of which is referred to as "U2," are
in Phase 3 clinical development for patients with hematologic
malignancies, with TG-1101 also in Phase 3 clinical development for
Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, we have recently brought our
anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (TG-1501) into Phase 1 development
and aim to bring additional pipeline assets into the clinic in the
future.
We also
actively evaluate complementary products, technologies and
companies for in-licensing, partnership, acquisition and/or
investment opportunities. To date, we have not received approval
for the sale of any of our drug candidates in any market and,
therefore, have not generated any product sales from our drug
candidates.
The
accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements
were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles, or GAAP, for interim financial information and with the
instructions to Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Article 10 of
Regulation S-X of the Exchange Act. Accordingly, they may not
include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for
complete financial statements. All adjustments that are, in the
opinion of management, of a normal recurring nature and are
necessary for a fair presentation of the condensed consolidated
financial statements have been included. Nevertheless, these
condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in
conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements
contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2017. The accompanying condensed consolidated December
31, 2017 balance sheet has been derived from these statements. The
results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2018
are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected
for the entire fiscal year or any other interim
period.
Certain reclassifications have been made to the
prior period unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements
to conform to the current period presentation,
including:
●
Presentation
of restricted cash on the condensed consolidated statements of cash
flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, as a result of
the adoption of Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows
– Restricted Cash” (“ASU 2016-18”)
in the first quarter of 2018.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have
incurred operating losses since our inception and expect to
continue to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future and,
may never become profitable. As of September 30, 2018, we have an
accumulated deficit of approximately $474.5 million.
Our
major source of cash has been proceeds from the public offering of
equity securities. We have not yet commercialized any of our drug
candidates and cannot be sure if we will ever be able to do so.
Even if we commercialize one or more of our drug candidates, we may
not become profitable. Our ability to achieve profitability depends
on many factors, including our ability to obtain regulatory
approval for our drug candidates; successfully completing any
post-approval regulatory obligations; and successfully
commercializing our drug candidates alone or in partnership. We may
continue to incur substantial operating losses even if we begin to
generate revenues from our drug candidates.
As of
September 30, 2018, we had approximately $97.8 million in cash,
cash equivalents, investment securities, and interest receivable.
The Company believes its cash, cash equivalents, investment
securities, and interest receivable on hand as of September 30,
2018 will be sufficient to fund the Company’s planned
operations through the end of 2019. The actual amount of cash that
we will need to operate is subject to many factors, including, but
not limited to, the timing, design and conduct of clinical trials
for our drug candidates. We are dependent upon significant future
financing to provide the cash necessary to execute our current
strategic plan, including the commercialization of any of our drug
candidates (see Note 5 for further details).
Our
common stock is listed on the Nasdaq
Capital Market and trades under the symbol
“TGTX.”
8
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
In July 2018, the Financial
Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards
Update (“ASU”) No. 2018-11, “Leases - Targeted
Improvements” (“ASU 2018-11”) as an update to ASU
2016-02, Leases (“ASU 2016-02” or “Topic
842”) issued on February 25, 2016. ASU 2016-02 is effective
for public business entities for fiscal years beginning January 1,
2019. ASU 2016-02 required companies to adopt the new leases
standard at the beginning of the earliest period presented in the
financial statements, which is January 1, 2017, using a modified
retrospective transition method where lessees must recognize lease
assets and liabilities for all leases even though those leases may
have expired before the effective date of January 1, 2017. Lessees
must also provide the new and enhanced disclosures for each period
presented, including the comparative periods.
ASU 2018-11 provides an
entity with an additional (and optional) transition method to adopt
the new leases standard. Under this new transition method, an
entity initially applies the new leases standard at the adoption
date and recognizes a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening
balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption.
Consequently, an entity’s reporting for the comparative
periods presented in the financial statements in which it adopts
the new leases standard will continue to be in accordance with
current GAAP (Topic 840, Leases). An entity that elects this
additional (and optional) transition method must provide the
required Topic 840 disclosures for all periods that continue to be
in accordance with Topic 840. The amendments do not change the
existing disclosure requirements in Topic 840. An entity shall
apply the effects of modification using one of the following two
methods:
●
Retrospectively
to each prior reporting period presented in the financial
statements with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU
2018-11 recognized at the beginning of the earliest comparative
period presented. Under this transition method, the application
date shall be the later of the beginning of the earliest period
presented in the financial statements and the commencement date of
the lease.
●
Retrospectively
at the beginning of the period of adoption through a
cumulative-effect adjustment. Under this transition method, the
application date shall be the beginning of the reporting period in
which the entity first applies ASU 2018-11.
ASU 2018-11 is effective for public business
entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and
interim periods within those fiscal years, with earlier adoption
permitted. We are currently
evaluating the impact the adoption of ASU 2018-11 will have on our consolidated financial
statements.
In June 2018, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2018-07, “Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based
Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018-07”). ASU 2018-07
expands the scope of FASB Topic 718, Compensation – Stock
Compensation (“Topic 718”) to include share-based
payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from
nonemployees. An entity should only remeasure equity-classified
awards for which a measurement date has not been established
through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of
the beginning of the fiscal year of adoption. Upon transition, the
entity is required to measure these nonemployee awards at fair
value as of the adoption date. The entity must not remeasure assets
that are completed. Disclosures required at transition include the
nature of and reason for the change in accounting principle and, if
applicable, quantitative information about the cumulative effect of
the change on retained earnings or other components of
equity.
ASU 2018-07 is effective for
public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December
15, 2018, including interim periods within that fiscal year. Early
adoption is permitted, but no earlier than an entity’s
adoption date of Topic 606. We expect the impact to our
consolidated statements of operations could be material given
potential fluctuations in our stock price as of the adoption
date.
In May 2017, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2017-09, “Scope of Modification Accounting”
(“ASU 2017-09”). ASU 2017-09 provides guidance about
which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment
award require an entity to apply modification accounting. An entity
should account for the effects of a modification unless all the
following are met:
●
The
fair value (or calculated value or intrinsic value, if such an
alternative measurement method is used) of the modified award is
the same as the fair value (or calculated value or intrinsic value,
if such an alternative measurement method is used) of the original
award immediately before the original award is modified. If the
modification does not affect any of the inputs to the valuation
technique that the entity uses to value the award, the entity is
not required to estimate the value immediately before and after the
modification.
●
The
vesting conditions of the modified award are the same as the
vesting conditions of the original award immediately before the
original award is modified.
●
The
classification of the modified award as an equity instrument or a
liability instrument is the same as the classification of the
original award immediately before the original award is
modified.
ASU 2017-09 is effective for
annual and interim periods beginning on or after December 15, 2017.
Early adoption is permitted for public business entities for
reporting periods for which financial statements have not yet been
issued, and all other entities for reporting periods for which
financial statements have not yet been made available for issuance.
The amendments should be applied prospectively to an award modified
on or after the adoption date. The Company adopted ASU 2017-09 on
January 1, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2017-09 did not have a
material effect on our consolidated financial statements as of
September 30, 2018.
9
In November 2016, the FASB
issued ASU No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows –
Restricted Cash” (“ASU 2016-18”). ASU 2016-18
requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during
the period for the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts
generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash
equivalents. ASU 2016-18 does not provide a definition of
restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents, and does not change
the balance sheet presentation for such items. The Company adopted
ASU 2016-18 on January 1, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2016-18 did not
have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements as
of September 30, 2018.
In May 2014, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with
Customers” (Topic 606) (“ASU 2014-09” or
“ASC 606”), which supersedes all existing revenue
recognition requirements, including most industry-specific
guidance. ASU 2014-09 provides a single set of criteria for revenue
recognition among all industries. The new standard requires a
company to recognize revenue when it transfers goods or services to
customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that the
Company expects to receive for those goods or
services.
ASU 2014-09 includes guidance
for determining whether a license transfers to a customer at a
point in time or over time based on the nature of the
entity’s promise to the customer. To determine whether the
entity’s promise is to provide a right to access its
intellectual property or a right to use its intellectual property,
the entity should consider the nature of the intellectual property
to which the customer will have rights.
ASU 2014-09 is effective for
interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017.
The standard allows for two transition methods - full
retrospective, in which the standard is applied to each prior
reporting period presented, or modified retrospective, in which the
cumulative effect of initially applying the standard is recognized
at the date of initial adoption. The Company adopted ASU 2014-09 on
January 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective approach. The
adoption of ASU 2014-09 did not have a material effect on our
condensed consolidated financial statements.
Other pronouncements issued
by the FASB or other authoritative accounting standards with future
effective dates are either not applicable or not significant to our
consolidated financial statements.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial
statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make
estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets
and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and
liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the
reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the applicable
reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Such differences could be material to the consolidated financial
statements.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
We
treat liquid investments with original maturities of three months
or less when purchased as cash and cash equivalents.
Restricted Cash
We
record cash pledged or held in trust as restricted cash. As of
September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, we have approximately
$1.2 million and $0.6 million, respectively, of restricted cash
pledged to secure a line of credit as
a security deposit for an Office Agreement
(see Note 8).
Investment Securities
Investment
securities at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 consist of
short-term government securities. We classify these securities as
held-to-maturity. Held-to-maturity securities are those securities
in which we have the ability and intent to hold the security until
maturity. Held-to-maturity securities are recorded at amortized
cost, adjusted for the amortization or accretion of premiums or
discounts. Premiums and discounts are amortized or accreted over
the life of the related held-to-maturity security as an adjustment
to yield using the effective interest method.
10
Credit
Risk
A
decline in the market value of any investment security below cost,
that is deemed to be other than temporary, results in a reduction
in the carrying amount to fair value. The impairment is charged to
operations and a new cost basis for the security is established.
Other-than-temporary impairment charges would be included in
interest and other (income) expense, net. Dividend and interest
income are recognized when earned.
Financial
instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations
of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents and
short-term investments. The Company maintains its cash and cash
equivalents and short-term investments with high-credit quality
financial institutions. At times, such amounts may exceed
federally-insured limits.
Revenue Recognition
We
recognize license revenue in accordance with the revenue
recognition guidance of ASC 606. We analyze each element of our
licensing agreement to determine the appropriate revenue
recognition. The terms of the license agreement may include
payments to us of non-refundable up-front license fees, milestone
payments if specified objectives are achieved, and/or royalties on
product sales. We recognize revenue from upfront payments over the
period of significant involvement under the related agreements
unless the fee is in exchange for a promise to transfer more than
one good or service to the customer, in which case the Company
would account for each promised good or service as a performance
obligation only if it is (1) distinct or (2) a series of distinct
goods or services that are substantially the same and have the same
pattern of transfer. For each performance obligation, the Company
would determine whether we satisfy the performance obligation over
time by transferring control of a good or service over
time. To determine whether the Company’s promise is to
provide a right to access its intellectual property or a right to
use its intellectual property, the Company would consider the
nature of the intellectual property to which the customer will have
rights. The Company has symbolic intellectual property, derived
from its association with the Company’s ongoing activities,
including its ordinary business activities. We recognize milestone
payments as revenue upon the achievement of specified milestones
only if (1) the milestone payment is non-refundable,
(2) substantive effort is involved in achieving the milestone,
(3) the amount of the milestone is reasonable in relation to
the effort expended or the risk associated with achievement of the
milestone, and (4) the milestone is at risk for both parties.
If any of these conditions are not met, we defer the milestone
payment and recognize it as revenue over the estimated period of
performance under the contract.
Research and Development Costs
Generally, research
and development costs are expensed as incurred. Non-refundable
advance payments for goods or services that will be used or
rendered for future research and development activities are
deferred and amortized over the period that the goods are delivered
or the related services are performed, subject to an assessment of
recoverability. We make estimates of costs incurred in relation to
external clinical research organizations, or CROs, and clinical
site costs. We analyze the progress of clinical trials, including
levels of patient enrollment, invoices received and contracted
costs when evaluating the adequacy of the amount expensed and the
related prepaid asset and accrued liability. Significant judgments
and estimates must be made and used in determining the accrued
liability balance and expense in any accounting period. We review
and accrue CRO expenses and clinical trial study expenses based on
work performed and rely upon estimates of those costs applicable to
the stage of completion of a study. Accrued CRO costs are subject
to revisions as such trials progress to completion. Revisions are
charged to expense in the period in which the facts that give rise
to the revision become known. With respect to clinical site costs,
the financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation
and vary from contract to contract. Payments under these contracts
may be uneven, and depend on factors such as the achievement of
certain events, the successful recruitment of patients, the
completion of portions of the clinical trial or similar conditions.
The objective of our policy is to match the recording of expenses
in our financial statements to the actual services received and
efforts expended. As such, expense accruals related to clinical
site costs are recognized based on our estimate of the degree of
completion of the event or events specified in the specific
clinical study or trial contract.
11
Prepaid
research and development in our consolidated balance sheets
includes, among other things, costs related to agreements with
CRO’s, certain costs to third party service providers related
to development and manufacturing services as well as clinical
development. These agreements often require payments in advance of
services performed or goods received. Accordingly, as of September
30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, we recorded approximately $11.4
million and $8.1 million, respectively, in prepaid research and
development related to such advance agreements.
Income Taxes
Income
taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future
tax consequences attributable to temporary differences between the
financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and
liabilities and their respective tax bases, operating losses and
tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are
measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable
income in the years in which those temporary differences are
expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax
assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in
operations in the period that includes the enactment date. If the
likelihood of realizing the deferred tax assets or liability is
less than “more likely than not,” a valuation allowance
is then created.
Stock-Based Compensation
We recognize all share-based
payments to employees and non-employee directors (as compensation
for service) as noncash compensation expense in the condensed
consolidated financial statements based on the fair values of such
payments. Stock-based compensation expense recognized each period
is based on the value of the portion of share-based payment awards
that is ultimately expected to vest during the period. Forfeitures
are estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in
subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those
estimates.
For share-based payments to
consultants and other third-parties (including related parties),
noncash compensation expense is determined at the
“measurement date.” The expense is recognized over the
vesting period of the award. Until the measurement date is reached,
the total amount of compensation expense remains uncertain. We
record compensation expense based on the fair value of the award at
the reporting date. The awards to consultants and other
third-parties (including related parties) are then revalued, or the
total compensation is recalculated based on the then current fair
value, at each subsequent reporting date.
In addition, because some of
the restricted stock issued to employees, consultants and other
third-parties vest upon achievement of certain milestones, the
total expense is uncertain. Compensation expense for such awards
that vest upon the achievement of milestones is recognized when the
achievement of such milestones becomes probable.
Basic and Diluted Net Loss Per Common Share
Basic net loss per share of
our common stock is calculated by dividing net loss applicable to
the common stock by the weighted-average number of our common stock
outstanding for the period. Diluted net loss per share of common
stock is the same as basic net loss per share of common stock since
potentially dilutive securities from stock options, stock warrants
and convertible preferred stock would have an antidilutive effect
either because we incurred a net loss during the period presented
or because such potentially dilutive securities were out of the
money and the Company realized net income during the period
presented. The following outstanding
shares of common stock equivalents were excluded from the
computation of net loss per share attributable to common
stockholders for the periods presented because including them would
have been antidilutive:
|
Three and Nine Months Ended September
30,
|
|
|
|
Unvested restricted
shares
|
4,604,775
|
4,141,680
|
Stock
options
|
610,000
|
--
|
Shares issuable
upon note conversion
|
16,147
|
15,372
|
Total
|
5,230,922
|
4,157,052
|
12
Long-Lived Assets and Goodwill
Long-lived assets
are reviewed for potential impairment when circumstances indicate
that the carrying value of long-lived tangible and intangible
assets with finite lives may not be recoverable. Management’s
policy in determining whether an impairment indicator exists, a
triggering event, comprises measurable operating performance
criteria as well as qualitative measures. If an analysis is
necessitated by the occurrence of a triggering event, we make
certain assumptions in determining the impairment amount. If the
carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash
flows, an impairment charge is recognized.
Goodwill is
reviewed for impairment annually, or earlier when events arise that
could indicate that an impairment exists. We test for goodwill
impairment using a two-step process. The first step compares the
fair value of the reporting unit with the unit's carrying value,
including goodwill. When the carrying value of the reporting unit
is greater than fair value, the unit’s goodwill may be
impaired, and the second step must be completed to measure the
amount of the goodwill impairment charge, if any. In the second
step, the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill
is compared with the carrying amount of the unit’s goodwill.
If the carrying amount is greater than the implied fair value, the
carrying value of the goodwill must be written down to its implied
fair value. We will continue to perform impairment tests annually,
at December 31, and whenever events or changes in circumstances
suggest that the carrying value of an asset may not be
recoverable.
Rent Expense and Deferred Rent
Rent expense and lease
incentives, including landlord construction allowances, are
recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term, commencing
generally on the date the Company takes possession of the leased
property. The Company records lease incentives as deferred rent and
recognizes the lease incentives as reductions of rental expense.
The unamortized portion of deferred rent is included in deferred
rent in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.
NOTE 2 – CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
The following tables
summarize our cash and cash equivalents at September 30, 2018 and
December 31, 2017:
(in
thousands)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Checking and bank
deposits
|
$68,352
|
$55,682
|
Money market
funds
|
2,366
|
1,036
|
Total
|
$70,718
|
$56,718
|
NOTE 3 – INVESTMENT SECURITIES
Our investments as of
September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 are classified as
held-to-maturity. Held-to-maturity investments are recorded at
amortized cost.
The following tables
summarize our investment securities at September 30, 2018 and
December 31, 2017:
|
|
(in
thousands)
|
Amortized
cost, as adjusted
|
Gross
unrealized holding gains
|
Gross
unrealized holding losses
|
|
Short-term
investments:
|
|
|
|
|
Obligations of
domestic governmental agencies (maturing between October 2018 and
September 2019) (held-to-maturity)
|
$27,024
|
$--
|
$19
|
$27,005
|
Total short-term
investment securities
|
$27,024
|
$--
|
$19
|
$27,005
|
|
|
(in
thousands)
|
Amortized
cost, as adjusted
|
Gross
unrealized holding gains
|
Gross
unrealized holding losses
|
|
Short-term
investments:
|
|
|
|
|
Obligations of
domestic governmental agencies (maturing between January 2018 and
November 2018) (held-to-maturity)
|
$27,999
|
--
|
$35
|
$27,964
|
Total short-term
investment securities
|
$27,999
|
--
|
$35
|
$27,964
|
13
NOTE 4 – FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
We measure certain financial
assets and liabilities at fair value on a recurring basis in the
condensed consolidated financial statements. The fair value
hierarchy ranks the quality and reliability of inputs, or
assumptions, used in the determination of fair value and requires
financial assets and liabilities carried at fair value to be
classified and disclosed in one of the following three
categories:
●
Level 1
– quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and
liabilities;
●
Level 2
– inputs other than Level 1 quoted prices that are directly
or indirectly observable; and
●
Level 3
– unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market
data.
As of September 30, 2018 and
December 31, 2017, the fair values of cash and cash equivalents,
restricted cash, accounts payable, and notes and interest payable,
approximate their carrying value.
At the
time of our merger (we were then known as Manhattan
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Manhattan”)) with Ariston
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ariston”) in March 2010,
Ariston issued $15.5 million of five-year 5% notes payable (the
“5% Notes”) in satisfaction of several note payable
issuances. The 5% Notes and accrued and unpaid interest thereon are
convertible at the option of the holder into common stock at the
conversion price of $1,125 per share. Ariston agreed to make
quarterly payments on the 5% Notes equal to 50% of the net product
cash flow received from the exploitation or commercialization of
Ariston’s product candidates, AST-726 and AST-915. We have no
obligations under the 5% Notes aside from (a) 50% of the net
product cash flows from Ariston’s product candidates, if any,
payable to noteholders; and (b) the conversion feature, discussed
above.
The cumulative liability
including accrued and unpaid interest of the 5% Notes was
approximately $18.2 million at September 30, 2018 and $17.5 million
at December 31, 2017. No payments have been made on the 5%
Notes as of September 30, 2018.
In December 2011, we elected
the fair value option for valuing the 5% Notes. The fair value
option was elected in order to reflect in our financial statements
the assumptions that market participants use in evaluating these
financial instruments.
As of December 31, 2013, as a
result of expiring intellectual property rights and other factors,
it was determined that net product cash flows from AST-726 were
unlikely. As we have no other obligations under the 5% Notes aside
from the net product cash flows and the conversion feature, the
conversion feature was used to estimate the 5% Notes’ fair
value as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017. The
assumptions, assessments and projections of future revenues are
subject to uncertainties, difficult to predict, and require
significant judgment. The use of different assumptions, applying
different judgment to inherently subjective matters and changes in
future market conditions could result in significantly different
estimates of fair value and the differences could be material to
our condensed consolidated financial statements.
The following tables provide
the fair value measurements of applicable financial liabilities as
of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017:
(in
thousands)
|
Financial
liabilities at fair value as of September 30, 2018
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5%
Notes
|
$--
|
$--
|
$91
|
$91
|
Total
|
$--
|
$--
|
$91
|
$91
|
|
Financial
liabilities at fair value as of December 31, 2017
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5%
Notes
|
$--
|
$--
|
$128
|
$128
|
Total
|
$--
|
$--
|
$128
|
$128
|
The
Level 3 amounts above represent the fair value of the 5% Notes and
related accrued interest.
14
The
following table summarizes the changes in Level 3 instruments
during the nine months ended September 30, 2018:
Fair value at
December 31, 2017
|
$128
|
Interest
accrued on face value of 5% Notes
|
213
|
Change
in fair value of Level 3 liabilities
|
(117)
|
Fair value at March
31, 2018
|
224
|
Interest
accrued on face value of 5% Notes
|
223
|
Change
in fair value of Level 3 liabilities
|
(237)
|
Fair value at June
30, 2018
|
210
|
Interest
accrued on face value of 5% Notes
|
221
|
Change
in fair value of Level 3 liabilities
|
(340)
|
Fair value at
September 30, 2018
|
$91
|
The
change in the fair value of the Level 3 liabilities is reported in
other (income) expense in the accompanying condensed consolidated
statements of operations.
NOTE 5 - STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Preferred Stock
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the
issuance of up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par
value, with rights senior to those of our common stock,
issuable in
one or more series. Upon issuance, we can determine the rights,
preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof. These rights,
preferences and privileges could include dividend rights,
conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, liquidation
preferences, sinking fund terms and the number of shares
constituting any series or the designation of such series, any or
all of which may be greater than the rights of common
stock.
Common Stock
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the
issuance of up to 150,000,000 shares of $0.001 par value common
stock.
In May
2017, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the
"2017 S-3"), which was declared effective in June 2017, replacing
the 2015 S-3. Under the 2017 S-3, the Company may sell up to a
total of $300 million of its securities. In connection with the
2017 S-3, we entered into an At-the-Market Issuance Sales Agreement
(the "2017 ATM") with Jefferies LLC, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.,
FBR Capital Markets & Co., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.,
Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.
Inc. and H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (each a "2017 Agent" and
collectively, the "2017 Agents"), relating to the sale of shares of
our common stock. Under the 2017 ATM we pay the 2017 Agents a
commission rate of up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale
of any shares of common stock.
In July
2018, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the
“2018 S-3”) pursuant to the Joint Venture and License
Option Agreement, dated June 18, 2018, by and between TG
Therapeutics, Inc. and Novimmune S.A. (“Novimmune”),
pursuant to which we issued 216,294 common shares to Novimmune. The
2018 S-3 was declared effective in July 2018.
During
the nine months ended September 30, 2018, we sold a total of
8,091,949 shares of common stock under the 2017 ATM for aggregate
total gross proceeds of approximately $111.0 million at an average
selling price of $13.72 per share, resulting in net proceeds of
approximately $109.0 million after deducting commissions and other
transactions costs.
The
2017 S-3 is currently our only active shelf registration statement,
pursuant to which we can issue shares in an offering. After
deducting shares already sold there is approximately $141.3 million
of common stock that remains available for sale under the 2017 S-3.
We may offer the securities under the 2017 S-3 from time to time in
response to market conditions or other circumstances if we believe
such a plan of financing is in the best interests of our
stockholders. We believe that the 2017 S-3 provides us with the
flexibility to raise additional capital to finance our operations
as needed.
Equity Incentive Plans
The TG
Therapeutics, Inc. Amended and Restated 2012 Incentive Plan
(“2012 Incentive Plan”) was approved by stockholders in
June 2018. Pursuant to this amendment, 6,000,000 shares were added
to the 2012 Incentive Plan. As of September 30, 2018, 610,000
options were outstanding and up to an additional 4,528,363 shares
may be issued under the 2012 Incentive Plan.
15
Effective
as of January 1, 2017, we entered into an amendment (the
“Amendment”) to the employment agreement entered as of
December 15, 2011 (together with the Amendment, the
“Employment Agreement”) with Michael S. Weiss, our
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and President of the
Company. Under the Amendment, Mr. Weiss will remain as Chief
Executive Officer and President, removing the interim status.
Simultaneously, we entered into a Strategic Advisory Agreement (the
“Advisory Agreement”) with Caribe BioAdvisors, LLC (the
“Advisor”) owned by Mr. Weiss to provide the services
of Mr. Weiss as Chairman of the Board and as Executive Chairman. As
part of the Amendment, Mr. Weiss also agreed to forfeit 3,381,866
restricted shares previously granted under the Employment Agreement
that were predominantly subject to time-based vesting over the next
three years. Simultaneously, (i) Mr. Weiss was issued 418,371
restricted shares under the Employment Agreement that vest in 2018
and 2019 and (ii) the Advisor was issued 2,960,000 restricted
shares under the Advisory Agreement that vested on market
capitalization thresholds ranging from $375 million to $750
million. In accordance with GAAP, there was no incremental stock
compensation expense recognition as a result of the
modification.
Stock Options
The
fair value of stock options granted is estimated at the date of
grant using the Black-Scholes pricing model. The expected term of
options granted is derived from historical data and the expected
vesting period. Expected volatility is based on the historical
volatility of our common stock. The risk-free interest rate is
based on the U.S. Treasury yield for a period consistent with the
expected term of the option in effect at the time of the grant. We
have assumed no expected dividend yield, as dividends have never
been paid to stock or option holders and will not be paid for the
foreseeable future. We granted 610,000 and zero stock options
during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017,
respectively.
The
following table summarizes stock option activity for the nine
months ended September 30, 2018:
|
|
Weighted-
average
exercise
price
|
Weighted-
average
Contractual
Term
|
Aggregate
Intrinsic Value
|
|
|
|
|
|
Outstanding at
December 31, 2017
|
--
|
$--
|
--
|
$--
|
Granted
|
610,000
|
11.65
|
|
|
Exercised
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
Forfeited
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
Expired
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
Outstanding at
September 30, 2018
|
610,000
|
$11.65
|
9.44
|
$--
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exercisable at
September 30, 2018
|
--
|
$11.65
|
--
|
$--
|
As of September 30, 2018, the
stock options outstanding include options granted to both employees
and non-employees which are milestone-based and vest upon certain
corporate milestones. Stock-based compensation will be recorded if
and when a milestone occurs.
Restricted Stock
Certain employees, directors and consultants
have been awarded restricted stock. The restricted stock vesting
consists of milestone and time-based vesting. The following
table summarizes restricted share activity for the nine months
ended September 30, 2018:
|
|
Weighted
Average Grant Date Fair Value
|
Outstanding at
December 31, 2017
|
6,321,643
|
$7.17
|
Granted
|
1,521,211
|
13.28
|
Vested
|
(1,582,633)
|
9.41
|
Forfeited
|
(155,446)
|
8.23
|
Outstanding at
September 30, 2018
|
6,104,775
|
$8.08
|
Total
expense associated with restricted stock grants was approximately
negative $(0.2) million and $4.9 million during the three months
ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $11.4 million,
and $12.4 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2018
and 2017, respectively. As of September 30, 2018, there was
approximately $10.2 million of total unrecognized compensation cost
related to unvested time-based restricted stock, which is expected
to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.1 years. The
unrecognized compensation amount does not include, as of September
30, 2018, 1,128,011 shares of restricted stock outstanding which
are milestone-based and vest upon certain corporate milestones; and
2,103,750 shares of restricted stock outstanding issued to
non-employees, the expense for which is determined each reporting
period at the measurement date. The expense for non-employee awards
is recognized over the vesting period of the award. Until the
measurement date is reached, the total amount of compensation
expense remains uncertain. We record compensation expense based on
the fair value of the award at the reporting date.
16
NOTE 6 – NOTES PAYABLE
The
following is a summary of notes payable:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Convertible 5%
Notes Payable
|
$91
|
$-
|
$91
|
$128
|
$-
|
$128
|
Total
|
$91
|
$-
|
$91
|
$128
|
$-
|
$128
|
Convertible 5% Notes Payable
The 5%
Notes and accrued and unpaid interest thereon are convertible at
the option of the holder into common stock at the conversion price
of $1,125 per share. We have no obligation under the 5% Notes aside
from (a) 50% of the net product cash flows from Ariston’s
product candidates, if any, would be payable to noteholders; and
(b) the conversion feature, discussed above. Interest accrues
monthly, is added to principal on an annual basis, every March 8,
and is payable at maturity, which was March 8, 2015 (see Note 4 for
further details).
The
cumulative liability including accrued and unpaid interest of these
notes was approximately $18.2 million at September 30, 2018 and
$17.5 million at December 31, 2017. No payments have been made on
the 5% Notes as of September 30, 2018.
In
December 2011, we elected the fair value option for valuing the 5%
Notes. The fair value option was elected in order to reflect in our
financial statements the assumptions that market participants use
in evaluating these financial instruments (see Note 4 for further
details).
NOTE 7 – LICENSE AGREEMENTS
TG-1101
In November 2012, we entered
into an exclusive (within the territory) sublicense agreement with
Ildong relating to the development and commercialization of TG-1101
in South Korea and Southeast Asia. Under the terms of the
sublicense agreement, Ildong has been granted a royalty bearing,
exclusive right, including the right to grant sublicenses, to
develop and commercialize TG-1101 in South Korea, Taiwan,
Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and
Myanmar.
An upfront payment of $2.0
million, which was received in December 2012, net of $0.3 million of
income tax withholdings, is being recognized as license
revenue on a straight-line basis over the life of the agreement,
which is through the expiration of the last licensed patent right
or 15 years after the first commercial sale of a product in such
country, unless the agreement is earlier terminated, and represents
the estimated period over which we will have certain ongoing
responsibilities under the sublicense agreement. We recorded
license revenue of approximately $38,000 for each of the three
months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, and $114,000 for each of
the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 and, at September
30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, have deferred revenue of
approximately $1.1 million and $1.2 million, respectively,
associated with this $2.0 million payment (approximately $152,000
of which has been classified in current liabilities at September
30, 2018 and December 31, 2017).
We may receive up to an
additional $5.0 million in payments upon the achievement of
pre-specified milestones. In addition, upon commercialization,
Ildong will make royalty payments to us on net sales of TG-1101 in
the sublicense territory.
TG-1701: BTK
In January 2018, we entered
into a global exclusive license agreement with Jiangsu Hengrui
Medicine Co. (“Jiangsu”), to acquire worldwide
intellectual property rights, excluding Asia but including Japan,
and for the research, development, manufacturing, and
commercialization of products containing or comprising of any of
Jiangsu’s Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors
containing the compounds of either TG1701 (SHR1459 or EBI1459) or
TG1702 (SHR1266 or EBI1266). Pursuant to the agreement, in April
2018, we paid Jiangsu an upfront fee of $1.0 million in our common
stock. Jiangsu is eligible to receive milestone payments totaling
approximately $350 million upon and subject to the achievement of
certain milestones. Various provisions allow for payments in
conjunction with the agreement to be made in cash or our common
stock, while others limit the form of payment. Royalty payments in
the low double digits are due on net sales of licensed products and
revenue from sublicenses.
TG-1801: anti-CD47/anti-CD19
In June 2018, we entered into a Joint Venture
and License Option Agreement with Novimmune SA
(“Novimmune”) to collaborate on the development and
commercialization of Novimmune’s novel first-in-class
anti-CD47/anti-CD19 bispecific antibody known as TG-1801
(previously NI-1701). The companies will jointly develop the
product on a worldwide basis, focusing on indications in the area
of hematologic B-cell malignancies. We serve as the primary
responsible party for the development, manufacturing and
commercialization of the product. Pursuant to the agreement, in
June 2018 we paid Novimmune an upfront payment of $3.0 million in
our common stock. Further
milestone payments will be paid based on early clinical
development, and the Company will be responsible for the costs of
clinical development of the product through the end of the Phase 2
clinical trials, after which the Company and Novimmune will be
jointly responsible for all development and commercialization
costs. The Company and Novimmune will each maintain an exclusive
option, exercisable at specific times during development, for the
Company to license the rights to TG-1801, in which case
Novimmune is eligible to receive
additional milestone payments totaling approximately $185 million
as well as tiered royalties on net sales in the high single to low
double digits upon and subject to the achievement of certain
milestones.
17
NOTE 8 – RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
LFB Biotechnologies
On January 30, 2012, we
entered into an exclusive license agreement with LFB
Biotechnologies, GTC Biotherapeutics and LFB/GTC LLC, all
wholly-owned subsidiaries of LFB Group, relating to the development
of ublituximab (the “LFB License Agreement”). In
connection with the LFB License Agreement, LFB Group was issued
5,000,000 shares of common stock, and a warrant to purchase
2,500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.001 per
share.
Under the terms of the LFB
License Agreement, we utilize LFB Group for certain development and
manufacturing services. We incurred expenses of zero and $1.8
million during the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017,
respectively, and $0.2 million and $2.3 million during the nine
months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, which have
been included in other research and development expenses in the
accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations. As of
September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, we had approximately zero
recorded in accounts payable related to the LFB License
Agreement.
Other Parties
In October 2014, we entered
into an agreement (the “Office Agreement”) with
Fortress Biotech, Inc. (“FBIO”), to occupy
approximately 45% of the 24,000 square feet of New York City office
space leased by FBIO, which is now our corporate headquarters. The
Office Agreement requires us to pay our respective share of the
average annual rent and other costs of the 15-year lease. We
approximate an average annual rental obligation of $1.1 million
under the Office Agreement. We began to occupy this new space in
April 2016, with rental payments beginning in the third quarter of
2016. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, we
recorded rent expense of approximately $0.3 million and $0.9
million, respectively, and at September 30, 2018, have deferred
rent of approximately $1.4 million. As of September 30, 2018
and December 31, 2017, we have approximately $1.2 million and $0.6
million, respectively, of restricted cash pledged to secure a line of credit as a security
deposit related to the Office Agreement. Mr.
Weiss, our Executive Chairman and CEO, is also Executive Vice
Chairman of FBIO.
Under the Office Agreement,
we agreed to pay FBIO our portion of the build out costs, which
have been allocated to us at the 45% rate mentioned above. The
allocated buildout costs have been recorded in Leasehold Interest
and will be amortized over the 15 year term of the Office
Agreement. After an initial commitment of the 45% rate for a period
of three (3) years, we and FBIO will determine actual office space
utilization annually and if our utilization differs from the amount
we have been billed, we will either receive credits or be assessed
incremental utilization charges. As of September 30, 2018, we had
approximately $0.1 million recorded in accounts payable related to
FBIO, none of which related to rent and build-out
costs.
In July 2015, we entered into
a Shared Services Agreement (the “Shared Services
Agreement”) with FBIO to share the cost of certain services
such as facilities use, personnel costs and other overhead and
administrative costs. This Shared Services Agreement requires us to
pay our respective share of services utilized. In connection with
the Shared Services Agreement, we incurred expenses of
approximately $1.4
million and $1.0 million for shared services for the nine months
ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and expenses of
approximately $0.2 million and $0.3 million for the three months
ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, primarily related to shared
personnel.
In May 2016, as part of a
broader agreement with Jubilant Biosys
(“Jubilant”), an India-based biotechnology
company, we entered into a sublicense agreement (“JBET
Agreement”) with Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc.
(“Checkpoint”), a subsidiary of FBIO, for the
development and commercialization of Jubilant’s novel BET
inhibitor program in the field of hematological malignancies. We
paid Checkpoint an up-front licensing fee of $1.0 million in July
2016 and incurred expenses of $0.2 million in March 2017 for the
first milestone achievement as part of the JBET Agreement which is
recorded in other research and development in the accompanying
consolidated statement of operations. As of September 30, 2018 and
December 31, 2017, we had approximately zero and $0.3 million,
respectively, recorded in accounts payable, related mostly to the
JBET Agreement. Mr. Weiss is also the Executive Chairman of
Checkpoint.
NOTE
9 – LITIGATION
In October 2018, a purported
securities class action complaint was filed in the US District
Court for the Southern District of New York against the Company and
one of its officers on behalf of all shareholders who purchased or
otherwise acquired TG Therapeutics common stock between June 4,
2018 and September 25, 2018 (the “Class Period”). The
case is captioned Randall Reinmann v. TG Therapeutics Inc., and
Michael S. Weiss, Case No. 1:18-cv-09104-KPF. The complaint alleges
that, throughout the Class Period, the Company made false and/or
misleading statements and/or failed to disclose various facts and
circumstances regarding its UNITY-CLL study allegedly in violation
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated
thereunder. The action remains pending and is in the early stages
of litigation, and the Company intends to vigorously contest the
claims in the complaint.
18
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and
analysis contains forward-looking statements about our plans and
expectations of what may happen in the future. Forward-looking
statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that
are inherently subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and
our results could differ materially from the results anticipated by
our forward-looking statements as a result of many known or unknown
factors, including, but not limited to, those factors discussed in
“Risk Factors.” See also the “Special Cautionary
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” set forth at the
beginning of this report.
You should read the following
discussion and analysis in conjunction with the unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements, and the related footnotes
thereto, appearing elsewhere in this report, and in conjunction
with management’s discussion and analysis and the audited
consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.
OVERVIEW
We are a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development
and commercialization of novel treatments for B-cell malignancies
and autoimmune diseases. Our lead therapeutic candidates are
TG-1101 (ublituximab), a novel, glycoengineered monoclonal antibody
that targets a unique epitope on the CD20 antigen found on mature
B-lymphocytes and TGR-1202 (umbralisib), an orally available PI3K
delta inhibitor. The delta isoform of PI3K is strongly expressed in
cells of hematopoietic origin and is believed to be important in
the proliferation and survival of B-lymphocytes. Both TG-1101 and
TGR-1202, or the combination which is referred to as "U2," are in
Phase 3 clinical development for patients with hematologic
malignancies, with TG-1101 also in Phase 3 clinical development for
patients with multiple sclerosis. Additionally, we have recently
brought our anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (TG-1501) into Phase 1
development and aim to bring additional pipeline assets into the
clinic in the future.
We also actively evaluate
complementary products, technologies and companies for
in-licensing, partnership, acquisition and/or investment
opportunities. To date, we have not received approval for the sale
of any of our drug candidates in any market and, therefore, have
not generated any product sales from our drug
candidates.
TG-1101 (ublituximab)
Overview
TG-1101 (ublituximab) is a
chimeric, glycoengineered monoclonal antibody that targets a unique
epitope on the CD20 antigen found on the surface of B-lymphocytes
developed to aid in the depletion of circulating B-cells. We hold
exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize TG-1101 for
all indications, except for the territories of France and Belgium
which have been retained by LFB Biotechnologies, and South Korea
and Southeast Asia which were licensed by us to Ildong in November
2012.
Generally, anti-CD20
antibodies are believed to exert their B-cell depleting effects
through three primary mechanisms: antibody dependent cell-mediated
cytotoxicity (“ADCC”), complement dependent
cytotoxicity (“CDC”), and direct or programmed cell
death (“DCD” or “PCD”). TG-1101 has been
specifically glycoengineered to enhance ADCC activity, which should
enhance its ability to deplete B-cells and may improve its
anti-cancer effects when compared to Rituxan®, the leading
anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, which had worldwide sales in 2017 of
approximately $7 billion.
Clinical Trials Overview and Recent Developments
Two single-agent,
dose-escalation, Phase I studies were undertaken with TG-1101 to
establish an optimal dose in patients with Non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma (“NHL”) and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
(“CLL”). A two part first-in-human Phase I clinical
trial was first completed in France in which TG-1101 was evaluated
in relapsed or refractory CLL. Subsequently, a single-agent Phase I
study was undertaken in the US enrolling patients with both NHL and
CLL. In both studies, single agent therapy with TG-1101 was deemed
well tolerated by treating investigators and displayed promising
clinical activity in relapsed and refractory patients.
19
In
oncology settings, anti-CD20 therapy is generally used in
combination with other anti-cancer agents where it demonstrates
maximum activity as opposed to single agent usage. As a result,
subsequent clinical development for TG-1101 has focused on
combination therapy. Currently, our priority combination trials for
TG-1101 are:
●
The
UNITY-CLL Trial – a randomized controlled Phase 3 trial under
Special Protocol Assessment ("SPA") evaluating TG-1101 in
combination with TGR-1202, the Company’s development stage
PI3K delta inhibitor, for patients with front line and previously
treated CLL;
●
The
UNITY-NHL Trial – registration-directed Phase 2b clinical
study evaluating TGR-1202 alone and in combination with TG-1101
with or without bendamustine, in patients with previously treated
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma ("NHL"); and
●
The
GENUINE Trial – a randomized controlled Phase 3 trial
evaluating TG-1101 in combination with ibrutinib, for previously
treated CLL patients with high risk cytogenetics;
●
TG-1101
+ TGR-1202 + Pembrolizumab for patients with CLL;
●
TG-1101
+ TGR-1202 + Venetoclax for patients with CLL.
In
non-oncology settings, anti-CD20 therapy has generally been used as
monotherapy. In addition to the above oncology studies, TG-1101 is
being evaluated in a Phase 2 study for the treatment of Multiple
Sclerosis ("MS") and in an investigator initiated Phase 1 study for
the treatment of acute neuromyelitis optica ("NMO") relapses, with
additional autoimmune related indications planned to be studied. On
August 1, 2017, we announced we had reached an agreement with the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") regarding an SPA on the
design of two global Phase 3 clinical trials for TG-1101, referred
to as the ULTIMATE I and ULTIMATE II Phase 3 clinical
trials.
Manufacturing of
TG-1101 is currently performed by a contract manufacturer based in
the US.
Further
details on our priority ongoing trials for TG-1101 are as
follows:
TG-1101 in Combination with TGR-1202 Phase 3 Study Program –
The UNITY-CLL Trial
In
September 2015, we reached an agreement with the FDA regarding an
SPA on the design, endpoints and statistical analysis approach of a
Phase 3 clinical trial for the proprietary combination of TG-1101
plus TGR-1202, for the treatment of CLL. The SPA provides agreement
that the Phase 3 trial design adequately addresses objectives that,
if met, would support the regulatory submission for drug approval
of both TG-1101 and TGR-1202 in combination.
The
Phase 3 trial, called the UNITY-CLL trial, is a randomized
controlled clinical trial that includes two key objectives: first,
to demonstrate contribution of each agent in the TG-1101 + TGR-1202
regimen (the combination sometimes referred to as "U2"), and
second, to demonstrate superiority in Progression Free Survival
(“PFS”) over the standard of care to support the
submission for full approval of the combination. The study
randomized patients into four treatment arms: TG-1101 + TGR-1202,
TG-1101 alone, TGR-1202 alone, and an active control arm of
obinutuzumab + chlorambucil. An early interim analysis was
conducted to assess contribution of each single agent in the
TG-1101 + TGR-1202 combination regimen, which, allowed for the
early termination of both single agent arms. A second interim
analysis was planned to evaluate Overall Response Rate (ORR) to
support accelerated approval.
In
September 2018, we announced that the independent Data Safety
Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) reviewed ongoing data from
the trial and advised the Company that the interim analysis of ORR
could not be conducted at this time as the data were not
sufficiently mature to conduct the analysis. The Company is now
guiding that it will focus on the primary endpoint of Progression
Free Survival (PFS) to support full approval of the U2 combination.
At this time the Company is not planning to seek accelerated
approval based on ORR. The Company remains blinded to all efficacy
data.
Additionally, the
DSMB reviewed safety data from over 600 patients, including over
300 patients treated with umbralisib either alone or in combination
with ublituximab, of which approximately 60% were treatment
naïve. While no evaluation of PFS was conducted, the DSMB had
PFS information available to them solely for purposes of assessing
the overall benefit-risk. After review of the data, the DSMB
identified no safety concerns and recommended the trial continue
without modification. The UNITY-CLL Phase 3 trial continues to be
conducted under SPA agreement with the FDA.
TG-1101 in Combination with TGR-1202 with or without bendamustine
Phase 2b Registration-Directed Program – The UNITY-NHL
Trial
In June
2016, we commenced a registration-directed UNITY-DLBCL Phase 2b
clinical study evaluating TG-1101 in combination with TGR-1202, as
well as TGR-1202 alone, in patients with previously treated DLBCL.
In mid-2017, this study was expanded to allow enrollment of
patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), small lymphocytic lymphoma
(SLL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL),
as well as to add a cohort evaluating the triplet regimen of
TG-1101 + TGR-1202 + bendamustine which has previously been
explored in Phase 1. The cohorts of DLBCL, FL/SLL, MCL, and MZL are
each being enrolled to and evaluated independently.
The
updated study, called UNITY-NHL, is entitled "A Phase 2b Randomized
Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of the Combination of
Ublituximab + TGR-1202 with or without bendamustine and TGR-1202
alone in Patients with Previously Treated Non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma.” The DLBCL component is being led by Owen A.
O'Connor, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Experimental
Therapeutics, and Director of the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies
at Columbia University Medical Center, while the indolent NHL
component of the study is being led by Nathan H. Fowler, MD,
Associate Professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at the
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the MCL
component of the study is being led by Michael Wang MD, Director of
Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) Program of Excellence and Co-Director of
Clinical Trials at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center. The primary objective of the study is to assess the
efficacy of TGR-1202 alone, in combination with TG-1101, or in
combination with TG-1101 and bendamustine in patients with
previously treated NHL as measured by Overall Response Rate (ORR).
The study will also provide important information as to the
contribution of each agent, TGR-1202 and TG-1101, to the
combination regimen of both agents, as well as the contribution of
bendamustine to the combination regimen of both agents.
Enrollment
in the early cohorts is now complete for patients with DLBCL
receiving ublituximab + umbralisib + bendamustine, and for patients
with FL, SLL, and MZL receiving umbralisib
monotherapy.
TG-1101 + Ibrutinib Phase 3 Study Program – The GENUINE
Trial
The
GENUINE trial is a randomized controlled clinical trial in patients
with previously treated CLL with specific high-risk cytogenetic
abnormalities, with patients randomized to receive either TG-1101
plus ibrutinib or ibrutinib alone. In October 2016, we announced
revisions to the design of the GENUINE study to accelerate its
completion. Initially the study was being conducted pursuant to an
SPA with the FDA, and was designed to enroll approximately 330
patients, with a two-part analysis of both ORR and progression-free
survival ("PFS"). The trial was amended in October 2016 to enroll
approximately 120 patients, with the PFS analysis component
removed. Following the revisions, the sole primary endpoint of the
study is ORR, and the SPA is no longer in effect.
In June
2017, the positive results from our Phase 3 GENUINE trial were
presented by Dr. Jeff Sharman, Medical Director, Hematology
Research, US Oncology in an oral session during the 53rd American
Society of Clinical Oncology ("ASCO") Annual Meeting in Chicago,
IL.
We
continue to follow patients in the GENUINE study for safety and
efficacy including Overall Response, MRD and PFS.
Single Agent TG-1101 in Relapsing Forms of Multiple
Sclerosis
In
May 2016, we commenced our first study of TG-1101 in patients with
relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a chronic
demyelinating disease of the central nervous system
(CNS).
The
study, entitled "A Placebo-Controlled Multi-Center Phase 2 Dose
Finding Study of Ublituximab, a Third-Generation Anti-CD20
Monoclonal Antibody, in Patients with Relapsing Forms of Multiple
Sclerosis," is being led by Edward Fox, MD, PhD, Director of the
Multiple Sclerosis Clinic of Central Texas and Clinical Assistant
Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Round Rock,
TX. The primary objective of the study is to determine the optimal
dosing regimen for TG-1101 with a focus on accelerating infusion
times. In addition to monitoring for safety and tolerability at
each dosing cohort, B-cell depletion and established MS efficacy
endpoints will also be evaluated.
In
October 2018, final data from this Phase II study were presented at
the 34th Congress of the
European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis
(ECTRIMS) Meeting in Berlin, Germany. The presentation included
final data on all patients, enrolled in the study through 48 weeks
of treatment.
TG-1101 in relapsing forms of Multiple Sclerosis Phase 3 Study
Program – The ULTIMATE I and ULTIMATE II Trial
In
August 2017, we reached an agreement with the FDA regarding an SPA
on the design of two Phase 3 clinical trials for TG-1101, for the
treatment of relapsing forms of Multiple Sclerosis (RMS). The SPA
provides agreement that the two Phase 3 trial designs adequately
address objectives that, if met, would support the regulatory
submission for approval of TG-1101.
The RMS
Phase 3 program consists of two trials, called the ULTIMATE I and
ULTIMATE II trials. Each trial is a global, randomized,
multi-center, double-blinded, double-dummy, active-controlled study
comparing TG-1101 (ublituximab) to teriflunomide in subjects with
RMS. The primary endpoint for each study is Annualized Relapse Rate
(ARR) following 96 weeks of treatment. Each trial is ongoing and
was designed to enroll approximately 440 subjects, randomized in a
1:1 ratio.
In
August 2018, we announced that target enrollment into the ULTIMATE
I and II trials has been achieved, and that enrollment would
continue into September 2018 to allow identified patients to
participate in the study.
21
TGR-1202
Overview
The
phosphoinositide-3-kinases (“PI3Ks”) are a family of
enzymes involved in various cellular functions, including cell
proliferation and survival, cell differentiation, intracellular
trafficking, and immunity. There are four isoforms of PI3K (alpha,
beta, delta, and gamma), of which the delta isoform is strongly
expressed in cells of hematopoietic origin, and often implicated in
B-cell related lymphomas.
TGR-1202 (also
referred to as umbralisib) is an orally available PI3K delta
inhibitor with nanomolar potency to the delta isoform and high
selectivity over the alpha, beta, and gamma isoforms. TGR-1202 has
demonstrated activity in several pre-clinical models and primary
cells from patients with hematologic malignancies.
We hold
exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize TGR-1202
for all indications worldwide, except for India which has been
retained by Rhizen Pharmaceuticals S A.
The
Company’s Investigational New Drug (“IND”)
application for TGR-1202 was accepted by the FDA in December 2012
and a first in-human Phase I clinical trial was initiated in
January 2013.
Clinical Trials Overview and Recent Developments
Initial
clinical development of TGR-1202 was focused on establishing
preliminary safety and efficacy in a wide variety of hematologic
malignancies. Upon identification of safe and active doses of
TGR-1202, a combination clinical trial program was opened,
exploring TGR-1202 in combination with a variety of agents. In
addition to the previously described study in combination with
TG-1101 with or without the BTK inhibitor, ibrutinib, our current
priority clinical trials for TGR-1202 include:
●
TGR-1202
as a
single agent in patients with previously treated FL, SLL, or MZL as
part of our UNITY-NHL Study;
●
TGR-1202
as a single agent in CLL patients who are intolerant to prior BTK
inhibitor or PI3K-delta inhibitor therapy;
●
TGR-1202
in combination with the BTK inhibitor, ibrutinib, in patients with
previously treated CLL and MCL; and
●
TGR-1202
in combination with the JAK inhibitor, ruxolitinib (JAKAFI®),
in patients with previously treated Myelofibrosis or Polycythemia
Vera.
Single
Agent TGR-1202 in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Hematologic
Malignancies
In
January 2013, the Company initiated a Phase I, open label,
multi-center, first-in-human clinical trial of TGR-1202 in patients
with hematologic malignancies. The study entitled TGR-1202-101, "A
Phase I Dose Escalation Study Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of
TGR-1202 in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Hematologic
Malignancies," is being run in collaboration with the Sarah Cannon
Research Institute in Nashville, TN with Howard “Skip”
Burris, MD, Executive Director, Drug Development as the acting
Study Chair. Enrollment is open to patients with relapsed or
refractory NHL, CLL, and other select hematologic malignancies. As
of February 2016, this study has closed to enrollment.
Data
from this ongoing Phase I study was published in full in The Lancet Oncology
in February 2018, including safety and
efficacy information from 90 patients with relapsed or refractory
b-cell malignancies, including patients with CLL and various forms
of lymphoma treated with single agent
umbralisib.
TGR-1202 Long-term Follow-up Integrated Analysis in Patients with
Relapsed/Refractory Hematologic Malignancies
In
December 2017, at the 59th American Society of Hematology ("ASH")
Annual Meeting, the Company presented integrated data with long
term follow-up from 347 patients exposed to TGR-1202 across 5
studies, which continued to demonstrate high response rates in CLL,
and FL coupled with a favorable safety profile distinct from other
PI3K delta inhibitors.
22
In June
2018, an update on the data was presented at the 23rd Congress of the European Hematology
Association (EHA). The presentation included data pooled from 4
completed or ongoing Phase 1 or 2 studies containing umbralisib,
focusing on 177 patients who have been on daily umbralisib for a
minimum of 6 months. Patients were heavily pretreated, with 45% of
patients having seen 3 or more prior lines of therapy. Umbralisib
continued to exhibit a differentiated safety profile compared to
prior generation PI3K delta inhibitors. Serious adverse events
occurring in >1% of patients after 6 months on therapy were
limited to pneumonia (3%), diarrhea (2%), and cellulitis (2%) with
only 2% of patients discontinuing umbralisib as a result of
diarrhea/colitis after being on umbralisib for more than 6
months.
TGR-1202 TKI Intolerance Study
In June
2018, at the 23rd Congress of
the European Hematology Association (EHA), the Company presented
data from 47 patients with CLL who were intolerant to prior BTK or
PI3K delta inhibitor therapy who were then treated with single
agent TGR-1202. TGR-1202 appeared to demonstrate a favorable safety
profile in patients intolerant to prior ibrutinib (BTK) or
idelalisib (PI3K) with only 13% discontinuing due to an adverse
event, of which only one patient discontinued due to a recurrent
adverse event (AE) also experienced with prior kinase inhibitor
therapy. The median progression free survival (PFS) and overall
survival has not been reached with a median follow-up of 9.5
months. Enrollment is now closed with patients continuing to be
followed.
TGR-1202 Combination Trials
TGR-1202 is being
evaluated in combination with the anti-CD30 antibody drug
conjugate, brentuximab vedotin, in patients with relapsed or
refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma; in combination with the BTK
inhibitor, ibrutinib, in patients with CLL and MCL; and in
combination with the JAK inhibitor, ruxolitinib, in patients with
Myelofibrosis or Polycythemia Vera. Additional investigator sponsored trials are also
underway which are combining TGR-1202 with other approved agents
for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.
It is
anticipated that updated results from these studies will be
presented or updated at future medical conferences.
IRAK4
We
hold global rights to develop and commercialize the IRAK4 program,
which was licensed from Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Our IRAK4 program
is currently in pre-clinical development.
PD-L1 and GITR
In
March 2015, we entered into a global collaboration agreement for
the development and commercialization of anti-PD-L1 and anti-GITR
antibody research programs in the field of hematological
malignancies. Our anti-PD-L1 recently entered the clinic and our
anti-GITR program is currently in pre-clinical development, with
pre-clinical data most recently presented at the American
Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in March
2017.
In
October 2017, we announced that the first patient has been dosed in
a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety and tolerability of
our anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, enrolling patients across sites
in Australia and New Zealand.
BET
In
May 2016, as part of a broader agreement with Jubilant Biosys
(“Jubilant”), an India-based biotechnology company, we
entered into a sub-license agreement (“JBET Agreement”)
with Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (“Checkpoint”), a
subsidiary of FBIO, for the development and commercialization of
Jubilant’s novel BET inhibitor program in the field of
hematological malignancies. The BET inhibitor program is the
subject of a family of patents covering compounds that inhibit
BRD4, a member of the BET (Bromodomain and Extra Terminal) domain
for cancer treatment. Our BET inhibitor program is currently in
pre-clinical development.
In
April 2018, pre-clinical data for TG-1601, the BET inhibitor, was
announced at the American Association for Cancer Research ("AACR")
Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
23
TG-1701: BTK
In
January 2018, we entered into a global exclusive license agreement
with Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., or Jiangsu (“BTK
Agreement”), pursuant to which we obtained worldwide rights,
excluding Asia but including Japan, for the development of
Hengrui's Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase ("BTK") inhibitor program,
including lead candidate TG-1701 (known in China as SHR-1459), as
monotherapy and in combination with TG-1101 and TGR-1202. In
addition to TG-1701, the global license agreement covers TG-1702
(SHR-1266), another BTK inhibitor in pre-clinical development. BTK
is an essential component of the B-cell receptor signaling pathways
that regulate the survival, activation, proliferation, and
differentiation of B lymphocytes. Targeting BTK with small molecule
inhibitors has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment
option for B-cell lymphomas and autoimmune diseases.
In June
2018, pre-clinical data for TG-1701, the BTK inhibitor, was
presented at the 23rd Congress
of the European Hematology Association in Stockholm, Sweden. A
Phase I study of TG-1701 in patients with relapsed or refractory
hematologic malignancies is now underway.
TG-1801: anti-CD47/anti-CD19
In
June 2018, we entered into a Joint Venture and License Option
Agreement with Novimmune SA (“Novimmune”) to
collaborate on the development and commercialization of
Novimmune’s novel first-in-class anti-CD47/anti-CD19
bispecific antibody known as TG-1801 (previously NI-1701). The
companies will jointly develop the product on a worldwide basis,
focusing on indications in the area of hematologic B-cell
malignancies.
GENERAL CORPORATE
Our
license revenues currently consist of license fees arising from our
agreement with Ildong. We recognize upfront license fee revenues
ratably over the estimated period in which we will have certain
significant ongoing responsibilities under the sublicense
agreement, with unamortized amounts recorded as deferred
revenue.
We have
not earned any revenues from the commercial sale of any of our drug
candidates.
Our
research and development expenses consist primarily of expenses
related to in-licensing of new product candidates, fees paid to
consultants and outside service providers for clinical and
laboratory development, facilities-related and other expenses
relating to the design, development, manufacture, testing and
enhancement of our drug candidates and technologies. We expense our
research and development costs as they are incurred.
Our
general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries
and related expenses for executive, finance and other
administrative personnel, recruitment expenses, professional fees
and other corporate expenses, including investor relations, legal
activities and facilities-related expenses.
Our
results of operations include non-cash compensation expenses as a
result of the grants of stock options and restricted stock.
Compensation expense for awards of options and restricted stock
granted to employees and directors represents the fair value of the
award recorded over the respective vesting periods of the
individual awards. The expense is included in the respective
categories of expense in the condensed consolidated statements of
operations. We expect to continue to incur significant non-cash
compensation expenses.
24
For
awards of options and restricted stock to consultants and other
third-parties, compensation expense is determined at the
“measurement date.” The expense is recognized over the
vesting period of the award. Until the measurement date is reached,
the total amount of compensation expense remains uncertain. We
record compensation expense based on the fair value of the award at
the reporting date. The awards to consultants and other
third-parties are then revalued, or the total compensation is
recalculated based on the then current fair value, at each
subsequent reporting date. This results in a change to the amount
previously recorded in respect of the equity award grant, and
additional expense or a reversal of expense may be recorded in
subsequent periods based on changes in the assumptions used to
calculate fair value, such as changes in market price, until the
measurement date is reached and the compensation expense is
finalized.
In addition, certain
restricted stock issued to employees vest upon the achievement of
certain milestones; therefore, the total expense is uncertain until
the milestone is probable.
Our clinical trials will be
lengthy and expensive. Even if these trials show that our drug
candidates are effective in treating certain indications, there is
no guarantee that we will be able to record commercial sales of any
of our drug candidates in the near future. In addition, we expect
losses to continue as we fund in-licensing and development of new
drug candidates. As we further our development efforts, we may
enter into additional third-party collaborative agreements and
incur additional expenses, such as licensing fees and milestone
payments. In addition, we may need to establish a commercial
infrastructure required to manufacture, market and sell our drug
candidates following approval, if any, by the FDA or a foreign
health authority, which would result in incurring additional
expenses. As a result, our quarterly results may fluctuate and a
quarter-by-quarter comparison of our operating results may not be a
meaningful indication of our future performance.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017
License Revenue. License revenue was
approximately $38,000 for each of the three months ended September
30, 2018 and 2017. License revenue is related to the amortization
of an upfront payment of $2.0 million received in 2012 associated
with our license agreement with Ildong. The upfront payment from
Ildong will be recognized as license revenue on a straight-line
basis through December 2025, which represents the estimated period
over which the Company will have certain ongoing responsibilities
under the sublicense agreement.
Noncash Compensation Expense (Research and
Development). Noncash compensation expense (research and
development) related to equity incentive grants totaled $0.6
million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, as compared
to $1.8 million during the comparable period in 2017. The decrease
of $1.2 million in noncash compensation expense was primarily
related to a decrease in the measurement date fair value of certain
consultant restricted stock during the period ended September 30,
2018.
Other Research and Development Expenses.
Other research and development expenses increased by $7.5 million
to $32.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, as
compared to $25.3 million for the three months ended September 30,
2017. The increase was mainly due to ongoing clinical development
programs during the three months ended September 30, 2018.We expect
our other research and development costs to remain relatively
consistent for the remainder of 2018.
Noncash Compensation Expense (General and
Administrative). Noncash
compensation expense (general and administrative) related to equity
incentive grants decreased by $3.9 million, as compared to the three months ended
September 30, 2017. The
decrease in noncash compensation expense was primarily related to a
decrease in the measurement date fair value of certain consultant
restricted stock during the period ended September 30, 2018 and
greater compensation expense during the three months ended
September 30, 2017 related to restricted stock granted to executive
personnel.
Other General and Administrative
Expenses. Other general and
administrative expenses increased by $0.4 million to $1.8
million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, as compared to $1.4 million for the three
months ended September 30, 2017. The
increase was due primarily to increased personnel and other general
and administrative costs. We expect our other general and
administrative expenses to remain at a comparable level for the
remainder of 2018.
Other (Income) Expense. Other income
increased by $0.3 million to approximately $0.4 million for the
three months ended September 30, 2018,
as compared to approximately $49,000 for the three months
ended September 30, 2017. The increase is mainly due to an increase
in interest income for the three months ended September 30,
2018.
25
Nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017
License Revenue. License revenue was
approximately $0.1 million for each of the nine months ended
September 30, 2018 and 2017. License revenue for the nine months
ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 was related to the amortization
of an upfront payment of $2.0 million received in 2012 associated
with our license agreement with Ildong.
Noncash Stock Expense Associated with
In-Licensing Agreement (Research and Development). Noncash
stock expense associated with in-licensing agreement (research and
development) amounted to $4.0 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2018, as compared to zero during the comparable
period in 2017. The expense during the nine months ended September
30, 2018 was recorded in conjunction with the stock issued to
Novimmune and Jiangsu Hengrui as upfront payments for the licenses
to the CD47/CD19 and BTK programs, respectively.
Noncash Compensation Expense (Research and
Development). Noncash compensation expense (research and
development) related to equity incentive grants totaled $4.4
million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018, as compared
to $5.4 million during the comparable period in 2017. The decrease
in noncash compensation expense was primarily related to a decrease
in the measurement date fair value of certain consultant restricted
stock during the period ended September 30, 2018.
Other Research and Development
Expenses. Other research and development expenses increased
by $27.5 million to $98.7 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2018, as compared to $71.2 million for the nine
months ended September 30, 2017. The increase in other research and
development expenses was due primarily to ongoing clinical
development programs during the nine months ended September 30,
2018. We expect our other research and development costs to remain
relatively consistent for the remainder of 2018.
Noncash Compensation Expense (General and
Administrative). Noncash
compensation expense (general and administrative) related to equity
incentive grants remained consistent between the two periods
totaling $7.0 million for the nine months ended September
30, 2018 and 2017.
Other General and Administrative
Expenses. Other general and
administrative expenses increased by $1.9 million to $6.2
million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018, as compared
to $4.3 million for the nine months ended September 30,
2017. The increase was due primarily
to increased personnel and other general and administrative costs.
We expect our other general and administrative expenses to remain
at a comparable level for the remainder of
2018.
Other (Income) Expense. Other income
increased by $0.5 million to $0.6 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2018, as compared
to $0.1 million for the nine months ended September 30,
2017. The increase is mainly due to an increase in interest income
for the nine months ended September 30, 2018.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Our primary sources of cash
have been from the sale of equity securities, warrant and option
exercises, and the upfront payment from our Sublicense Agreement
with Ildong. We have not yet commercialized any of our drug
candidates and cannot be sure if we will ever be able to do so.
Even if we commercialize one or more of our drug candidates, we may
not become profitable. Our ability to achieve profitability depends
on a number of factors, including our ability to obtain regulatory
approval for our drug candidates, successfully complete any
post-approval regulatory obligations and successfully commercialize
our drug candidates alone or in partnership. We may continue to
incur substantial operating losses even if we begin to generate
revenues from our drug candidates.
As of September 30, 2018, we
had approximately $97.8 million in cash, cash equivalents,
investment securities, and interest receivable. The Company
believes its cash, cash equivalents, investment securities, and
interest receivable on hand as of September 30, 2018 will be
sufficient to fund the Company’s planned operations through
the end of 2019. The actual amount of cash that we will need to
operate is subject to many factors, including, but not limited to,
the timing, design and conduct of clinical trials for our drug
candidates. We are dependent upon significant financing to provide
the cash necessary to execute our current operations, including the
commercialization of any of our drug candidates.
Cash used in operating
activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was $95.2
million as compared to $71.9 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2017. The increase in cash used in operating
activities was due primarily to increased expenditures associated
with our clinical development programs for TG-1101 and
TGR-1202.
For the nine months ended
September 30, 2018, net cash provided by investing activities was
$0.9 million as compared to $19.8 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2017. The decrease in net cash provided by investing
activities was primarily due to greater investment in treasury
securities during the nine months ended September 30,
2018.
For the nine months ended
September 30, 2018, net cash provided by financing activities of
$108.9 million related primarily to proceeds from the issuance of
common stock as part of our ATM program.
26
OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS
We have not entered into any
transactions with unconsolidated entities whereby we have financial
guarantees, subordinated retained interests, derivative instruments
or other contingent arrangements that expose us to material
continuing risks, contingent liabilities, or any other obligations
under a variable interest in an unconsolidated entity that provides
us with financing, liquidity, market risk or credit risk
support.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The discussion and analysis
of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon
our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in
accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The
preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us
to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amount of
assets and liabilities and related disclosure of contingent assets
and liabilities at the date of our financial statements and the
reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the applicable
period. Actual results may differ from these estimates under
different assumptions or conditions.
We define critical accounting
policies as those that are reflective of significant judgments and
uncertainties and which may potentially result in materially
different results under different assumptions and conditions. In
applying these critical accounting policies, our management uses
its judgment to determine the appropriate assumptions to be used in
making certain estimates. These estimates are subject to an
inherent degree of uncertainty. Our critical accounting policies
include the following:
Revenue Recognition. We recognize license
revenue in accordance with the revenue recognition guidance of
ASU
No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with
Customers” (Topic 606) (“ASC 606”). We
analyze each element of our licensing agreement to determine the
appropriate revenue recognition. The terms of the license agreement
may include payments to us of non-refundable up-front license fees,
milestone payments if specified objectives are achieved, and/or
royalties on product sales. We recognize revenue from upfront
payments over the period of significant involvement under the
related agreements unless the fee is in exchange for a promise to
transfer more than one good or service to the customer, in which
case we would account for each promised good or service as a
performance obligation only if it is (1) distinct or (2) a series
of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and
have the same pattern of transfer. For each performance obligation,
we would determine whether we satisfy the performance obligation
over time by transferring control of a good or service over
time. To determine whether our promise is to provide a right
to access its intellectual property or a right to use its
intellectual property, we would consider the nature of the
intellectual property to which the customer will have rights. We
have symbolic intellectual property, derived from our association
with ongoing activities, including our ordinary business
activities. We recognize milestone payments as revenue upon the
achievement of specified milestones only if (1) the milestone
payment is non-refundable, (2) substantive effort is involved
in achieving the milestone, (3) the amount of the milestone is
reasonable in relation to the effort expended or the risk
associated with achievement of the milestone, and (4) the
milestone is at risk for both parties. If any of these conditions
are not met, we defer the milestone payment and recognize it as
revenue over the estimated period of performance under the
contract.
Stock-Based Compensation. We have granted
stock options and restricted stock to employees, directors and
consultants, as well as warrants to other third parties. For
employee and director grants, the value of each option award is
estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes
option-pricing model. The Black-Scholes model takes into account
volatility in the price of our stock, the risk-free interest rate,
the estimated life of the option, the closing market price of our
stock and the exercise price. We base our estimates of our stock
price volatility on the historical volatility of our common stock
and our assessment of future volatility; however, these estimates
are neither predictive nor indicative of the future performance of
our stock. For purposes of the calculation, we assumed that no
dividends would be paid during the life of the options and
warrants. The estimates utilized in the Black-Scholes calculation
involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management
judgment. In addition, we are required to estimate the expected
forfeiture rate and only recognize expense for those equity awards
expected to vest. As a result, if other assumptions had been used,
our recorded stock-based compensation expense could have been
materially different from that reported. In addition, because some
of the options and warrants issued to employees, consultants and
other third-parties vest upon the achievement of certain
milestones, the total expense is uncertain.
Total compensation expense
for options and restricted stock issued to consultants is
determined at the “measurement date.” The expense is
recognized over the vesting period for the options and restricted
stock. Until the measurement date is reached, the total amount of
compensation expense remains uncertain. We record stock-based
compensation expense based on the fair value of the equity awards
at the reporting date. These equity awards are then revalued, or
the total compensation is recalculated based on the then current
fair value, at each subsequent reporting date. This results in a
change to the amount previously recorded in respect of the equity
award grant, and additional expense or a reversal of expense may be
recorded in subsequent periods based on changes in the assumptions
used to calculate fair value, such as changes in market price,
until the measurement date is reached and the compensation expense
is finalized.
27
Accruals for Clinical Research Organization and
Clinical Site Costs. We make estimates of costs incurred in
relation to external clinical research organizations, or CROs, and
clinical site costs. We analyze the progress of clinical trials,
including levels of patient enrollment, invoices received and
contracted costs when evaluating the adequacy of the amount
expensed and the related prepaid asset and accrued liability.
Significant judgments and estimates must be made and used in
determining the accrued balance and expense in any accounting
period. We review and accrue CRO expenses and clinical trial study
expenses based on work performed and rely upon estimates of those
costs applicable to the stage of completion of a study. Accrued CRO
costs are subject to revisions as such trials progress to
completion. Revisions are charged to expense in the period in which
the facts that give rise to the revision become known. With respect
to clinical site costs, the financial terms of these agreements are
subject to negotiation and vary from contract to contract. Payments
under these contracts may be uneven, and depend on factors such as
the achievement of certain events, the successful recruitment of
patients, the completion of portions of the clinical trial or
similar conditions. The objective of our policy is to match the
recording of expenses in our financial statements to the actual
services received and efforts expended. As such, expense accruals
related to clinical site costs are recognized based on our estimate
of the degree of completion of the event or events specified in the
specific clinical study or trial contract.
We are required to perform
impairment tests annually, at December 31, and whenever events or
changes in circumstances suggest that the carrying value of an
asset may not be recoverable. For all of our acquisitions, various
analyses, assumptions and estimates were made at the time of each
acquisition that were used to determine the valuation of goodwill
and intangibles. In future years, the possibility exists that
changes in forecasts and estimates from those used at the
acquisition date could result in impairment
indicators.
Accounting for Income Taxes. In preparing
our condensed consolidated financial statements, we are required to
estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we
operate. This process involves management estimation of our actual
current tax exposure and assessment of temporary differences
resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting
purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and
liabilities. We must then assess the likelihood that our deferred
tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income and, to the
extent we believe that recovery is not likely, we must establish a
valuation allowance. To the extent we establish a valuation
allowance or increase this allowance in a period, we must include
an expense within the tax provision in the consolidated statements
of operations. Significant management judgment is required in
determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets
and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against our
net deferred tax assets. We have fully offset our deferred tax
assets with a valuation allowance. Our lack of earnings history and
the uncertainty surrounding our ability to generate taxable income
prior to the reversal or expiration of such deferred tax assets
were the primary factors considered by management in maintaining
the valuation allowance.
Fair Value of 5% Notes Payable. We
measure certain financial assets and liabilities at fair value on a
recurring basis in the financial statements. The hierarchy ranks
the quality and reliability of inputs, or assumptions, used in the
determination of fair value and requires financial assets and
liabilities carried at fair value to be classified and disclosed in
one of three categories.
We elected the fair value
option for valuing the 5% Notes. We elected the fair value option
in order to reflect in our financial statements the assumptions
that market participants use in evaluating these financial
instruments.
RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
In July 2018, the Financial
Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards
Update (“ASU”) No. 2018-11, “Leases - Targeted
Improvements” (“ASU 2018-11”) as an update to ASU
2016-02, Leases (“ASU 2016-02” or “Topic
842”) issued on February 25, 2016. ASU 2016-02 is effective
for public business entities for fiscal years beginning January 1,
2019. ASU 2016-02 required companies to adopt the new leases
standard at the beginning of the earliest period presented in the
financial statements, which is January 1, 2017, using a modified
retrospective transition method where lessees must recognize lease
assets and liabilities for all leases even though those leases may
have expired before the effective date of January 1, 2017. Lessees
must also provide the new and enhanced disclosures for each period
presented, including the comparative periods.
28
ASU
2018-11 provides an entity with an additional (and optional)
transition method to adopt the new leases standard. Under this new
transition method, an entity initially applies the new leases
standard at the adoption date and recognizes a cumulative-effect
adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the
period of adoption. Consequently, an entity’s reporting for
the comparative periods presented in the financial statements in
which it adopts the new leases standard will continue to be in
accordance with current GAAP (Topic 840, Leases). An entity that
elects this additional (and optional) transition method must
provide the required Topic 840 disclosures for all periods that
continue to be in accordance with Topic 840. The amendments do not
change the existing disclosure requirements in Topic 840. An entity
shall apply the effects of modification using one of the following
two methods:
●
Retrospectively
to each prior reporting period presented in the financial
statements with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU
2018-11 recognized at the beginning of the earliest comparative
period presented. Under this transition method, the application
date shall be the later of the beginning of the earliest period
presented in the financial statements and the commencement date of
the lease.
●
Retrospectively
at the beginning of the period of adoption through a
cumulative-effect adjustment. Under this transition method, the
application date shall be the beginning of the reporting period in
which the entity first applies ASU 2018-11.
ASU 2018-11 is effective for public business
entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and
interim periods within those fiscal years, with earlier adoption
permitted. We are currently
evaluating the impact the adoption of ASU 2018-11 will have on our consolidated financial
statements.
In June 2018, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2018-07, “Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based
Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018-07”). ASU 2018-07
expands the scope of FASB Topic 718, Compensation – Stock
Compensation (“Topic 718”) to include share-based
payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from
nonemployees. An entity should only remeasure equity-classified
awards for which a measurement date has not been established
through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of
the beginning of the fiscal year of adoption. Upon transition, the
entity is required to measure these nonemployee awards at fair
value as of the adoption date. The entity must not remeasure assets
that are completed. Disclosures required at transition include the
nature of and reason for the change in accounting principle and, if
applicable, quantitative information about the cumulative effect of
the change on retained earnings or other components of
equity.
ASU 2018-07 is effective for public business
entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018,
including interim periods within that fiscal year. Early adoption
is permitted, but no earlier than an entity’s adoption date
of Topic 606. We expect the impact to our consolidated statements
of operations could be material given potential fluctuations in our
stock price as of the adoption date.
In May 2017, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2017-09, “Scope of Modification Accounting”
(“ASU 2017-09”). ASU 2017-09 provides guidance about
which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment
award require an entity to apply modification accounting. An entity
should account for the effects of a modification unless all the
following are met:
●
The
fair value (or calculated value or intrinsic value, if such an
alternative measurement method is used) of the modified award is
the same as the fair value (or calculated value or intrinsic value,
if such an alternative measurement method is used) of the original
award immediately before the original award is modified. If the
modification does not affect any of the inputs to the valuation
technique that the entity uses to value the award, the entity is
not required to estimate the value immediately before and after the
modification.
●
The
vesting conditions of the modified award are the same as the
vesting conditions of the original award immediately before the
original award is modified.
●
The
classification of the modified award as an equity instrument or a
liability instrument is the same as the classification of the
original award immediately before the original award is
modified.
29
ASU 2017-09 is effective for
annual and interim periods beginning on or after December 15, 2017.
Early adoption is permitted for public business entities for
reporting periods for which financial statements have not yet been
issued, and all other entities for reporting periods for which
financial statements have not yet been made available for issuance.
The amendments should be applied prospectively to an award modified
on or after the adoption date. The Company adopted ASU 2017-09 on
January 1, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2017-09 did not have a
material effect on our consolidated financial statements as of
September 30, 2018.
In November 2016, the FASB
issued ASU No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows –
Restricted Cash” (“ASU 2016-18”). ASU 2016-18
requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during
the period for the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts
generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash
equivalents. ASU 2016-18 does not provide a definition of
restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents, and does not change
the balance sheet presentation for such items. The Company adopted
ASU 2016-18 on January 1, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2016-18 did not
have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements as
of September 30, 2018.
In May 2014, the FASB issued
ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with
Customers” (Topic 606) (“ASU 2014-09” or
“ASC 606”), which supersedes all existing revenue
recognition requirements, including most industry-specific
guidance. ASU 2014-09 provides a single set of criteria for revenue
recognition among all industries. The new standard requires a
company to recognize revenue when it transfers goods or services to
customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that the
Company expects to receive for those goods or
services.
ASU 2014-09 includes guidance
for determining whether a license transfers to a customer at a
point in time or over time based on the nature of the
entity’s promise to the customer. To determine whether the
entity’s promise is to provide a right to access its
intellectual property or a right to use its intellectual property,
the entity should consider the nature of the intellectual property
to which the customer will have rights.
ASU 2014-09 is effective for
interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017.
The standard allows for two transition methods - full
retrospective, in which the standard is applied to each prior
reporting period presented, or modified retrospective, in which the
cumulative effect of initially applying the standard is recognized
at the date of initial adoption. The Company adopted ASU 2014-09 on
January 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective approach. The
adoption of ASU 2014-09 did not have a material effect on our
condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30,
2018.
Other pronouncements issued
by the FASB or other authoritative accounting standards with future
effective dates are either not applicable or not significant to our
consolidated financial statements.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET
RISK
The primary objective of our investment
activities is to preserve principal while maximizing our income
from investments and minimizing our market risk. We invest in
government and investment-grade corporate debt in accordance with
our investment policy. Some of the securities in which we invest
have market risk. This means that a change in prevailing interest
rates, and/or credit risk, may cause the fair value of the
investment to fluctuate. For example, if we hold a security that
was issued with a fixed interest rate at the then-prevailing rate
and the prevailing interest rate later rises, the fair value of our
investment will probably decline. As of September 30, 2018, our
portfolio of financial instruments consists of cash equivalents,
including bank deposits, and investments. Due to the short-term
nature of our investments, we believe there is no material exposure
to interest rate risk, and/or credit risk, arising from our
investments.
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As of September 30, 2018,
management carried out, under the supervision and with the
participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial
Officer, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and
operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act). Our
disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide
reasonable assurance that information we are required to disclose
in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is
recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time
periods specified in applicable rules and forms. Based upon that
evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
concluded that, as of September 30, 2018, our disclosure controls
and procedures were effective.
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our
internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended
September 30, 2018 that have materially affected, or are reasonably
likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial
reporting.
30
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
In October 2018, a purported
securities class action complaint was filed in the US District
Court for the Southern District of New York against the Company and
one of its officers on behalf of all shareholders who purchased or
otherwise acquired TG Therapeutics common stock between June 4,
2018 and September 25, 2018 (the “Class Period”). The
case is captioned Randall Reinmann v. TG Therapeutics Inc., and
Michael S. Weiss, Case No. 1:18-cv-09104-KPF. The complaint alleges
that, throughout the Class Period, the Company made false and/or
misleading statements and/or failed to disclose various facts and
circumstances regarding its UNITY-CLL study allegedly in violation
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated
thereunder. The action remains pending and is in the early stages
of litigation, and the Company intends to vigorously contest the
claims in the complaint.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You
should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties. If
any of the following occurs, our business, financial condition or
operating results could be materially harmed. These factors could
cause the trading price of our common stock to decline, and you
could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks
Related to Our Business and Industry
Because we have in-licensed our product candidates from third
parties, any dispute with or non-performance by our licensors will
adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize the
applicable product candidates.
Because we
license our intellectual property from third parties and we expect
to continue to in-license additional intellectual property rights,
if there is any dispute between us and our licensor regarding our
rights under a license agreement, our ability to develop and
commercialize our product candidates may be adversely affected.
Disputes may arise with the third parties from whom we license our
intellectual property rights from for a variety of reasons,
including:
●
the
scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other
interpretation-related issues;
●
the
extent to which our technology and processes infringe on
intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the
license agreement;
●
the
sublicensing of patent and other rights under our collaborative
development relationships and obligations associated with
sublicensing;
●
our
diligence obligations under the license agreement and what
activities satisfy those diligence obligations;
●
the
ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint
creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and us
and our partners; and
●
the
priority of invention of patented technology.
In addition, the agreements under which we
currently license intellectual property or technology from third
parties are complex, and
certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to
multiple interpretations, or may conflict in such a way that puts
us in breach of one or more agreements, which would make us
susceptible to lengthy and expensive disputes with one or more of
our licensing partners. The resolution of any contract
interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we
believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual
property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our
financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either
of which could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have
licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current
licensing arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be
unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected
product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on
our business, financial conditions, results of operations, and
prospects.
We do not have full internal development capabilities, and are thus
reliant upon our partners and third parties to generate clinical,
preclinical and quality data necessary to support the regulatory
applications needed to conduct clinical trials and file for
marketing approval.
In order to submit and
maintain an Investigational New Drug application
(“IND”), Biologics License Application
(“BLA”), or New Drug Application (“NDA”) to
the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”),
it is necessary to submit all information on the clinical,
non-clinical, chemistry, manufacturing, controls and quality
aspects of the product candidate. We rely on our third party
contractors and our licensing partners to provide a significant
portion of this data. If we are unable to obtain this data, or the
data is not sufficient to meet the regulatory requirements, we may
experience significant delays in our development programs.
Additionally, an IND must be active in each division in which we
intend to conduct clinical trials. While some of our product
candidates are in Phase I trials outside of the US, we currently do
not have an active US IND for any of the IRAK4, BTK, or BET
inhibitors, nor for our anti-PDL1, anti-GITR or anti-CD47/
anti-CD-19 antibodies. Additionally, there can be no assurance
given that any of the molecules under development in our IRAK4 or
BET inhibitor program or in our anti-GITR or anti-CD47/ anti-CD-19
antibody research programs will demonstrate sufficient
pharmacologic properties during pre-clinical evaluation to advance
to IND enabling studies, or that such IND enabling studies, if any
are conducted, will provide data sufficient to support the filing
of an IND, or that such IND, if filed, would be accepted by any FDA
division under which we would seek to develop any product
candidate. While we maintain an active IND for TG-1101 and TGR-1202
enabling the conduct of studies in the FDA’s Division of
Hematology and Oncology, and an active IND for TG-1101 under the
FDA’s Division of Neurology, there can be no assurance that
we will be successful in obtaining an active IND for these drugs in
any other division under whose supervision we may seek to develop
our product candidates, or that the FDA will allow us to continue
the development of our product candidates in those divisions where
we maintain an active IND.
31
We are highly dependent on the success of our product candidates
and cannot give any assurance that these or any future product
candidates will be successfully commercialized.
We are
a development-stage biopharmaceutical company, and do not currently
have any commercial products that generate revenues or any other
sources of revenue. We may never be able to successfully develop
marketable products. Our pharmaceutical development methods are
unproven and may not lead to commercially viable products for any
of several reasons.
If we
are unable to develop or receive regulatory approval for or
successfully commercialize any of our product candidates, we will
not be able to generate product revenues. Even if we are able to
develop or receive regulatory approval for or successfully
commercialize any of our product candidates, we may not be able to
gain market acceptance for our product candidates and future
products and may never become profitable.
Because the results of preclinical studies and early clinical
trials are not necessarily predictive of future results, any
product candidate we advance into clinical trials may not have
favorable results in later clinical trials, if any, or receive
regulatory approval.
Pharmaceutical
development has inherent risk. We will be required to demonstrate
through adequate and well-controlled clinical trials that our
product candidates are effective with a favorable benefit-risk
profile for use in diverse populations for their target indications
before we can seek regulatory approvals for their commercial sale.
Success in early clinical trials does not mean that later clinical
trials will be successful because product candidates in later-stage
clinical trials may fail to demonstrate sufficient safety or
efficacy despite having progressed through initial clinical
testing. Companies frequently suffer significant setbacks in
advanced clinical trials, even after earlier clinical trials have
shown promising results. In addition, there is typically an
extremely high rate of failure of pharmaceutical candidates
proceeding through clinical trials.
We plan
on conducting additional Phase I, II, and III clinical trials for
TG-1101 and TGR-1202. Early clinical results seen with TG-1101 and
TGR-1202 in a small number of patients may not be reproduced in
expanded or larger clinical trials. Additionally, individually
reported outcomes of patients treated in clinical trials may not be
representative of the entire population of treated patients in such
studies. Further, larger scale Phase III studies, which are often
conducted internationally, are inherently subject to increased
operational risks compared to earlier stage studies, including the
risk that the results could vary on a region to region, or country
to country basis which could materially adversely affect the
study’s outcome or the opinion of the validity of the study
results by applicable regulatory agencies. Early clinical trial
results from interim analysis or from the review of a Data Safety
Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) or similar safety committee
may not be reflective of the results of the entire study, when
completed. Additionally, many of the results reported in our early
clinical trials rely on local investigator assessed safety and
efficacy outcomes which may differ from results assessed in a
blinded, independent, centrally reviewed manner, often required of
adequate and well controlled registration directed clinical trials
which may be undertaken at a later date. If the results from
expansion cohorts or later trials are different from those found in
the earlier studies of TG-1101 and TGR-1202, we may need to
terminate or revise our clinical development plan, which could
extend the time for conducting our development program and could
have a material adverse effect on our business. Our IRAK4,
BET, anti-CD47/ anti-CD-19, and anti-GITR programs are all in
pre-clinical development and no assurance can be given that they
will advance into clinical development. If the results from
additional pre-clinical studies or early clinical trials differ
from those found in earlier studies, our clinical development plans
and timelines for this program could be adversely affected which
could have a material adverse effect on our business. Many drugs
fail in the early stages of clinical development for safety and
tolerability issues and accordingly if our pre-clinical assets
advance into clinical development, no assurance can be made that a
safe and efficacious dose can be found.
If we are unable to successfully complete our clinical trial
programs, or if such clinical trials take longer to complete than
we project, our ability to execute our current business strategy
will be adversely affected.
Whether
or not and how quickly we complete clinical trials is dependent in
part upon the rate at which we are able to engage clinical trial
sites and, thereafter, the rate of enrollment of patients, and the
rate we collect, clean, lock and analyze the clinical trial
database. Patient enrollment is a function of many factors,
including the size of the patient population, the proximity of
patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the study,
the existence of competitive clinical trials, and whether existing
or new drugs are approved for the indication we are studying. We
are aware that other companies are currently conducting or planning
clinical trials that seek to enroll patients with the same diseases
that we are studying. Certain clinical trials are designed to
continue until a pre-determined number of events have occurred in
the patients enrolled. Trials such as this are subject to delays
stemming from patient withdrawal and from lower than expected event
rates. They may also incur additional costs if enrollment is
increased in order to achieve the desired number of events. If we
experience delays in identifying and contracting with sites and/or
in patient enrollment in our clinical trial programs, we may incur
additional costs and delays in our development programs, and may
not be able to complete our clinical trials in a cost-effective or
timely manner. In addition, conducting multi-national studies adds
another level of complexity and risk. We are subject to events
affecting countries outside the United States. Negative or
inconclusive results from the clinical trials we conduct or
unanticipated adverse medical events could cause us to have to
repeat or terminate the clinical trials.
32
In
September 2015 we announced a Phase 3 clinical trial for the
combination of TG-1101 + TGR-1202 for patients with Chronic
Lymphocytic Leukemia (“CLL”), which is being conducted
pursuant to a Special Protocol Assessment (“SPA”) with
the FDA and in August 2017 we announced an SPA for our registration
program for TG-1101 in relapsing forms of Multiple Sclerosis
(“MS”). Many companies which have been granted SPAs
and/or the right to utilize the FDA’s Fast Track or
accelerated approval process have ultimately failed to obtain final
approval to market their drugs. Since we are seeking approvals
under SPAs for some of our product registration strategies, based
on protocol designs negotiated with the FDA, we may be subject to
enhanced scrutiny. Further, any changes or amendments to a protocol
that is being conducted under SPA will have to be reviewed and
approved by the FDA to verify that the SPA agreement is still
valid. Even if the primary endpoint in a Phase 3 clinical trial is
achieved, a SPA does not guarantee approval. The FDA may raise
issues of safety, study conduct, bias, deviation from the protocol,
statistical power, patient completion rates, changes in scientific
or medical parameters or internal inconsistencies in the data prior
to making its final decision. The FDA may also seek the guidance of
an outside advisory committee prior to making its final
decision.
The sufficiency of our clinical trial results for approval, in
particular for the
GENUINE study, are subject to FDA’s
discretion.
A
number of our product approval strategies for TG-1101 and/or
TG-1202 involve use of the FDA's accelerated approval pathway.
Obtaining accelerated approval for an agent requires demonstration
of meaningful benefit over available therapies. While we believe we
have an understanding of what is considered available therapy
today, ultimately the determination of what constitutes available
therapy is wholly up to the FDA and is subject to change. In
October 2017, we announced the outcome of a meeting with the FDA
regarding the use of the results from the GENUINE Phase 3 trial to
support a BLA filing for accelerated approval of TG-1101 in
combination with ibrutinib. As part of the discussion, the FDA also
guided that if one or more agents obtained full approval before we
could obtain accelerated approval, those agents could be considered
available therapy, and we would need to show meaningful benefit
over those agents as well. No assurance can be given that other
agents will not receive full approval prior to our potential
receipt of accelerated approval. If that were to occur, no
assurance can be given that we would be successful in proving
meaningful benefit over those later approved drugs. If we were
unable to prove meaningful benefit over any such agents, we would
be effectively blocked from receiving accelerated approval.
This
principal applies not only to the GENUINE study, but also to our
initial strategies for accelerated approval of TGR-1202 for
patients with DLBCL, FL, SLL, and/or MZL which are reliant on
establishing clinical efficacy utilizing a surrogate endpoint of
overall response rate from the UNITY-NHL study. No assurance can be
given that other agents will not receive full approval for any of
the indications being studied in UNITY-NHL prior to our potential
receipt of accelerated approval. If that were to occur, no
assurance can be given that we would be successful in proving
meaningful benefit over those later approved drugs. If we were
unable to prove meaningful benefit over any such agents, we would
be effectively blocked from receiving accelerated
approval.
While
we wait to see if any drugs receive full approval and can evaluate
the data associated with any such agents, we are continuing to make
preparations for a BLA and/or NDA filing for accelerated approval.
Whether or not we ultimately file such application will be subject
to multiple factors and no assurance can be given that a filing
will be made. If a filing is made, the FDA acceptance of such a
filing will depend on the FDA’s views on the adequacy of the
filing, and further even if the filing is accepted, approval of
such a filing is a question wholly within the FDA’s
discretion to determine. In addition, if we were to receive
accelerated approval, we would be required to conduct a post-market
confirmatory study, which we may not complete, or if completed, may
prove unsuccessful. In such instance, the FDA can remove the
product from the market.
The
GENUINE study in its final form was not powered for
progression-free survival (“PFS”). There can be no
assurance given that we will reach agreement with the FDA on an
acceptable use of PFS data from GENUINE to support approval of
TG-1101, or even if an agreement is reached, that the PFS results
of TG-1101 will be positive and/or sufficient to support a
regulatory approval of TG-1101.
Any product candidates we may advance through clinical development
are subject to extensive regulation, which can be costly and time
consuming, cause unanticipated delays or prevent the receipt of the
required approvals or “fast track” or “priority
review” status to commercialize our product
candidates.
The
clinical development, manufacturing, labeling, storage,
record-keeping, advertising, promotion, import, export, marketing
and distribution of our product candidates or any future product
candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the
United States and by comparable health authorities worldwide. In
the United States, we are not permitted to market our product
candidates until we receive approval of a BLA or NDA from the FDA.
The process of obtaining BLA and NDA approval is expensive, often
takes many years and can vary substantially based upon the type,
complexity and novelty of the products involved. Approval policies
or regulations may change and the FDA has substantial discretion in
the pharmaceutical approval process, including the ability to
delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many
reasons. Even with “fast track” or “priority
review” status which we intend to seek for our product
candidates, where possible, including with regard to TG-1101, such
designations do not necessarily mean a faster development process
or regulatory review process or necessarily confer any advantage
with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures.
In addition, the FDA may require post-approval clinical trials or
studies which also may be costly. The FDA approval for a limited
indication or approval with required warning language, such as a
boxed warning, could significantly impact our ability to
successfully market our product candidates. Finally, the FDA may
require adoption of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy
(“REMS”) requiring prescriber training, post-market
registries, or otherwise restricting the marketing and
dissemination of these products. Despite the time and expense
invested in clinical development of product candidates, regulatory
approval is never guaranteed. Assuming successful clinical
development, we intend to seek product approvals in countries
outside the United States. As a result, we would be subject to
regulation by the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), as
well as the other regulatory agencies in these
countries.
33
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 might differ from
that required to obtain FDA approval. Regulatory approval in one
country does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a
failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country
may negatively impact the regulatory process in others. As in the
United States, the regulatory approval process in Europe and in
other countries is a lengthy and challenging process. The FDA, and
any other regulatory body around the world can delay, limit or deny
approval of a product candidate for many reasons,
including:
●
the FDA
or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the
design or implementation of our clinical trials;
●
we may
be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or
comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate
is safe and effective for any indication;
●
the FDA
may not accept clinical data from trials which are conducted by
individual investigators or in countries where the standard of care
is potentially different from the United States;
●
the
results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical
significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory
authorities for approval;
●
we may
be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate's clinical and
other benefits outweigh its safety risks;
●
the FDA
or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our
interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical
trials;
●
the
data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may
not be sufficient to support the submission of a BLA, NDA or other
submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or
elsewhere;
●
the FDA
or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve
the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party
manufacturers with which we or our collaborators currently contract
for clinical supplies and plan to contract for commercial supplies;
or
●
the
approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign
regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner
rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
In
addition, raising questions about the safety of marketed
pharmaceuticals may result in increased cautiousness by the FDA and
other regulatory authorities in reviewing new pharmaceuticals based
on safety, efficacy or other regulatory considerations and may
result in significant delays in obtaining regulatory approvals.
Regulatory approvals for our product candidates may not be obtained
without lengthy delays, if at all. Any delay in obtaining, or
inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approvals would prevent
us from commercializing our product candidates.
Any product candidate we advance into clinical trials may cause
unacceptable adverse events or have other properties that may delay
or prevent their regulatory approval or commercialization or limit
their commercial potential.
Unacceptable
adverse events caused by any of our product candidates that we take
into clinical trials could cause either us or regulatory
authorities to interrupt, delay, modify or halt clinical trials and
could result in the denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or
other regulatory authorities for any or all targeted indications.
This, in turn, could prevent us from commercializing the affected
product candidate and generating revenues from its
sale.
We have
not completed testing of any of our product candidates for the
treatment of the indications for which we intend to seek product
approval in humans, and we currently do not know the extent that
adverse events, if any, will be observed in patients who receive
any of our product candidates. To date, clinical trials using
TG-1101 and TGR-1202 have demonstrated a toxicity profile that was
deemed acceptable by the investigators performing such studies.
Such interpretation may not be shared by future investigators or by
the FDA and in the case of TG-1101 and TGR-1202, even if deemed
acceptable for oncology applications, it may not be acceptable for
diseases outside the oncology setting, and likewise for any other
product candidates we may develop. Additionally, the severity,
duration and incidence of adverse events may increase in larger
study populations. With respect to both TG-1101 and TGR-1202, the
toxicity when manufactured under different conditions and in
different formulations is not known, and it is possible that
additional and/or different adverse events may appear upon the
human use of those formulations and those adverse events may arise
with greater frequency, intensity and duration than in the current
formulation. Should we not be able to adequately demonstrate
analytical comparability between drug product manufactured under
different conditions, the introduction of such new drug product
into ongoing trials also has the potential to confound the
interpretation of the results or complicate the statistical
analysis of such trial. Further, with respect to TGR-1202, although
approximately one thousand patients have been dosed amongst all
ongoing TGR-1202 studies, the full adverse effect profile of
TGR-1202 is not known. It is also unknown as additional patients
are exposed for longer durations to TGR-1202, whether greater
frequency and/or severity of adverse events are likely to occur.
Common toxicities of other drugs in the same class as TGR-1202
include high levels of liver toxicity, infections and colitis, the
latter of which notably has presented with later onset, with
incidence increasing with duration of exposure. To date, the
incidence of these events has been limited for TGR-1202, however no
assurance can be given that this safety and tolerability profile
will continue to be demonstrated in the future as higher doses,
longer durations of exposure, and multiple drug combinations are
explored. If any of our product candidates cause unacceptable
adverse events in clinical trials, we may not be able to obtain
marketing approval and generate revenues from its sale, or even if
approved for sale may lack differentiation from competitive
products, which could have a material adverse impact on our
business and operations.
34
Additionally, in
combination clinical development, there is an inherent risk of
drug-drug interactions between combination agents which may affect
each component’s individual pharmacologic properties and the
overall efficacy and safety of the combination regimen. Both
TG-1101 and TGR-1202 are being evaluated in combination together,
as well as with a variety of other active anti-cancer agents, which
may cause unforeseen toxicity, or impact the severity, duration,
and incidence of adverse events observed compared to those seen in
the single agent studies of these agents. Further, with multi-drug
combinations, it is often difficult to interpret or properly assign
attribution of an adverse event to any one particular agent,
introducing the risk that toxicity caused by a component of a
combination regimen could have a material adverse impact on the
development of our product candidates. There can be no assurances
given that the combination regimens being studied will display
tolerability or efficacy suitable to warrant further testing or
produce data that is sufficient to obtain marketing
approval.
If any
of our product candidates receives marketing approval and we, or
others, later identify unacceptable adverse events caused by the
product, a number of significant negative consequences could
result, including:
●
regulatory
authorities may withdraw their approval of the affected
product;
●
regulatory
authorities may require a more significant clinical benefit for
approval to offset the risk;
●
regulatory
authorities may require the addition of labeling statements,
including warnings, contradictions, or precautions, that could
diminish the usage of the product or otherwise limit the commercial
success of the affected product;
●
we may
be required to change the way the product is administered or,
conduct additional clinical trials;
●
we may
choose to discontinue sale of the product;
●
we
could be sued and held liable for harm caused to
patients;
●
we may
not be able to enter into collaboration agreements on acceptable
terms and execute on our business model; and
●
our
reputation may suffer.
Any one
or a combination of these events could prevent us from obtaining or
maintaining regulatory approval and achieving or maintaining market
acceptance of the affected product or could substantially increase
the costs and expenses of commercializing the affected product,
which in turn could delay or prevent us from generating any
revenues from the sale of the affected product.
We may experience delays in the commencement of our clinical trials
or in the receipt of data from preclinical and clinical trials
conducted by third parties, which could result in increased costs
and delay our ability to pursue regulatory approval.
Delays
in the commencement of clinical trials and delays in the receipt of
data from preclinical or clinical trials conducted by third parties
could significantly impact our product development costs. Before we
can initiate clinical trials in the United States for our product
candidates, we need to submit the results of preclinical testing,
usually in animals, to the FDA as part of an IND, along with other
information including information about product chemistry,
manufacturing and controls and its proposed clinical trial protocol
for our product candidates.
We plan
to rely on preclinical and clinical trial data from third parties,
if any, for the IND submissions for our product candidates. If
receipt of that data is delayed for any reason, including reasons
outside of our control, it will delay our plans for IND filings,
and clinical trial plans. This, in turn, will delay our ability to
make subsequent regulatory filings and ultimately, to commercialize
our products if regulatory approval is obtained. If those third
parties do not make this data available to us, we will likely, on
our own, have to develop all the necessary preclinical and clinical
data which will lead to additional delays and increase the costs of
our development of our product candidates.
Before
we can test any product candidate in human clinical trials the
product candidate enters the preclinical testing stage. Preclinical
tests include laboratory evaluations of product chemistry, toxicity
and formulation, as well as in-vitro and animal studies to assess
the potential safety and activity of the pharmaceutical product
candidate. The conduct of the preclinical tests must comply with
federal regulations and requirements including good laboratory
practices (“GLP”).
We must
submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with
manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical
data or literature and a proposed clinical protocol, to the FDA as
part of the IND. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days
after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA places the IND on a
clinical hold within that 30-day time period. In such a case, we
must work with the FDA to resolve any outstanding concerns before
the clinical trials can begin. The FDA may also impose clinical
holds on a product candidate at any time before or during clinical
trials due to safety concerns or non-compliance. Accordingly, we
cannot be sure that submission of an IND will result in the FDA
allowing clinical trials to begin, or that, once begun, issues will
not arise that suspend or terminate such clinical
trial.
35
The FDA
may require that we conduct additional preclinical testing for any
product candidate before it allows us to initiate the clinical
testing under any IND, which may lead to additional delays and
increase the costs of our preclinical development.
Even
assuming an active IND for a product candidate, we do not know
whether our planned clinical trials for any such product candidate
will begin on time, or at all. The commencement of clinical trials
can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays
in:
●
obtaining
regulatory clearance to commence a clinical trial;
●
identifying,
recruiting and training suitable clinical
investigators;
●
reaching
agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research
organizations (“CROs”) and trial sites, the terms of
which can be subject to extensive negotiation, may be subject to
modification from time to time and may vary significantly among
different CROs and trial sites;
●
obtaining
sufficient quantities of a product candidate for use in clinical
trials;
●
obtaining
institutional review board (“IRB”) or ethics committee
approval to conduct a clinical trial at a prospective
site;
●
identifying,
recruiting and enrolling patients to participate in a clinical
trial;
●
retaining
patients who have initiated a clinical trial but may withdraw due
to adverse events from the therapy, insufficient efficacy, fatigue
with the clinical trial process or personal issues;
and
●
unexpected
safety findings.
Any
delays in the commencement of our clinical trials will delay our
ability to pursue regulatory approval for our product candidates.
In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in
the commencement of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the
denial of regulatory approval of a product candidate.
Delays in the completion of clinical testing could result in
increased costs and delay our ability to generate product
revenues.
Once a
clinical trial has begun, patient recruitment and enrollment may be
slower than we anticipate. Clinical trials may also be delayed as a
result of ambiguous or negative interim results. Further, a
clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, an IRB, an
ethics committee or a DSMC overseeing the clinical trial, any of
our clinical trial sites with respect to that site or the FDA or
other regulatory authorities due to a number of factors,
including:
●
failure
to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory
requirements or our clinical protocols;
●
inspection
of the clinical trial operations or clinical trial site by the FDA
or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a
clinical hold;
●
unforeseen
safety issues or any determination that the clinical trial presents
unacceptable health risks; and
●
lack of
adequate funding to continue the clinical trial.
Changes
in regulatory requirements and guidance also may occur and we may
need to amend clinical trial protocols to reflect these changes.
Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols
to IRBs for re-examination, which may impact the costs, timing and
successful completion of a clinical trial. If we experience delays
in the completion of, or if we must terminate, any clinical trial
of any product candidate that we advance into clinical trials, our
ability to obtain regulatory approval for that product candidate
will be delayed and the commercial prospects, if any, for the
product candidate may be harmed. In addition, many of these factors
may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of a
product candidate. Even if we ultimately commercialize any of our
product candidates, other therapies for the same indications may
have been introduced to the market during the period we have been
delayed and such therapies may have established a competitive
advantage over our product candidates.
We intend to rely on third parties to help conduct our planned
clinical trials. If these third parties do not meet their deadlines
or otherwise conduct the trials as required, we may not be able to
obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product
candidates when expected or at all.
We
intend to use CROs to assist in the conduct of our planned clinical
trials and will rely upon medical institutions, clinical
investigators and contract laboratories to conduct our trials in
accordance with our clinical protocols. Our future CROs,
investigators and other third parties may play a significant role
in the conduct of these trials and the subsequent collection and
analysis of data from the clinical trials.
There
is no guarantee that any CROs, investigators and other third
parties will devote adequate time and resources to our clinical
trials or perform as contractually required. If any third parties
upon whom we rely for administration and conduct of our clinical
trials fail to meet expected deadlines, fail to adhere to its
clinical protocols or otherwise perform in a substandard manner,
our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we
may not be able to commercialize our product
candidates.
36
If any
of our clinical trial sites terminate for any reason, we may
experience the loss of follow-up information on patients enrolled
in our ongoing clinical trials unless we are able to transfer the
care of those patients to another qualified clinical trial site. In
addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve
as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and
receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such
services. If these relationships and any related compensation
result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, the integrity
of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be
jeopardized.
As all of our product candidates are still under development,
manufacturing and process improvements implemented in the
production of those product candidates may affect their ultimate
activity or function.
Our
product candidates are in the initial stages of development and are
currently manufactured in small batches for use in pre-clinical and
clinical studies. Process improvements implemented to date have
changed, and process improvements in the future may change, the
activity profile of the product candidates, which may affect the
safety and efficacy of the products. No assurance can be given that
the material manufactured from any of the optimized processes will
perform comparably to the product candidates as manufactured to
date and used in currently available pre-clinical data and or in
early clinical trials reported in this or any previous filing.
Additionally, future clinical trial results will be subject to the
same level of uncertainty if, following such trials, additional
process improvements are made. In addition, we have engaged a
secondary manufacturer for TG-1101 to meet our current clinical and
future commercial needs and anticipate engaging additional
manufacturing sources for TGR-1202 to meet expanded clinical trial
and commercial needs. While material produced from this secondary
manufacturer for TG-1101 has to date demonstrated acceptable
comparability to enable introduction into our clinical trials, no
assurance can be given that any additional manufacturers will be
successful or that material manufactured by the additional
manufacturers will perform comparably to TG-1101 or TGR-1202 as
manufactured to date and used in currently available pre-clinical
data and or in early clinical trials reported in this or any
previous filing, or that the relevant regulatory agencies will
agree with our interpretation of comparability. If a secondary
manufacturer is not successful in replicating the product or
experiences delays, or if regulatory authorities impose unforeseen
requirements with respect to product comparability from multiple
manufacturing sources, we may experience delays in clinical
development.
If we fail to adequately understand and comply with the local laws
and customs as we expand into new international markets, these
operations may incur losses or otherwise adversely affect our
business and results of operations.
We
expect to operate a portion of our business in certain countries
through subsidiaries or through supply and marketing arrangements.
In those countries, where we have limited experience in operating
subsidiaries and in reviewing equity investees, we will be subject
to additional risks related to complying with a wide variety of
national and local laws, including restrictions on the import and
export of certain intermediates, drugs, technologies and multiple
and possibly overlapping tax laws. In addition, we may face
competition in certain countries from companies that may have more
experience with operations in such countries or with international
operations generally. We may also face difficulties integrating new
facilities in different countries into our existing operations, as
well as integrating employees hired in different countries into our
existing corporate culture. If we do not effectively manage our
operations in these subsidiaries and review equity investees
effectively, or if we fail to manage our alliances, we may lose
money in these countries and it may adversely affect our business
and results of our operations. In all interactions with foreign
regulatory authorities, we are exposed to liability risks under the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or similar anti-bribery
laws.
If our competitors develop treatments for the target indications
for which any of our product candidates may be approved, and they
are approved more quickly, marketed more effectively or
demonstrated to be more effective than our product candidates, our
commercial opportunity will be reduced or eliminated.
We
operate in a highly competitive segment of the biotechnology and
biopharmaceutical market. We face competition from numerous
sources, including commercial pharmaceutical and biotechnology
enterprises, academic institutions, government agencies, and
private and public research institutions. Many of our competitors
have significantly greater financial, product development,
manufacturing and marketing resources. Large pharmaceutical
companies have extensive experience in clinical testing and
obtaining regulatory approval for drugs. Additionally, many
universities and private and public research institutes are active
in cancer research, some in direct competition with us. We may also
compete with these organizations to recruit scientists and clinical
development personnel. Smaller or early-stage companies may also
prove to be significant competitors, particularly through
collaborative arrangements with large and established
companies.
The
cancer indications for which we are developing our products have a
number of established therapies with which we will compete. Most
major pharmaceutical companies and many biotechnology companies are
aggressively pursuing new cancer development programs for the
treatment of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (“NHL”), CLL,
and other B-cell proliferative malignancies, including both
therapies with traditional, as well as novel, mechanisms of action.
Additionally, numerous established therapies exist for the
autoimmune disorders for which we are developing TG-1101, including
and in particular, MS.
If
approved, we expect TG-1101 to compete directly with Roche
Group’s Rituxan® (rituximab) and Gazyva®
(obinutuzumab or GA-101), and Novartis’ Arzerra®
(ofatumumab) among others, each of which is currently approved for
the treatment of various diseases including NHL and CLL. In
addition, a number of pharmaceutical companies are developing
antibodies targeting CD20, CD19, and other B-cell associated
targets, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (“CAR-T”)
immunotherapy, and other B-cell ablative therapy which, if
approved, would potentially compete with TG-1101 both in oncology
settings as well as in autoimmune disorders. In 2017, the Roche
Group’s anti-CD20 antibody ocrelizumab was approved for the
treatment of MS. Genmab and GSK’s (ofatumumab) is also under
clinical development for patients with MS. New developments,
including the development of other pharmaceutical technologies and
methods of treating disease, occur in the pharmaceutical and life
sciences industries at a rapid pace.
37
With
respect to TGR-1202, there are several PI3K delta targeted
compounds both approved, such as Gilead’s Zydelig®
(idelalisib), Verastem's Copiktra™
(duvelisib), and Bayer’s Aliqopa™ (copanlisib),
and in development, which if approved we would expect to compete
directly with TGR-1202. In addition, there are numerous other novel
therapies targeting similar pathways to TGR-1202 that are both
approved and in development, which could also compete with TGR-1202
in similar indications, such as the BTK inhibitor, ibrutinib (FDA
approved for MCL, CLL, Marginal Zone Lymphoma and WM and marketed
by AbbVie and Janssen), the BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib (FDA
approved for MCL and marketed by AstraZeneca), or the BCL-2
inhibitor venetoclax (FDA approved for CLL and marketed by AbbVie
and Roche).
These
developments may render our product candidates obsolete or
noncompetitive. Compared to us, many of our potential competitors
have substantially greater:
●
research
and development resources, including personnel and
technology;
●
pharmaceutical
development, clinical trial and pharmaceutical commercialization
experience;
●
experience
and expertise in exploitation of intellectual property rights;
and
As a
result of these factors, our competitors may obtain regulatory
approval of their products more rapidly than us or may obtain
patent protection or other intellectual property rights that limit
our ability to develop or commercialize our product candidates. Our
competitors may also develop products for the treatment of
lymphoma, CLL, or other B-cell and autoimmune related disorders
that are more effective, better tolerated, more useful and less
costly than ours and may also be more successful in manufacturing
and marketing their products. Our competitors may succeed in
obtaining approvals from the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities
for their product candidates sooner than we do for our
products.
We will
also face competition from these third parties in recruiting and
retaining qualified personnel, establishing clinical trial sites
and enrolling patients for clinical trials and in identifying and
in-licensing new product candidates.
We rely completely on third parties to manufacture our preclinical
and clinical pharmaceutical supplies and we intend to rely on third
parties to produce commercial supplies of any approved product
candidate, and the commercialization of any of our product
candidates could be stopped, delayed or made less profitable if
those third parties fail to obtain approval of the FDA, fail to
provide us with sufficient quantities of pharmaceutical product or
fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.
The
facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our
product candidates must be approved by the FDA pursuant to
inspections that will be conducted only after we submit a BLA or
NDA to the FDA, if at all. We do not control the manufacturing
process of our product candidates and are completely dependent on
our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with the
FDA’s requirements for manufacture of finished pharmaceutical
products (good manufacturing practices, or “GMP”). If
our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material
that conforms to our target product specifications, patent
specifications, and/or the FDA’s strict regulatory
requirements of safety, purity and potency, we will not be able to
secure and/or maintain FDA approval for our product candidates. In
addition, we have no control over the ability of our contract
manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality
assurance and qualified personnel. If our contract manufacturers
cannot meet FDA standards, we may need to find alternative
manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our
ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our
product candidates. No assurance can be given that a long-term,
scalable manufacturer can be identified or that they can make
clinical and commercial supplies of our product candidates that
meets the product specifications of previously manufactured
batches, or is of a sufficient quality, or at an appropriate scale
and cost to make it commercially feasible. If they are unable to do
so, it could have a material adverse impact on our
business.
In
addition, we do not have the capability to package finished
products for distribution to hospitals and other customers. Prior
to commercial launch, we intend to enter into agreements with one
or more alternate fill/finish pharmaceutical product suppliers so
that we can ensure proper supply chain management once we are
authorized to make commercial sales of our product candidates. If
we receive marketing approval from the FDA, we intend to sell
pharmaceutical product finished and packaged by such suppliers. We
have not entered into long-term agreements with our current
contract manufacturers or with any fill/finish suppliers, and
though we intend to do so prior to commercial launch of our product
candidates in order to ensure that we maintain adequate supplies of
finished product, we may be unable to enter into such an agreement
or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a
material adverse impact upon our business.
38
In most
cases, our manufacturing partners are single source suppliers. It
is expected that our manufacturing partners will be sole source
suppliers from single site locations for the foreseeable future.
Given this, any disruption of supply from these partners could have
a material, long-term impact on our ability to supply products for
clinical trials or commercial sale. If our suppliers do not deliver
sufficient quantities of our product candidates on a timely basis,
or at all, and in accordance with applicable specifications, there
could be a significant interruption of our supply, which would
adversely affect clinical development and commercialization of our
products. In addition, if our current or future supply of any or
our product candidates should fail to meet specifications during
its stability program there could be a significant interruption of
our supply of drug, which would adversely affect the clinical
development and commercialization of the product.
Our
product candidates may compete with other product candidates and
products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a
limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations
and that might be capable of manufacturing for us. Any performance
failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could
delay clinical development or marketing approval. We do not
currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply or a
second source for bulk drug substance. If our current contract
manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to
replace such manufacturers. We may incur added costs and delays in
identifying and qualifying any replacement
manufacturers.
Our
current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the
manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely
affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize
any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and
competitive basis.
We
also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute
drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on
the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or
marketing approval of any future product candidates or
commercialization of our products, producing additional losses and
depriving us of potential product revenue.
We currently have no marketing and sales organization and no
experience in marketing pharmaceutical products. If we are unable
to establish sales and marketing capabilities or fail to enter into
agreements with third parties to market and sell any products we
may develop, we may not be able to effectively market and sell our
products and generate product revenue.
We do
not currently have the infrastructure for the sales, marketing and
distribution of our biotechnology products, and we must build this
infrastructure or make arrangements with third parties to perform
these functions in order to commercialize our products. We plan to
either develop internally or enter into collaborations or other
commercial arrangements to develop further, promote and sell all or
a portion of our product candidates.
The
establishment and development of a sales force, either by us or
jointly with a development partner, or the establishment of a
contract sales force to market any products we may develop will be
expensive and time-consuming and could delay any product launch,
and we cannot be certain that we or our development partners would
be able to successfully develop this capability. If we or our
development partners are unable to establish sales and marketing
capability or any other non-technical capabilities necessary to
commercialize any products we may develop, we will need to contract
with third parties to market and sell such products. We currently
possess limited resources and may not be successful in establishing
our own internal sales force or in establishing arrangements with
third parties on acceptable terms, if at all.
We may seek to establish additional collaborations and, if we are
not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, we may
have to alter our development and commercialization
plans.
Any future product candidate development programs
and the potential commercialization of our product candidates will require substantial
additional cash to fund expenses. For any current or
future product candidates, we may
decide to collaborate with additional pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies for the development and potential
commercialization of those product candidates.
We
face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators.
Whether we reach a definitive agreement for any additional
collaborations will depend, among other things, upon our assessment
of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and
conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed
collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those
factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the
likelihood of approval by FDA or similar regulatory authorities
outside the United States, the potential market for the subject
product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and
delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of
competing drugs, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our
ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to
such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge and
industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also
consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar
indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether
such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us
for any future product candidate. The terms of any additional
collaborations or other arrangements that we may establish may not
be favorable to us.
We
may not be able to negotiate additional collaborations on a timely
basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. Collaborations are complex
and time-consuming to negotiate and document. In addition, there
have been a significant number of recent business combinations
among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a
reduced number of potential future collaborators. If we are unable
to negotiate and enter into new collaborations, we may have to
curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are
seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay its development program or
reduce or delay any other future development programs.
39
If conflicts arise between us and our future collaborators or
strategic partners, these parties may act in a manner adverse to us
and could limit our ability to implement our
strategies.
If
conflicts arise between our future corporate or academic
collaborators or strategic partners and us, the other party may act
in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement
our strategies. Future collaborators or strategic partners, may
develop, either alone or with others, products in related fields
that are competitive with the products or potential products that
are the subject of these collaborations. Competing products, either
developed by the collaborators or strategic partners or to which
the collaborators or strategic partners have rights, may result in
the withdrawal of partner support for any future product
candidates. Our current or future collaborators or strategic
partners may preclude us from entering into collaborations with
their competitors, fail to obtain timely regulatory approvals,
terminate their agreements with us prematurely, or fail to devote
sufficient resources to the development and commercialization of
products. Any of these developments could harm any future product
development efforts.
We will need to obtain FDA approval of any proposed product brand
names, and any failure or delay associated with such approval may
adversely impact our business.
A pharmaceutical product candidate cannot be
marketed in the United States or other countries until we have
completed a rigorous and extensive regulatory review processes,
including approval of a brand name. Any brand names we intend to
use for TG-1101, TGR-1202 or
any future product candidates will require approval from the FDA
regardless of whether we have secured a formal trademark
registration from the United States Patent and Trademark
Office(“USPTO”). The FDA typically conducts a review of
proposed product brand names, including an evaluation of potential
for confusion with other product names. The FDA may also object to
a product brand name if it believes the name inappropriately
implies medical claims. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed
product brand names, we may be required to adopt an alternative brand name for
TG-1101, TGR-1202 or any future
product candidates. If we adopt an alternative brand name, we would
lose the benefit of our existing trademark applications for such
product candidate and may be required to expend significant
additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable product
brand name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not
infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to
the FDA. We may be unable to build a successful brand identity for
a new trademark in a timely manner or at all, which would limit our
ability to commercialize TG-1101, TGR-1202, or any future product
candidates.
If any product candidate that we successfully develop does not
achieve broad market acceptance among physicians, patients,
healthcare payors, and the medical community, the revenues that we
generate from its sales will be limited.
Even if
our product candidates receive regulatory approval, they may not
gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare
payors, and the medical community. Coverage and reimbursement of
our product candidates by third-party payors, including government
payors, generally is also necessary for commercial success. The
degree of market acceptance of any of our approved products would
depend on a number of factors, including:
●
the
efficacy and safety as demonstrated in clinical
trials;
●
the
timing of market introduction of such product candidate as well as
competitive products;
●
the
clinical indications for which the product is
approved;
●
acceptance
by physicians, major operators of cancer clinics and patients of
the product as a safe and effective treatment;
●
the
potential and perceived advantages of product candidates over
alternative treatments;
●
the
safety of product candidates seen in a broader patient
group;
●
the
cost of treatment in relation to alternative
treatments;
●
the
availability of adequate reimbursement and pricing by third parties
and government authorities;
●
changes
in regulatory requirements by government authorities for our
product candidates;
●
relative
convenience and ease of administration;
●
the
prevalence and severity of side effects and adverse
events;
●
the
effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts; and
●
unfavorable
publicity relating to the product.
If any
product candidate is approved but does not achieve an adequate
level of acceptance by physicians, hospitals, healthcare payors and
patients, we may not generate sufficient revenue from these
products and we may not become or remain profitable.
If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller
than we believe they are, even assuming approval of a drug
candidate, our business may suffer.
Our projections of both the number of people who
are affected by disease within our target indications, as well as
the subset of these people who have the potential to benefit from
treatment with our product
candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates
have been derived from a variety of sources, including the
scientific literature, healthcare utilization databases and market
research, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may
change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The
number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected.
Likewise, the potentially addressable patient population for each
of our product candidates may
be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our
product candidates, and new patients
may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to,
which would adversely affect our results of operations and our
business.
40
If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur
substantial liabilities and may be required to limit
commercialization of our product candidates.
We face
an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the
testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials, and
will face an even greater risk if we sell our product candidates
commercially. Although we are not aware of any historical or
anticipated product liability claims against us, if we cannot
successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we
may incur substantial liabilities or be required to cease clinical
trials of our drug candidates or limit commercialization of any
approved products. An individual may bring a liability claim
against us if one of our product candidates causes, or merely
appears to have caused, an injury. If we cannot successfully defend
our self against product liability claims, we will incur
substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome,
liability claims may result in:
●
decreased
demand for our product candidates;
●
impairment
to our business reputation;
●
withdrawal
of clinical trial participants;
●
costs
of related litigation;
●
distraction
of management’s attention from our primary
business;
●
substantial
monetary awards to patients or other claimants;
●
the
inability to commercialize our product candidates; and
We
believe that we have obtained sufficient product liability
insurance coverage for our clinical trials. We intend to expand our
insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products if
marketing approval is obtained for any of our product candidates.
However, we may be unable to obtain this product liability
insurance on commercially reasonable terms and with insurance
coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may
arise. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class
action or individual lawsuits relating to marketed pharmaceuticals.
A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought
against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments
exceed our insurance coverage, could decrease our cash and
adversely affect our business.
Reimbursement may be limited or unavailable in certain market
segments for our product candidates, which could make it difficult
for us to sell our products profitably.
We
intend to seek approval to market our future products in both the
United States and in countries and territories outside the United
States. If we obtain approval in one or more foreign countries, we
will be subject to rules and regulations in those countries
relating to our product. In some foreign countries, particularly in
the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals and
biologics is subject to governmental control. In these countries,
pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take
considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a
product candidate. In addition, market acceptance and sales of our
product candidates would depend significantly on the availability
of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors for
any of our product candidates and may be affected by existing and
future healthcare reform measures.
Government
authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers
and health maintenance organizations, decide which pharmaceuticals
they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. Reimbursement
by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors,
including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a
product is:
●
a
covered benefit under its health plan;
●
safe,
effective and medically necessary;
●
appropriate
for the specific patient;
●
neither
experimental nor investigational.
Obtaining coverage
and reimbursement approval for a product from a government or other
third-party payor is a time consuming and costly process that could
require that we provide supporting scientific, clinical and
cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products to the payor.
We may not be able to provide data sufficient to gain acceptance
with respect to coverage and reimbursement. If reimbursement of our
future products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if
pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, we may be unable to
achieve or sustain profitability. Additionally, while we may seek
approval of our products in combination with each other, there can
be no guarantee that we will obtain coverage and reimbursement for
any of our products together, or that such reimbursement will
incentivize the use of our products in combination with each other
as opposed to in combination with other agents which may be priced
more favorably to the medical community.
41
We are subject to new legislation, regulatory proposals and managed
care initiatives that may increase our costs of compliance and
adversely affect our ability to market our products, obtain
collaborators and raise capital.
In both
the United States and certain foreign countries, there have been a
number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare
system that could impact our ability to sell our products
profitably. In particular, the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003
revised the payment methodology for many products reimbursed by
Medicare, resulting in lower rates of reimbursement for many types
of drugs, and added a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare
program that involves commercial plans negotiating drug prices for
their members. Since 2003, there have been a number of other
legislative and regulatory changes to the coverage and
reimbursement landscape for pharmaceuticals.
The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, collectively,
the “ACA,” was enacted in 2010 and made significant
changes to the United States’ healthcare system. The ACA and
any revisions or replacements of that Act, any substitute
legislation, and other changes in the law or regulatory framework
could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Among
the provisions of the ACA of importance to our potential product
candidates are:
●
an
annual, nondeductible fee on any entity that manufactures or
imports specified branded prescription drugs and biologic agents,
apportioned among these entities according to their market share in
certain government healthcare programs;
●
an
increase in the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay
under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to 23.1% and 13.0% of the
average manufacturer price for branded and generic drugs,
respectively;
●
expansion
of healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the federal False
Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, new government
investigative powers and enhanced penalties for
non-compliance;
●
a new
Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which
manufacturers must agree to offer 50% point-of-sale discounts off
negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible
beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for
a manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under
Medicare Part D;
●
extension
of a manufacturer’s Medicaid rebate liability to covered
drugs dispensed to individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid managed
care organizations;
●
expansion
of eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs by, among other
things, allowing states to offer Medicaid coverage to additional
individuals and by adding new mandatory eligibility categories for
certain individuals with income at or below 138% of the federal
poverty level, thereby potentially increasing a
manufacturer’s Medicaid rebate liability;
●
expansion
of the entities eligible for discounts under the 340B Drug Pricing
Program;
●
the new
requirements under the federal Open Payments program and its
implementing regulations;
●
a new
requirement to annually report drug samples that manufacturers and
distributors provide to physicians;
●
a new
regulatory pathway for the approval of biosimilar biological
products, all of which will impact existing government healthcare
programs and will result in the development of new programs;
and
●
a new
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify
priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness
research, along with funding for such research.
The
Supreme Court upheld the ACA in the main challenge to the
constitutionality of the law in 2012. The Supreme Court also upheld
federal subsidies for purchasers of insurance through federally
facilitated exchanges in a decision released in June
2015.
President Trump ran
for office on a platform that supported the repeal of the ACA, and
one of his first actions after his inauguration was to sign an
Executive Order instructing federal agencies to waive or delay
requirements of the ACA that impose economic or regulatory burdens
on states, families, the health-care industry and others.
Modifications to or repeal of all or certain provisions of the ACA
have been attempted in Congress as a result of the outcome of the
recent presidential and congressional elections, consistent with
statements made by the incoming administration and members of
Congress during the presidential and congressional campaigns and
following the election.
42
In
January 2017, Congress voted to adopt a budget resolution for
fiscal year 2017, or the Budget Resolution, that authorizes the
implementation of legislation that would repeal portions of the
ACA. The Budget Resolution is not a law. However, it is widely
viewed as the first step toward the passage of legislation that
would repeal certain aspects of the ACA. In March 2017, following
the passage of the budget resolution for fiscal year 2017, the
United States House of Representatives passed legislation known as
the American Health Care Act of 2017, which, if enacted, would
amend or repeal significant portions of the ACA. Attempts in the
Senate in 2017 to pass ACA repeal legislation, including the Better
Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, so far have been unsuccessful.
At the end of 2017, Congress passed
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which repealed the penalty for
individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential health coverage
as required by the ACA. Following this legislation, Texas and 19
other states filed a lawsuit alleging that the ACA is
unconstitutional as the individual mandate was repealed,
undermining the legal basis for the Supreme Court’s prior
decision. This lawsuit is ongoing and the outcome may have a
significant impact on our business.
Most
recently, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the “BBA,”
which set government spending levels for Fiscal Years 2018 and
2019, revised certain provisions of the ACA. Specifically,
beginning in 2019, the BBA increased manufacturer point-of-sale
discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs in the
Medicare Part D coverage gap from 50% to 70%, ultimately increasing
the liability for brand drug manufacturers. Further, this mandatory
manufacturer discount applies to biosimilars beginning in
2019.
The
Trump Administration has also taken several regulatory steps to
redirect ACA implementation. The Department of Health and Human
Services (“HHS”) finalized a hospital payment reduction
for drugs acquired through the 340B Drug Pricing Program and has
proposed to expand this payment reduction to other hospital
settings. HHS also has taken steps to increase the availability of
cheaper health insurance options, typically with fewer benefits.
The Administration has also signaled its intention to address drug
prices and to increase competition, including by increasing the
availability of biosimilars and generic drugs. As these are
regulatory actions, a new administration could undo or modify these
efforts.
We
expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures
that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous
coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price
that we receive for any approved drug. Any reduction in
reimbursement from Medicare or other government healthcare programs
may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.
The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare
reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain
profitability or commercialize our drugs.
Legislative
proposals such as expanding the Medicaid drug rebate program to the
Medicare Part D program, providing authority for the
government to negotiate drug prices under the Medicare Part D
program and lowering reimbursement for drugs covered under the
Medicare Part B program have been raised in Congress, but have
been met with opposition and have not been enacted so
far.
The
administration can rely on its existing statutory authority to make
policy changes that could have an impact on the drug
industry. For example, the Medicare program has in the past
proposed to test alternative payment methodologies for drugs
covered under the Part B program and currently is proposing to
pay hospitals less for Part B-covered drugs purchased through the
340B Drug Pricing Program.
Legislative
and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval
requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for
drugs. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes
will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or
interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes
on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may
be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the US Congress of the
FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent
marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product
labeling and post-marketing testing and other
requirements.
There
have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and
regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at
broadening the availability of healthcare and containing or
lowering the cost of healthcare products and services. We cannot
predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The
continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed
care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to
contain or reduce costs of healthcare may adversely
affect:
●
the
demand for any products for which we may obtain regulatory
approval;
●
our
ability to set a price that we believe is fair for our
products;
●
our
ability to generate revenues and achieve or maintain
profitability;
●
the
level of taxes that we are required to pay; and
●
the
availability of capital.
In
addition, governments may impose price controls, which may
adversely affect our future profitability.
43
We will need to increase the size of our organization and the scope
of our outside vendor relationships, and we may experience
difficulties in managing this growth.
As of
November 1, 2018, we had 104 full and part time employees. Over
time, we will need to expand our managerial, operational, financial
and other resources in order to manage and fund our operations and
clinical trials, continue research and development activities, and
commercialize our product candidates. Our management and scientific
personnel, systems and facilities currently in place may not be
adequate to support our future growth. Our need to effectively
manage our operations, growth, and various projects requires that
we:
●
manage
our clinical trials effectively;
●
manage
our internal development efforts effectively while carrying out our
contractual obligations to licensors, contractors and other third
parties;
●
continue
to improve our operational, financial and management controls and
reporting systems and procedures; and
●
attract
and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees.
We may
utilize the services of outside vendors or consultants to perform
tasks including clinical trial management, statistics and analysis,
regulatory affairs, formulation development, chemistry,
manufacturing, controls, and other pharmaceutical development
functions. Our growth strategy may also entail expanding our group
of contractors or consultants to implement these tasks going
forward. Because we rely on a substantial number of consultants,
effectively outsourcing many key functions of our business, we will
need to be able to effectively manage these consultants to ensure
that they successfully carry out their contractual obligations and
meet expected deadlines. However, if we are unable to effectively
manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of
the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason,
our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we
may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for our product
candidates or otherwise advance its business. There can be no
assurance that we will be able to manage our existing consultants
or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on
economically reasonable terms, or at all. If we are not able to
effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and
expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may be
unable to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further
develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly,
may not achieve our research, development and commercialization
goals.
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify or discover
additional product candidates and may fail to capitalize on
programs or product candidates that may present a greater
commercial opportunity or for which there is a greater likelihood
of success.
The
success of our business depends upon our ability to identify,
develop and commercialize product candidates based on our programs.
If we do not successfully develop and eventually commercialize
products, we will face difficulty in obtaining product revenue in
future periods, resulting in significant harm to our financial
position and adversely affecting our share price. Research programs
to identify new product candidates require substantial technical,
financial and human resources.
Additionally,
because we have limited resources, we may forego or delay pursuit
of opportunities with certain programs or product candidates or for
indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential.
Our estimates regarding the potential market for a product
candidate could be inaccurate, and our spending on current and
future research and development programs may not yield any
commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the
commercial potential for a particular product candidate, we may
relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through
strategic collaboration, licensing or other arrangements in cases
in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole
development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
Alternatively, we may allocate internal resources to a product
candidate in a therapeutic area in which it would have been more
advantageous to enter into a partnering arrangement.
If
any of these events occur, we may be forced to abandon or delay our
development efforts with respect to a particular product candidate
or fail to develop a potentially successful product candidate,
which could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition, results of operations and
prospects.
If we fail to attract and keep key management and clinical
development personnel, we may be unable to successfully develop or
commercialize our product candidates.
We will
need to expand and effectively manage our managerial, operational,
financial and other resources in order to successfully pursue our
clinical development and commercialization efforts for our product
candidates and future product candidates. We are highly dependent
on the development, regulatory, commercial and financial expertise
of the members of our senior management. The loss of the services
of any of our senior management could delay or prevent the further
development and potential commercialization of our product
candidates and, if we are not successful in finding suitable
replacements, could harm our business. We do not maintain
“key man” insurance policies on the lives of these
individuals. We will need to hire additional personnel as we
continue to expand our manufacturing, research and development
activities.
Our
success depends on our continued ability to attract, retain and
motivate highly qualified management and scientific personnel and
we may not be able to do so in the future due to the intense
competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology,
pharmaceutical and other businesses. Our industry has experienced a
high rate of turnover of management personnel in recent years. If
we are not able to attract and retain the necessary personnel to
accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints
that will impede significantly the achievement of our development
objectives, our ability to raise additional capital, and our
ability to implement our business strategy.
44
If we fail to comply with healthcare regulations, we could face
substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial
condition could be adversely affected.
In
addition to FDA restrictions on the marketing of pharmaceutical and
biotechnology products, several other types of state and federal
laws have been applied to restrict certain marketing practices in
the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, as well as
consulting or other service agreements with physicians or other
potential referral sources and regulate the use and disclosure of
identifiable patient information. These laws include anti-kickback
statutes and false claims statutes that prohibit, among other
things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or
receiving remuneration to induce, or, in return for, purchasing,
leasing, ordering, recommending or arranging for the purchase,
lease or order of any healthcare item or service reimbursable under
Medicare, Medicaid or other federally-financed healthcare programs,
and knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim
for payment to the federal government, or knowingly making, or
causing to be made, a false statement to get a false claim paid.
The majority of states also have statutes or regulations similar to
the federal anti-kickback law and false claims laws, which apply to
items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state
programs, or, in several states, apply regardless of the payor.
Although there are a number of statutory exemptions and regulatory
safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution,
the exemptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and any
practices we adopt may not, in all cases, meet all of the criteria
for safe harbor protection from anti-kickback liability. Sanctions
under these federal and state laws may include civil monetary
penalties, exclusion of a manufacturer’s products from
reimbursement under government programs, criminal fines and
imprisonment. Any challenge to its business practices under these
laws could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition, and results of operations. Finally, the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as amended by
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health
Act of 2009, or (“HITECH”), their respective
implementing regulations and similar state laws and regulations,
impose obligations on covered healthcare providers, health plans,
and healthcare clearinghouses, as well as their business associates
that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually
identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered
entity, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and
transmission of individually identifiable health information. In
the event our operations result in our receiving such information,
we could become subject to the requirements of these laws and
regulations, including potential civil and criminal
penalties.
Our employees, consultants, or third party partners may engage in
misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance
with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have a
material adverse effect on our business.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or
other misconduct. Misconduct by employees, consultants, or third
party partners could include intentional failures to comply with
FDA regulations, provide accurate information to the FDA, comply
with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with
federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations,
report financial information or data accurately or disclose
unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in
the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and
regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and
other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or
prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and
promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other
business arrangements. Employee, consultant, or third party
misconduct could also involve the improper use of information
obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in
regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation, as well as
civil and criminal liability. The precautions we take to detect and
prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown
or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental
investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure
to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such
actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in
defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could
have a significant impact on our business and results of
operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other
civil and/or criminal sanctions.
We use biological and hazardous materials, and any claims relating
to improper handling, storage or disposal of these materials could
be time consuming or costly.
We use
hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological agents and
compounds, which could be dangerous to human health and safety or
the environment. Our operations also produce hazardous waste
products. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the
use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of
these materials and wastes. Compliance with applicable
environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or
future environmental laws and regulations may impair our
pharmaceutical development efforts.
In
addition, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental
injury or contamination from these materials or wastes. If one of
our employees was accidentally injured from the use, storage,
handling or disposal of these materials or wastes, the medical
costs related to his or her treatment would be covered by our
workers’ compensation insurance policy. However, we do not
carry specific biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage and
our property and casualty and general liability insurance policies
specifically exclude coverage for damages and fines arising from
biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination.
Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be
held liable for damages or penalized with fines in an amount
exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory
approvals could be suspended, or operations otherwise
affected.
45
All product candidate development timelines and projections in this
report are based on the assumption of further
financing.
The
timelines and projections in this report are predicated upon the
assumption that we will raise additional financing in the future to
continue the development of our product candidates. In the event we
do not successfully raise subsequent financing, our product
development activities will necessarily be curtailed commensurate
with the magnitude of the shortfall. If our product development
activities are slowed or stopped, we would be unable to meet the
timelines and projections outlined in this filing. Failure to
progress our product candidates as anticipated will have a negative
effect on our business, future prospects, and ability to obtain
further financing on acceptable terms, if at all, and the value of
the enterprise.
We incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a
public company, and our management is required to devote
substantial time to compliance initiatives.
As
a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other
expenses under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules
subsequently implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission
(“SEC”), and the rules of any stock exchange on which
we may become listed. These rules impose various requirements on
public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance
of effective disclosure and financial controls and appropriate
corporate governance practices. Our team has devoted and will
continue to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance
initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations increase our
legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more
time-consuming and costly. For example, these rules and regulations
make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director
and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept
reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher
costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may
be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to
serve on our Board of Directors, our Board committees or as
executive officers.
The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires, among other things, that we
maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and
disclosure controls and procedures. As a result, we are required to
periodically perform an evaluation of our internal control over
financial reporting to allow management to report on the
effectiveness of those controls, as required by Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Additionally, our independent auditors are
required to perform a similar evaluation and report on the
effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.
These efforts to comply with Section 404 will require the
commitment of significant financial and managerial resources. While
we anticipate maintaining the integrity of our internal control
over financial reporting and all other aspects of Section 404, we
cannot be certain that a material weakness will not be identified
when we test the effectiveness of our control systems in the
future. If a material weakness is identified, we could be subject
to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory
authorities, which would require additional financial and
management resources, costly litigation or a loss of public
confidence in our internal control, which could have an adverse
effect on the market price of our stock.
Risks Relating to Acquisitions
Acquisitions, investments and strategic alliances that we may make
in the future may use significant resources, result in disruptions
to our business or distractions of our management, may not proceed
as planned, and could expose us to unforeseen
liabilities.
We may
seek to expand our business through the acquisition of, investments
in and strategic alliances with companies, technologies, products,
and services. Acquisitions, investments and strategic alliances
involve a number of special problems and risks, including, but not
limited to:
●
difficulty
integrating acquired technologies, products, services, operations
and personnel with the existing businesses;
●
diversion
of management’s attention in connection with both negotiating
the acquisitions and integrating the businesses;
●
strain
on managerial and operational resources as management tries to
oversee larger operations;
●
difficulty
implementing and maintaining effective internal control over
financial reporting at businesses that we acquire, particularly if
they are not located near our existing operations;
●
exposure
to unforeseen liabilities of acquired companies;
●
potential
costly and time-consuming litigation, including stockholder
lawsuits;
●
potential
issuance of securities to equity holders of the company being
acquired with rights that are superior to the rights of holders of
our common stock or which may have a dilutive effect on our
stockholders;
●
risk of
loss of invested capital;
●
the
need to incur additional debt or use cash; and
●
the
requirement to record potentially significant additional future
operating costs for the amortization of intangible
assets.
As a
result of these or other problems and risks, businesses we acquire
may not produce the revenues, earnings, or business synergies that
we anticipated, and acquired products, services, or technologies
might not perform as we expected. As a result, we may incur higher
costs and realize lower revenues than we had anticipated. We may
not be able to successfully address these problems and we cannot
assure you that the acquisitions will be successfully identified
and completed or that, if acquisitions are completed, the acquired
businesses, products, services, or technologies will generate
sufficient revenue to offset the associated costs or other negative
effects on our business.
Any of
these risks can be greater if an acquisition is large relative to
our size. Failure to effectively manage our growth through
acquisitions could adversely affect our growth prospects, business,
results of operations, financial condition and cash
flows.
46
Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property
Our success depends upon our ability to protect our intellectual
property and proprietary technologies, and the intellectual
property protection for our product candidates depends
significantly on third parties.
Our
commercial success depends on obtaining and maintaining patent
protection and trade secret protection in the United States and
other countries with respect to our product candidates or any
future product candidate that we may license or acquire, their
formulations and uses and the methods we use to manufacture them,
as well as successfully defending these patents against third-party
challenges. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing
patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our
novel technologies and product candidates, and by maintenance of
our trade secrets through proper procedures. We will only be able
to protect our technologies from unauthorized use by third parties
to the extent that valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets
cover them in the market they are being used or developed. If any
of our licensors or partners fails to appropriately prosecute and
maintain patent protection for these product candidates, our
ability to develop and commercialize these product candidates may
be adversely affected and we may not be able to prevent competitors
from making, using and selling competing products. This failure to
properly protect the intellectual property rights relating to these
product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our
financial condition and results of operations.
Currently, the
composition of matter patent and several method of use patents for
TG-1101 and TGR-1202 in various indications and settings have been
applied for but have not yet been issued, or have been issued in
certain territories but not under all jurisdictions in which such
applications have been filed. While composition of matter patents
have been granted in the United States for TG-1101 and TGR-1202, no
patents to date have been issued for our IRAK4 inhibitor, BET
inhibitor, BTK inhibitor and anti-PD-L1 and anti-GITR programs.
There can be no guarantee that any of these patents for which an
application has already been filed, nor any patents filed in the
future for our product candidates will be granted in any or all
jurisdictions in which there were filed, or that all claims
initially included in such patent applications will be allowed in
the final patent that is issued. The patent application process is
subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no
assurance that we or our partners will be successful in protecting
our product candidates by obtaining and defending patents, or what
the scope of an issued patent may ultimately be.
These
risks and uncertainties include the following:
●
the
patent applications that we or our partners file may not result in
any patents being issued;
●
patents
that may be issued or in-licensed may be challenged, invalidated,
modified, revoked or circumvented, or otherwise may not provide any
competitive advantage;
●
as of
March 16, 2013, the United States converted from a “first to
invent” to a “first to file” system. If we do not
win the filing race, we will not be entitled to inventive
priority;
●
our
competitors, many of which have substantially greater resources
than we do, and many of which have made significant investments in
competing technologies, may seek, or may already have obtained,
patents that will limit, interfere with, or eliminate its ability
to make, use, and sell our potential products either in the United
States or in international markets;
●
there
may be significant pressure on the United States government and
other international governmental bodies to limit the scope of
patent protection both inside and outside the United States for
disease treatments that prove successful as a matter of public
policy regarding worldwide health concerns; and
●
countries
other than the United States may have less restrictive patent laws
than those upheld by United States courts, allowing foreign
competitors the ability to exploit these laws to create, develop,
and market competing products.
If
patents are not issued that protect our product candidates, it
could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and
results of operations. The patent prosecution process is expensive
and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute
all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost
or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to
identify any patentable aspects of our research and development
output and methodology, and, even if we do, an opportunity to
obtain patent protection may have passed. Given the uncertain and
time-consuming process of filing patent applications and
prosecuting them, it is possible that our product(s) or process(es)
originally covered by the scope of the patent application may have
changed or been modified, leaving our product(s) or process(es)
without patent protection. If our licensors or we fail to obtain or
maintain patent protection or trade secret protection for one or
more product candidates or any future product candidate we may
license or acquire, third parties may be able to leverage our
proprietary information and products without risk of infringement,
which could impair our ability to compete in the market and
adversely affect our ability to generate revenues and achieve
profitability. Moreover, should we enter into other collaborations
we may be required to consult with or cede control to collaborators
regarding the prosecution, maintenance and enforcement of licensed
patents. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be
prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best
interests of our business.
47
The
patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies
generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual
questions, and has in recent years been the subject of much
litigation. In addition, no consistent policy regarding the breadth
of claims allowed in pharmaceutical or biotechnology patents has
emerged to date in the United States. The patent situation outside
the United States is even more uncertain. The laws of foreign
countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws
of the United States, and we may fail to seek or obtain patent
protection in all major markets. For example, European patent law
restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human
body more than United States law does. Our pending and future
patent applications may not result in patents being issued which
protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which
effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive
technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or
interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other
countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope
of our patent protection. For example, the federal courts of the
United States have taken an increasingly dim view of the patent
eligibility of certain subject matter, such as naturally occurring
nucleic acid sequences, amino acid sequences and certain methods of
utilizing same, which include their detection in a biological
sample and diagnostic conclusions arising from their detection.
Such subject matter, which had long been a staple of the
biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry to protect their
discoveries, is now considered, with few exceptions, ineligible in
the first instance for protection under the patent laws of the
United States. Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims
that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in those licensed
from a third-party.
In addition, U.S. patent laws may change, which
could prevent or limit us or our subsidiaries from filing patent
applications or patent claims to protect products and/or
technologies or limit the exclusivity periods that are available to
patent holders, as well as affect the validity, enforceability, or
scope of issued patents. For example, on September 16, 2011,
the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act was signed into law. The
Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to United
States patent law. These include changes to transition from a
“first-to-invent” system to a
“first-to-file” system and to the way issued patents
are challenged. The formation of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
now provides a quicker and less expensive process for challenging
issued patents.
We may
be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to
the USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation,
reexamination, inter parties review, post-grant review or
interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the
patent rights of others. The costs of these proceedings could be
substantial and it is possible that our efforts to establish
priority of invention would be unsuccessful, resulting in a
material adverse effect on our United States patent position. An
adverse determination in any such submission, patent office trial,
proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, render
unenforceable, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third
parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete
directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability
to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing
third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength
of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is
threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us
to license, develop or commercialize current or future product
candidates.
Even if
our patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a
form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent
competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any
competitive advantage. Our competitors may be able to circumvent
our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative
technologies or products in a non-infringing manner.
The
issuance of a patent does not foreclose challenges to its
inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability. Therefore, our
owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or
patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may
result in loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed,
invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could
limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing
similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration
of the patent protection of our technology and products. Given the
amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory
review of new product candidates, patents protecting such product
candidates might expire before or shortly after such product
candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed
patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to
exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical
to ours.
In
addition to patents, we and our partners also rely on trade secrets
and proprietary know-how, technology and other proprietary
information, to maintain our competitive position, particularly
where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or
obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect.
Although we have taken steps to protect our trade secrets and
unpatented know-how, including entering into confidentiality
agreements with third parties, and confidential information and
inventions agreements with employees, consultants and advisors,
third parties may still obtain this information or we may be unable
to protect its rights. If any of these events occurs, or we
otherwise lose protection for our trade secrets or proprietary
know-how, the value of this information may be greatly reduced and
we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches.
Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or
misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and
time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some
courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or
unwilling to protect trade secrets. Moreover, if any of our trade
secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by
a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to
whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information
to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be
disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our
competitive position would be harmed.
Patent
protection and other intellectual property protection are crucial
to the success of our business and prospects, and there is a
substantial risk that such protections will prove
inadequate.
48
If we or our partners are sued for infringing intellectual property
rights of third parties, it will be costly and time consuming, and
an unfavorable outcome in that litigation would have a material
adverse effect on our business.
Our
commercial success also depends upon our ability and the ability of
any of our future collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and
sell our product candidates without infringing the proprietary
rights of third parties. Numerous United States and foreign issued
patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third
parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing products,
some of which may be directed at claims that overlap with the
subject matter of our intellectual property. For example, Roche has
the Cabilly patents in the United States that block the
commercialization of antibody products derived from a single cell
line, like TG-1101. Also, Roche, Biogen Idec, and Genentech hold
patents for the use of anti-CD20 antibodies utilized in the
treatment of CLL in the United States. While these patents have
been challenged, to the best of our knowledge, those matters were
settled in a way that permitted additional anti-CD20 antibodies to
be marketed for CLL. If those patents are still enforced at the
time we are intending to launch TG-1101, then we will need to
either prevail in a litigation to challenge those patents or
negotiate a settlement agreement with the patent holders. If we are
unable to do so we may be forced to delay the launch of TG-1101 or
launch at the risk of litigation for patent infringement, which may
have a material adverse effect on our business and results of
operations.
In
addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue,
there may be currently pending applications, unknown to us, which
may later result in issued patents that our product candidates or
proprietary technologies may infringe. Similarly, there may be
issued patents relevant to our product candidates of which we are
not aware. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature
often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in
the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not
published until 18 months after a first filing, or in some cases
not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we or
our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in
patents or pending patent applications that we own or licensed, or
that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent
protection of such inventions.
There
is a substantial amount of litigation involving patent and other
intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and
biopharmaceutical industries generally. If a third party claims
that we or any collaborators of ours infringe their intellectual
property rights, we may have to:
●
obtain
licenses, which may not be available on commercially reasonable
terms, if at all;
●
abandon
an infringing product candidate or redesign its products or
processes to avoid infringement;
●
pay
substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’
fees, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product
or proprietary technology at issue infringes on or violates the
third party’s rights;
●
pay
substantial royalties, fees and/or grant cross licenses to our
technology; and/or
●
defend
litigation or administrative proceedings which may be costly
whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial
diversion of our financial and management resources.
No
assurance can be given that patents issued to third parties do not
exist, have not been filed, or could not be filed or issued, which
contain claims covering its products, technology or methods that
may encompass all or a portion of our products and methods. Given
the number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our
technical areas or fields, we believe there is a risk that third
parties may allege they have patent rights encompassing our
products or methods.
Other
product candidates that we may in-license or acquire could be
subject to similar risks and uncertainties.
We may need to license certain intellectual property from third
parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be
available on commercially reasonable terms.
A third
party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights that
are important or necessary to the development and commercialization
of our products. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or
proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our
products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license
from these third parties, whom may or may not be interested in
granting such a license, on commercially reasonable terms, or our
business could be harmed, possibly materially.
We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or
the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time
consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may
infringe our patents or the patents of our licensors. To counter
infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file
infringement claims, which typically are very expensive,
time-consuming and disruptive of day-to-day business operations.
Any claims we assert against accused infringers could provoke these
parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging invalidity of
our or certain of our subsidiaries’ patents or that we
infringe their patents; or provoke those parties to petition the
USPTO to institute inter parties review against the asserted
patents, which may lead to a finding that all or some of the claims
of the patent are invalid. In addition, in an infringement
proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours or our
licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop
the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds
that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An
adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put
one or more of our pending patents at risk of being invalidated,
held unenforceable, or interpreted narrowly. Because of the substantial amount of discovery
required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there
is a risk that some of our confidential information could be
compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
Furthermore, adverse results on United States patents may affect
related patents in our global portfolio. The adverse result could
also put related pending patent applications at risk of not
issuing.
49
Interference
proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by the USPTO may
be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect
to our patents or pending patent applications or those of our
collaborators or licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us
to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license
rights to it from the prevailing party. The costs of these
proceedings could be substantial. As a result, the issuance, scope,
validity, enforceability and commercial value of our or any of our
respective licensors’ patent rights are highly uncertain. Our
business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us
a license on commercially reasonable terms. Litigation or
interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may
result in substantial costs and distract our management and other
employees. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our
licensors, misappropriation of our trade secrets or confidential
information, particularly in countries where the laws may not
protect those rights as fully as in the United States.
Furthermore,
because of the substantial amount of discovery required in
connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk
that some of our confidential information could be compromised by
disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could
be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or
other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts
or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a
substantial adverse effect on the price of our common
stock.
We may be subject to claims that our consultants or independent
contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets
of their other clients or former employers to it.
As is
common in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, we engage
the services of consultants to assist us in the development of our
product candidates. Many of these consultants were previously
employed at, may have previously been, or are currently providing
consulting services to, other biotechnology or pharmaceutical
companies, including our competitors or potential competitors.
Although no claims against us are currently pending, we may be
subject to claims that these consultants or we have inadvertently
or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary
information of their former employers or their former or current
customers. Even if frivolous or unsubstantiated in nature,
litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if
we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation
could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to
management, day-to-day business operations, and the implicated
employee(s).
Risks Relating to Our Finances and Capital
Requirements
We will need to raise additional capital to continue to operate our
business.
As of
September 30, 2018, we had approximately $97.8 million in cash,
cash equivalents, investment securities, and interest receivable,
which will be sufficient to fund our planned operations through the
end of 2019. As a result, we will need additional capital to
continue our operations beyond that time. Required additional
sources of financing to continue our operations in the future might
not be available on favorable terms, if at all. If we do not
succeed in raising additional funds on acceptable terms, we might
be unable to complete planned preclinical and clinical trials or
obtain approval of any of our product candidates from the FDA or
any foreign regulatory authorities. In addition, we could be forced
to discontinue product development, reduce or forego sales and
marketing efforts and forego attractive business opportunities. Any
additional sources of financing will likely involve the issuance of
our equity securities, which would have a dilutive effect to
stockholders.
Currently, none of
our product candidates have been approved by the FDA or any foreign
regulatory authority for sale. Therefore, for the foreseeable
future, we will have to fund all of our operations and capital
expenditures from cash on hand and amounts raised in future
offerings or financings.
We have a history of operating losses, expect to continue to incur
losses, and are unable to predict the extent of future losses or
when we will become profitable, if ever.
We have
not yet applied for or demonstrated an ability to obtain regulatory
approval for or commercialize a product candidate. Our short
operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our business
prospects and consequently, any predictions about our future
performance may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a
history of successfully developing and commercializing
pharmaceutical or biotechnology products. Our prospects must be
considered in light of the uncertainties, risks, expenses and
difficulties frequently encountered by companies in the early
stages of operations and the competitive environment in which we
operate.
We have
never been profitable and, as of September 30, 2018, we had an
accumulated deficit of $474.5 million. We have generated operating
losses in all periods since we were incorporated. We expect to make
substantial expenditures resulting in increased operating costs in
the future and our accumulated deficit will increase significantly
as we expand development and clinical trial efforts for our product
candidates. Our losses have had, and are expected to continue to
have, an adverse impact on our working capital, total assets and
stockholders’ equity. Because of the risks and uncertainties
associated with product development, we are unable to predict the
extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if
ever. Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to
sustain or increase profitability on an ongoing basis.
50
We have not generated any revenue from our product candidates and
may never become profitable.
Our
ability to become profitable depends upon our ability to generate
significant continuing revenues. To obtain significant continuing
revenues, we must succeed, either alone or with others, in
developing, obtaining regulatory approval for and manufacturing and
marketing our product candidates (or utilize early access programs
to generate such revenue). To date, our product candidates have not
generated any revenues, and we do not know when, or if, we will
generate any revenue. Our ability to generate revenue depends on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to:
●
successful
completion of preclinical studies of our product
candidates;
●
successful
commencement and completion of clinical trials of our product
candidates and any future product candidates we advance into
clinical trials;
●
achievement
of regulatory approval for our product candidates and any future
product candidates we advance into clinical trials (unless we
successfully utilize early access programs which allow for revenue
generation prior to approval);
●
manufacturing
commercial quantities of our products at acceptable cost levels if
regulatory approvals are obtained;
●
successful
sales, distribution and marketing of our future products, if any;
and
●
our
entry into collaborative arrangements or co-promotion agreements to
market and sell our products.
If we
are unable to generate significant continuing revenues, we will not
become profitable and we may be unable to continue our operations
without continued funding.
We will need substantial additional funding and may be unable to
raise capital when needed, which would force us to delay, reduce or
eliminate our development programs or commercialization
efforts.
We will
require substantial additional funds to support our continued
research and development activities, as well as the anticipated
costs of preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory
approvals, and eventual commercialization. We anticipate that we
will incur operating losses for the foreseeable future. We have
based these estimates, however, on assumptions that may prove to be
wrong, and we could expend our available financial resources much
faster than we currently expect. Further, we will need to raise
additional capital to fund our operations and continue to conduct
clinical trials to support potential regulatory approval of
marketing applications. Future capital requirements will also
depend on the extent to which we acquire or in-license additional
product candidates. We currently have no commitments or agreements
relating to any of these types of transactions.
The
amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on
many factors, including, but not limited to, the
following:
●
the
progress of our clinical trials, including expenses to support the
trials and milestone payments that may become payable under our
license agreements;
●
the
costs and timing of regulatory approvals;
●
the
costs and timing of clinical and commercial manufacturing supply
arrangements for each product candidate;
●
the
costs of establishing sales or distribution
capabilities;
●
the
success of the commercialization of our products;
●
our
ability to establish and maintain strategic collaborations,
including licensing and other arrangements;
●
the
costs involved in enforcing or defending patent claims or other
intellectual property rights; and
●
the
extent to which we in-license or invest in other indications or
product candidates.
Raising additional funds by issuing securities or through licensing
or lending arrangements may cause dilution to our existing
stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish
proprietary rights.
We may
raise additional funds through public or private equity offerings,
debt financings or licensing arrangements. To the extent that we
raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, the share
ownership of existing stockholders will be diluted. Any future debt
financing we enter into may involve covenants that restrict our
operations, including limitations on our ability to incur liens or
additional debt, pay dividends, redeem our stock, make certain
investments and engage in certain merger, consolidation or asset
sale transactions, among other restrictions.
In
addition, if we raise additional funds through licensing
arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish potentially
valuable rights to our product candidates, or grant licenses on
terms that are not favorable to us. If adequate funds are not
available, our ability to achieve profitability or to respond to
competitive pressures would be significantly limited and we may be
required to delay, significantly curtail or eliminate the
development of one or more of our product candidates.
51
Our tax position could be affected by recent changes in United
States federal income tax laws.
On
December 22, 2017, legislation commonly referred to as the
“Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” was signed into law and is
generally effective after December 31, 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act makes significant changes to the United States federal income
tax rules for taxation of individuals and business entities. Most
of the changes applicable to individuals are temporary and apply
only to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before
January 1, 2026. For corporations, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
reduces the top corporate income tax rate to 21% and repeals the
corporate alternative minimum tax, limits the deduction for net
interest expense, limits the deduction for net operating losses and
eliminates net operating loss carrybacks, modifies or repeals many
business deductions and credits, shifts the United States toward a
more territorial tax system, and imposes new taxes to combat
erosion of the United States federal income tax base. The Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act makes numerous other large and small changes to the
federal income tax rules that may affect potential investors and
may directly or indirectly affect us. We continue to examine the
impact this tax reform legislation may have on our business.
However, the effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on us and our
affiliates, whether adverse or favorable, is uncertain, and may not
become evident for some period of time. This document does not
discuss such legislation or the manner in which it might affect us
or purchasers of our common stock. Prospective investors are urged
to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and any other regulatory or administrative
developments and proposals, and their potential effects on them
based on their unique circumstances.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
We are controlled by current officers, directors and principal
stockholders.
Our
directors, executive officers, their affiliates, and our principal
stockholders beneficially own approximately 26% of our outstanding
voting stock, including shares underlying outstanding options and
warrants. Our directors, officers and principal stockholders, taken
as a whole, have the ability to exert substantial influence over
the election of our Board of Directors and the outcome of issues
submitted to our stockholders.
Our stock price is, and we expect it to remain, volatile, which
could limit investors’ ability to sell stock at a
profit.
The
trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile
and subject to wide fluctuations in price in response to various
factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors
include:
●
publicity
regarding actual or potential clinical results relating to products
under development by our competitors or us;
●
delay
or failure in initiating, completing or analyzing nonclinical or
clinical trials or the unsatisfactory design or results of these
trials;
●
achievement
or rejection of regulatory approvals by our competitors or
us;
●
announcements
of technological innovations or new commercial products by our
competitors or us;
●
developments
concerning proprietary rights, including patents;
●
developments
concerning our collaborations;
●
regulatory
developments in the United States and foreign
countries;
●
economic
or other crises and other external factors;
●
period-to-period
fluctuations in our revenues and other results of
operations;
●
changes
in financial estimates by securities analysts; and
●
sales
of our common stock.
We will
not be able to control many of these factors, and we believe that
period-to-period comparisons of our financial results will not
necessarily be indicative of our future performance.
In
addition, the stock market in general, and the market for
biotechnology companies in particular, has experienced extreme
price and volume fluctuations that may have been unrelated or
disproportionate to the operating performance of individual
companies. These broad market and industry factors may seriously
harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our
operating performance.
52
We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay
dividends in the future, and any return on investment may be
limited to the value of your stock.
We have
never paid dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate
paying any dividends for the foreseeable future. You should not
rely on an investment in our stock if you require dividend income.
Further, you will only realize income on an investment in our stock
in the event you sell or otherwise dispose of your shares at a
price higher than the price you paid for your shares. Such a gain
would result only from an increase in the market price of our
common stock, which is uncertain and unpredictable.
Certain anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and
Delaware law could make a third-party acquisition of us difficult.
This could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the
future for our common stock.
Provisions in our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and restated
bylaws could have the effect of making it more difficult for a
third party to acquire, or of discouraging a third party from
attempting to acquire, or control us. These factors could limit the
price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future
for shares of our common stock. Our amended and restated
certificate of incorporation allows us to issue preferred stock
without the approval of our stockholders. The issuance of preferred
stock could decrease the amount of earnings and assets available
for distribution to the holders of our common stock or could
adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of
such holders. In certain circumstances, such issuance could have
the effect of decreasing the market price of our common stock. Our
restated bylaws eliminate the right of stockholders to call a
special meeting of stockholders, which could make it more difficult
for stockholders to effect certain corporate actions. Any of these
provisions could also have the effect of delaying or preventing a
change in control.
On July
18, 2014, the Board of Directors declared a distribution of one
right for each outstanding share of common stock. The rights may
have certain anti-takeover effects. The rights will cause
substantial dilution to a person or group that attempts to acquire
us on terms not approved by the Board of Directors unless the offer
is conditioned on a substantial number of rights being acquired.
However, the rights should not interfere with any merger, statutory
share exchange or other business combination approved by the Board
of Directors since the rights may be terminated by us upon
resolution of the Board of Directors. Thus, the rights are intended
to encourage persons who may seek to acquire control of the Company
to initiate such an acquisition through negotiations with the Board
of Directors. However, the effect of the rights may be to
discourage a third party from making a partial tender offer or
otherwise attempting to obtain a substantial equity position in the
equity securities of, or seeking to obtain control of, the Company.
To the extent any potential acquirers are deterred by the rights,
the rights may have the effect of preserving incumbent management
in office.
We may become involved in securities class action litigation that
could divert management’s attention and harm our
business.
The stock markets have from time to time experienced
significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the
market prices for the common stock of biotechnology and
pharmaceutical companies. These broad market fluctuations may cause
the market price of our stock to decline. In the past, securities
class action litigation has often been brought against a company
following a decline in the market price of its securities. This
risk is especially relevant for us because biotechnology and
biopharmaceutical companies have experienced significant stock
price volatility in recent years. We may become involved in this
type of litigation in the future. Litigation often is expensive and
diverts management’s attention and resources, which could
adversely affect our business (see Part II Item 1 for
further details).
53
ITEM 6. EXHIBITS
The exhibits listed
on the Exhibit Index are included with this report.
|
|
Certification of
Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a), as
adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
dated November 9, 2018.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certification of
Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a), as
adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
dated November 9, 2018.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certification of
Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as
adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
dated November 9, 2018.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certification of
Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as
adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
dated November 9, 2018.
|
|
|
|
|
101
|
The following
financial information from the Company’s Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2018, formatted in
Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL): (i) the Condensed
Consolidated Balance Sheets, (ii) the Condensed Consolidated
Statements of Operations, (iii) the Condensed Consolidated
Statement of Stockholders’ Equity, (iv) the Condensed
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, and (v) Notes to the
Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (filed
herewith).
|
|
|
|
54
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the
requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant
has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
|
|
|
|
TG THERAPEUTICS,
INC.
|
|
|
|
Date: November 9,
2018
|
By:
|
/s/ Sean A.
Power
|
|
Sean A.
Power
Chief Financial
Officer
Principal Financial
and Accounting Officer
|
55