PIPEX PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

(Name of small business issuer in its charter)

Delaware	13-3808303
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(IRS Employer Identification Number)
3930 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor, MI	48108
(Address of principal executive offices)	(Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(734) 332-7800

 

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  ý    No  o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

Large accelerated filer    o

Accelerated filer    o

Non-accelerated filer    o

Smaller reporting company   x

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes  o       No  ý

 

State registrant’s revenues for its most recent fiscal year: $0

 

As of August 1, 2008, the registrant had 20,687,273 shares of common stock outstanding.

 

Transitional Small Business Disclosure Format (Check one):   Yes  o       No    ý

 

 

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PIPEX PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

 

FORM 10-Q

TABLE OF CONTENTS

				Page
		PART I.—FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.		Financial Statements
		Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited)			3
		Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)			4
		Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)			5
		Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited)			6
Item 2.		Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Information and Results of Operations			20
Item 3.		Controls and Procedures			26
		PART II—OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1.		Legal Proceedings			27
Item 1A.		Risk Factors			27
Item 2.		Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds			45
Item 3.		Defaults Upon Senior Securities			45
Item 4.		Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders			45
Item 5.		Other Information			46
Item 6.		Exhibits			47
SIGNATURE					48

 

 

Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Subsidiaries

(A Development Stage Company)

 

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(Unaudited)

																		For the Period
																		from January 8, 2001
		For the three months ended June 30,								For the six months ended June 30,								(Inception) to
		2008				2007				2008				2007				June 30, 2008
Operating Expenses:
Research and development			1,168,363				1,079,050				3,292,983				2,496,173				14,453,778
General and administrative			633,588				748,857				1,636,170				2,252,738				8,481,381
Total Operating Expenses			1,801,951				1,827,907				4,929,153				4,748,911				22,935,159
Loss from Operations			(1,801,951	)			(1,827,907	)			(4,929,153	)			(4,748,911	)			(22,935,159	)
Other Income (Expense):
Interest income			30,238				80,689				81,815				152,258				425,204
Interest expense			-				(15,285	)			(13,831	)			(15,285	)			(66,760	)
Total Other Income, net			30,238				65,404				67,984				136,973				358,444
Net Loss		$	(1,771,713	)		$	(1,762,503	)		$	(4,861,169	)		$	(4,611,938	)		$	(22,576,715	)
Less: Preferred stock dividend - subsidiary			-				-				-				-				(951,250	)
Less: Merger dividend			-				-				-				(12,409,722	)			(12,409,722	)
Net Loss Applicable to Common Shareholders		$	(1,771,713	)		$	(1,762,503	)		$	(4,861,169	)		$	(17,021,660	)		$	(35,937,687	)
Net Loss Per Share  - Basic and Diluted		$	(0.09	)		$	(0.10	)		$	(0.24	)		$	(1.00	)		$	(6.84	)
Weighted average number of shares outstanding
during the period - basic and diluted			20,590,592				17,028,107				20,522,574				17,007,990				5,255,591

 

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements

 

 

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Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Subsidiaries

(A Development Stage Company)

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(Unaudited)

 

										For the Period
										from January 8, 2001
		For the six months ended June 30,								(Inception) to
		2008				2007				June 30, 2008
Cash Flows From Operating Activities:
Net loss		$	(4,861,169	)		$	(4,611,938	)		$	(22,576,715	)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash
used in operating activities:
Stock-based compensation			870,314				645,321				2,806,960
Stock-based consulting			323,097				610,811				1,484,084
Stock issued as compensation			55,385				-				55,385
Stock issued as compensation in acquisition of subsidiary			-				601,612				601,712
Contributed services - related party			73,750				-				349,395
Stock issued for license fee			125,000				-				533,691
Stock issued for milestone payment			50,000				-				75,000
Stock issued for consulting fee			11,110				-				11,110
Depreciation			204,383				39,154				436,947
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Prepaid expenses and other			(3,514	)			9,071				(67,150	)
Deposits and other assets			1,392				(107,268	)			(11,989	)
Accounts payable			(91,155	)			170,670				636,964
Accrued liabilities			119,825				182,101				182,252
Net Cash Used In Operating Activities			(3,121,582	)			(2,460,466	)			(15,482,354	)
Cash Flows From Investing Activities:
Purchases of property and equipment			(21,398	)			(1,192,499	)			(2,032,805	)
Cash paid to acquire shell in reverse acquisition			-				-				(665,000	)
Net Cash Used In Investing Activities			(21,398	)			(1,192,499	)			(2,697,805	)
Cash Flows From Financing Activities:
Proceeds from loans payable - related party			-								3,210,338
Repayments of loans payable - related party			-								(220,000	)
Proceeds from notes payable			-				600,000				1,100,000
Repayments of notes payable			(900,000	)			(50,000	)			(1,100,000	)
Proceeds from issuance of preferred and common stock			3,415				-				1,154,005
Proceeds from sale of common stock and warrants in private placements			-				-				13,926,362
Proceeds from sale of common stock in connection with warrants exercise			-				22,000				7,552,378
Cash paid as direct offering costs in private placements and warrant call			-				-				(1,739,987	)
Proceeds from issuance of Series B, convertible preferred stock - subsidiary			-				-				1,902,500
Direct offering costs in connection with issuance of
series B, convertible preferred stock - subsidiary			-				-				(152,200	)
Net Cash Provided By (Used In) Financing Activities			(896,585	)			572,000				25,633,396
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents			(4,039,565	)			(3,080,965	)			7,453,237
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period			11,492,802				12,192,426				-
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period		$	7,453,237			$	9,111,461			$	7,453,237
Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:
Cash paid for interest		$	13,831			$	15,285			$	66,760
Cash paid for taxes		$	-			$	-			$	-
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:
Exchange of EPI preferred stock into Pipex common stock in acquisition		$	-			$	12,409,722			$	12,409,722
Pipex acquired equipment in exchange for a loan with a related party		$	-			$	-			$	284,390
EPI declared a 10% and 30% in-kind dividend on its Series B,
convertible preferred stock.		$	-			$	-			$	951,250
The Company issued shares and warrants in connection with the
conversion of certain related party debt.		$	-			$	-			$	3,274,728
Conversion of accrued liabilities to contributed capital - former  related party		$	-			$	-			$	3,017

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements

Description		Estimated Useful Life
Office equipment and furniture		5 years
Laboratory equipment		10 years
Manufacturing equipment		10 years
Leasehold improvements and fixtures		Lesser of estimated useful life or life of lease

 

(F) Long Lived Assets

 

Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If such assets are considered impaired, the impairment to

 

 

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Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Subsidiaries

(A Development Stage Company)

 

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(Unaudited)

 

In December 2007, the Company issued 5,102 shares of common stock having a fair value of $25,000 ($4.90 per share) based on the quoted closing trading price for a milestone payment.

In January and April of 2008, the Company issued 32,527 shares of common stock in connection with the exercise of stock options for net proceeds of $3,415.  The related exercise prices were $0.09 and $0.18 per share.

In March and April of 2008, the Company issued 61,392 shares of common stock having a fair value of $55,385 ($0.90 per share) based on the quoted closing trading prices for payment of salaries to employees.

In April 2008, the Company issued 13,887 shares of common stock having a fair value of $11,110 ($0.80 per share) based on the quoted closing trading price for consulting fees.

In May and June of 2008, the Company issued an aggregate 106,630 shares of common stock having a fair value of $125,000 ($1.17 per share) based on the quoted closing trading prices for license fees.

In June 2008, the Company issued 39,370 shares of common stock having a fair value of $50,000 ($1.27 per share) based on the quoted closing trading price for a milestone payment.

(C) Common Stock Issuances of Subsidiaries

 

During the period from January 8, 2001 (inception) to June 30, 2008, the Company’s majority owned subsidiaries; CD4, Solovax and EPI issued 419,000, 419,000 and 825,000 shares of common stock, respectively, for $1,663. Of the 825,000 shares of common stock issued by EPI, 75,000 were converted into 30,161 common shares of Pipex and the remaining 750,000 shares were cancelled and retired for no additional consideration in the acquisition of EPI on January 5, 2007.

 

 (D) Stock Incentive Plan

 

During 2001, Pipex Therapeutics’ Board and stockholders adopted the 2001 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2001 Stock Plan”). This plan was assumed by Pipex in the merger, in October 2006. As of the date of the merger, there were 1,489,353 options issued and outstanding. The total number of shares of stock with respect to which stock options and stock appreciation rights may be granted to any one employee of the Company or a subsidiary during any one-year period shall not exceed 1,250,000. All awards pursuant to the Plan shall terminate upon the termination of the grantee’s employment for any reason. Awards include options, restricted shares, stock appreciation rights, performance shares and cash-based awards (the “Awards”). The Plan contains certain anti-dilution provisions in the event of a stock split, stock dividend or other capital adjustment, as defined in the Plan. The Plan provides for a Committee of the Board to grant awards and to determine the exercise price, vesting term, expiration date and all other terms and conditions of the awards, including acceleration of the vesting of an award at any time. As of June 30, 2008, there are 1,456,826 options issued and outstanding under the 2001 Stock Plan.

On March 20, 2007, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the Company’s 2007 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2007 Stock Plan”) for the issuance of up to 2,500,000 shares of common stock to be granted through incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, dividend equivalent rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units and other stock-based awards to officers, other employees, directors and consultants of the Company and its subsidiaries. The exercise price of stock options under the plan is determined by the compensation committee of the Board of Directors, and may be equal to or greater than the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date the option is granted. Options become exercisable over various periods from the date of grant, and generally expire ten years after the grant date. This plan was approved by stockholders on November 2, 2007. As of June 30, 2008, there are 704,720 options issued and outstanding under the 2007 Stock Plan.

 

Pursuant to the provisions of SFAS No. 123R, in the event of termination, the Company will cease to recognize compensation expense. There is no deferred compensation recorded upon initial grant date, instead, the fair value of the share-based payment is recognized ratably over the stated vesting period.

 

 

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Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Subsidiaries

(A Development Stage Company)

 

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(Unaudited)

 

		Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
		2008		2007		2008		2007
Exercise price		$0.81		$3.90 - $6.00		$0.81 - $5.10		$0.09 - $22.50
Expected dividends		0%		0%		0%		0%
Expected volatility		225%		192.26 – 195.47%		201.11 – 225%		103.29 - 200%
Risk fee interest rate		4.02%		4.64 – 5.14%		3.52 – 4.02%		4.18% - 5.14%
Expected life of option		10 years		5 - 10 years		10 years		5 - 10 years

 

 

		Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,				Inception to June 30, 2008
		2008		2007		2008		2007
Research and development:
employees		$360,265		$37,915		$666,290		$92,772		$2,132,161
non-employees		96,952		145,783		292,247		145,783		$532,367
General and administrative:
employees		129,405		11,359		204,024		22,717		$1,258,177
non-employees		-		117,440		30,851		574,456		$938,798
Total		$586,622		$312,497		$1,193,412		$835,728		$4,861,503

 

Pursuant to FAS 123R, the Company records stock based compensation based upon the stated vested provisions in the related agreements. The vesting provisions for these agreements have various terms as follows: immediate vesting, half vesting immediately and the remainder over three years, quarterly over three years, annually over three years, one-third immediate vesting and remaining annually over two years, one half immediate vesting with remaining vesting over six months and one quarter immediate vesting with the remaining over three years.

 

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ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the attached unaudited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, and with our audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, found in our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB. In addition to historical information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Where possible, we have tried to identify these forward looking statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “intends,” or similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements due to important factors and risks including, but not limited to, those set forth under “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A of this Report.

Overview

 

Since our inception during January 2001, our efforts and resources have been focused primarily on acquiring and developing our pharmaceutical technologies, raising capital and recruiting personnel. We are a development stage company and have had no product sales to date and we will not have any product sales until and unless we receive approval from the FDA or receive approval from equivalent foreign regulatory bodies to begin selling our pharmaceutical candidates. Our major sources of working capital have been proceeds from equity financings from our Chairman and various private financings, primarily involving private sales of our common stock and other equity securities.

 

Our company’s current corporate structure resulted from the October 2006 merger of a newly-created wholly owned subsidiary of Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Sheffield”), a Delaware corporation incorporated in September 1993, and Pipex Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Pipex Therapeutics”). In connection with that transaction, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sheffield merged with and into Pipex Therapeutics, with Pipex Therapeutics remaining as the surviving corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sheffield. On December 11, 2006, Sheffield changed its name to Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Pipex”). In exchange for their shares of capital stock in Pipex Therapeutics, the former stockholders of Pipex Therapeutics received shares of capital stock of Sheffield representing approximately 98 percent of the outstanding equity of Sheffield on a primary diluted basis after giving effect to the transaction, with Sheffield assuming Pipex’s outstanding options and warrants. In addition, the board of directors of Sheffield was reconstituted shortly following the effective time of the transaction such that the directors of Sheffield were replaced by our current directors, all of whom were previously directors of Pipex Therapeutics. Further, upon the effective time of the merger, the business of Sheffield was abandoned and the business plan of Pipex Therapeutics was adopted. The transaction was therefore accounted for as a reverse acquisition with Pipex Therapeutics as the acquiring party and Sheffield as the acquired party. Accordingly, when we refer to our business and financial information relating to periods prior to the merger, we are referring to the business and financial information of Pipex Therapeutics, unless the context indicates otherwise.

 

Critical Accounting Policies

 

In December 2001, the SEC requested that all registrants discuss their most “critical accounting policies” in management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations. The SEC indicated that a “critical accounting policy” is one which is both important to the portrayal of the company’s financial condition and results and requires management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. We believe that the following discussion regarding research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses and non-cash compensation expense involve our most critical accounting policies.

 

Research and development expenses consist primarily of manufacturing costs, license fees, salaries and related personnel costs, fees paid to consultants and outside service providers for laboratory development, legal expenses resulting from intellectual property prosecution and organizational affairs and other expenses relating to the design, development, testing, and enhancement of our product candidates, as well as an allocation of overhead expenses incurred by the Company. We expense our research and development costs as they are incurred.

 

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 business development and general legal activities, as well as an allocation of overhead expenses incurred by the Company. We expense our general and administrative expenses as they are incurred.

 

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Product Candidates

 

TRIMESTA TM (oral estriol)

 

In June 2007, a two year seven U.S. center, placebo controlled 150 patient phase II/III clinical trial using TRIMESTA TM for the treatment of relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was initiated under a $5 million grant from the Southern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and NIH. This phase II/III clinical trial builds upon our encouraging results from an earlier phase IIa clinical trial. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TRIMESTA TM in a larger MS patient population with a one year blinded interim analysis. The preclinical and clinical development of TRIMESTA TM has been primary financed by grants from the NIH and various non-profit foundations. Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $551,000 of costs related to our development of TRIMESTA TM of which approximately $49,500, $185,500 and $194,000 was incurred in fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and approximately $122,000 was incurred during the first half of  2008.

Zinthionein TM (oral zinc-monocysteine complex)

 

We plan to initially develop ZinthioneinTM as an oral treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (“dry AMD”). Zinthionein has completed a six month double blind randomized placebo controlled trial in 80 dry AMD patients with statistically significant improvements in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and photorecovery times. During July 2008, we announced detailed results following the publication of the study results in a peer-reviewed ophthalmic journal. Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $279,000 of costs related to our development of Zinthionein of which $154,000 was incurred during 2007 and $125,000 was incurred in 2008.

EFFIRMA TM (oral flupirtine)

 

A scientific collaborator of ours has filed and received an IND with the FDA to conduct a phase II clinical trial with EFFIRMA in fibromyalgia patients.   We plan to fund this double-blind placebo controlled phase II clinical study which is designed to enroll up to 90 patients with fibromyalgia.   Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $103,000 of costs related to our development of EFFIRMA TM , of which $85,000 was incurred during 2007 and $18,000 was incurred during the first half of 2008.

 

Freebound TM (metals diagnostic device)

 

We are developing a proprietary diagnostic device, Freebound TM capable of measuring levels of free and bound metals in biological samples. Altered metal dyshomeostasis, in a particular copper, is associated with major disease indications, such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $50,000 of costs related to our development of Freebound TM, of which $32,000 was incurred during 2008.

 

 

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Oral TTM (oral tetrathiomolybate)

 

Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $3,530,000 of costs related to our development of oral TTM, of which approximately $150,000, $1,061,000 and $1,676,000 was incurred in fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and approximately $643,000 was incurred for the six months ended June 30, 2008.

 

We are seeking potential U.S. and international corporate partners for the further development of Oral TTM for Wilson's Disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s Disease.

 

Anti-CD4 802-2

 

Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred $1,450,000 of costs related to our development of anti-CD4 802-2 of which $58,000, $332,000, $303,000, $295,000, $113,000, $161,000 and $121,000 was incurred in fiscal years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively and approximately $67,000 has been incurred in 2008.

 

CORRECTA TM (clotrimazole emema)

 

During 2008, we plan to continue the phase II clinical trial of CORRECTA in the treatment of acute refractory pouchitis, a gastrointestinal disease (the “CAPTURE study”). The primary purpose of this double blind, placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial is to test CORRECTA’s safety and efficacy in treating acute refractory pouchitis.  The preclinical and clinical development of CORRECTA TM has been primarily financed by grants from the FDA’s orphan drug products group and various non-profit foundations. Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $346,000 of costs related to our development of CORRECTA TM of which approximately $103,000, $107,000 and $36,000 was incurred in fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and $100,000 has been incurred during 2008.

 

Solovax TM   (multivalent T-cell vaccine for MS)

 

On July 11, 2007 at an opposition hearing in Munich, Germany brought by a competitor, Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., our third auxiliary request to amend claims to our exclusively licensed issued European patent number EP1015025 was denied on the basis of time and as a result such patent was revoked. We intend to vigorously continue to prosecute, defend and protect our pending corresponding U.S. patent application and will be updating the public on our future plans to develop SOLOVAX TM for multiple sclerosis.  On December 21, 2007 we converted our exclusive agreement with the University of Southern California (USC) to a full exclusive license agreement and issued to USC ten percent (10%) of the common stock of Solovax Inc., our subsidiary that is developing our Multivalent T-cell vaccine for MS.  We plan to seek a corporate partner in the cellular therapy field to further develop the Solovax technology or return such technology to USC.

 

If successful, we may choose to initiate a phase IIb clinical study in this disease. The preclinical and clinical development of SOLOVAX   has been primarily financed by grants from the NIH and various non-profit foundations totaling $5.5 million. Through June 30, 2008, we have incurred approximately $711,000 of costs related to our development of SOLOVAX of which $107,000, $158,000, $164,000, $163,000, $67,000, $21,000 and $8,000 was incurred in fiscal 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and $23,000 has been incurred  during 2008.

 

Based on our current capital expenditures, we believe we currently have sufficient capital to fund development activities of TRIMESTA TM , Zinthionein, EFFIRMA TM , Freebound TM, oral TTM, anti-CD4 802-2, CORRECTA TM and SOLOVAX TM through November 2009. However, if our business does not generate any cash flow through corporate partnering transactions, we will need to raise additional capital to continue development of the product beyond 2009. To the extent additional capital is not available when we need it, we may be forced to sublicense our rights to our product candidates, abandon our development efforts altogether, or lose our licenses to our product candidates, any of which would have a material adverse effect on the prospects of our business. See also the risks identified under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this report.

 

Additional Licenses

 

 

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ITEM 3. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

 

Pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), the Company carried out an evaluation, with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), who also serves as our principal financial and accounting officer, of the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined under Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, the Company’s CEO concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that the Company files or submits under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including the Company’s CEO, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during our fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2008 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

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PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

 

An investment in our securities is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. Therefore, in evaluating us and our business you should carefully consider the risks set forth below, which are only a few of the risks associated with investing in our common stock. You should be in a position to risk the loss of your entire investment.

 

 

RISKS RELATING TO OUR BUSINESS 

 

We are a development stage company. We currently have no product revenues and will need to raise additional capital to operate our business. 

 

We are a development stage company that has experienced significant losses since inception and has a significant accumulated deficit. We expect to incur additional operating losses in the future and expect our cumulative losses to increase. To date, we have generated no product revenues. As of June 30, 2008, we have expended approximately $21.4 million on a consolidated basis acquiring and developing our current product candidates. Until such time as we receive approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities for our product candidates, we will not be permitted to sell our drugs and will not have product revenues. Therefore, for the foreseeable future we will have to fund all of our operations and capital expenditures from equity and debt offerings, cash on hand, licensing fees, and grants. We will need to seek additional sources of financing and such additional financing may not be available on favorable terms, if at all. If we do not succeed in raising additional funds on acceptable terms, we may be unable to complete planned pre-clinical and clinical trials or obtain approval of our product candidates from the FDA and other 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 or debt securities, which will have a dilutive effect on our stockholders.

 

We are not currently profitable and may never become profitable.

 

We have a history of losses and expect to incur substantial losses and negative operating cash flow for the foreseeable future. Even if we succeed in developing and commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we expect to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future and may never become profitable. We also expect to continue to incur significant operating and capital expenditures and anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially in the foreseeable future as we do the following:

 

	●	continue to undertake pre-clinical development and clinical trials for our product candidates;
	●	seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates;
	●	implement additional internal systems and infrastructure;
	●	lease additional or alternative office facilities; and
	●	hire additional personnel, including members of our management team.

 

We also expect to experience negative cash flow for the foreseeable future as we fund our technology development with capital expenditures. As a result, we will need to generate significant revenues in order to achieve and maintain profitability. We may not be able to generate these revenues or achieve profitability in the future. Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability could negatively impact the value of our common stock and underlying securities.

 

 

 

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We have a limited operating history on which investors can base an investment decision.

 

 We are a development-stage company and have not demonstrated our ability to perform the functions necessary for the successful commercialization of any of our product candidates. The successful commercialization of our product candidates will require us to perform a variety of functions, including:

 

	●	continuing to undertake pre-clinical development and clinical trials;
	●	participating in regulatory approval processes;
	●	formulating and manufacturing products; and
	●	conducting sales and marketing activities.

 

 Our operations have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, acquiring, developing, and securing our proprietary technology, and undertaking pre-clinical trials and Phase I/II, and Phase II and Phase III clinical trials of our principal product candidates. These operations provide a limited basis for you to assess our ability to commercialize our product candidates and the advisability of investing in our securities.

 

 Our NDA for oral TTM has not been accepted for filing and/or we may not obtain the necessary U.S. or worldwide regulatory approvals to commercialize oral TTM or one of our product(s).

 

 On November 28, 2007, we filed a New Drug Application (NDA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market oral TTM (oral tetrathiomolybdate) for initially presenting neurologic Wilson's disease. On January 28, 2008 representing sixty (60) days from the date of NDA filing we received notification from the FDA that our NDA has not been accepted for further review and the FDA issued a refusal to file letter ("RTF"). In the RTF letter the FDA cited various deficiencies in the NDA filing, including, the formatting and presentation of the data, preliminary assessments concerning the adequacy and quality of the clinical evidence to support the safety and efficacy of oral TTM, the necessity to conduct a Segment III preclinical reproductive toxicology study as well as chemistry, manufacturing and controls issues regarding the identity, strength and purity of oral TTM. Given the receipt of the RTF letter, we will face substantial delays in our ability to prepare and re-file a new NDA, if at all, and potential approval to market oral TTM.

 

 On February 26, 2008, we completed a Type A meeting with the FDA to discuss the deficiencies raised in the RTF letter. Based on this meeting with the FDA, Pipex believes it reached an understanding with the FDA on a course of action to resolve all of the filing issues raised in the RTF letter. Nevertheless, the FDA raised concerns regarding the adequacy of the evidence of clinical efficacy, safety, study quality, data collection and overall risk/benefit profile of oral TTM for neurologic Wilson's disease as represented by the two completed clinical trials of oral TTM for neurologic Wilson's disease that formed the basis of the NDA. Even if Pipex is successful in preparing and filing a revised NDA, Pipex cannot provide any assurances that a newly filed NDA will be accepted for filing or that upon review of the NDA by the FDA, Pipex will be successful in overcoming such FDA concerns and that oral TTM for initially presenting neurologic Wilson's disease will be approved by the FDA. The clinical trials for oral TTM which formed the basis of the NDA filing were conducted over a period of 18 years from 1998 to 2005 prior to entering into our license agreement for oral TTM and were conducted under an investigator initiated IND by our scientific advisor and consultant, Dr. George Brewer under grant support from various non-profit foundations and governmental agencies including the FDA’s Orphan Products Group. In the event that we are able to prepare, file and obtain FDA acceptance of a new NDA filing for oral TTM, we cannot provide any assurances that after the FDA reviews our new submission, that the new NDA submission will overcome the FDA's concerns raised in the RTF letter sufficient for approval of oral TTM or that the FDA will not upon further review raise additional concerns regarding manufacturing, clinical, or nonclinical which may impact the potential approvability of oral TTM for the treatment of neurologic Wilson’s disease.

 

We are seeking potential business development corporate partners and potential licensees that may support the further development of oral TTM for Wilson's disease and other indications. In order to consider an enhanced resubmitted NDA filing for oral TTM for the treatment of neurologic Wilson’s disease, at the February 26, 2008 Type A meeting Pipex discussed with the FDA Pipex may intend to schedule a Type B meeting with the FDA with potential corporate partners, if any, in attendance to discuss the utility of providing the FDA with additional efficacy data from an ongoing double-blind, comparator, dose optimization clinical trial of oral TTM for the treatment of neurologic Wilson’s disease. To date, this third study has enrolled and completed dosing in approximately 40 neurologically presenting Wilson’s disease patients should a Type B meeting be requested by Pipex and be scheduled, Pipex may intend to present potential, available pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data (such as and including oral TTM's effects on lowering serum free copper levels in patients) from this third clinical trial as well as a summarization of the data from the previously completed clinical trials with oral TTM for neurologic Wilson’s disease. The feedback from this Type B meeting with the FDA will determine the timing of any potential NDA resubmission for oral TTM for this indication and may result in Pipex discontinuing the NDA refiling process for oral TTM as well as potentially our planned MAA filing in Europe. Additionally, depending on the analysis of additional data, the FDA may request a separate pharmacokinetic study or additional clinical studies.

 

 

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On March 17, 2008, Dr. George Brewer informed us that pursuant to a teleconference between Dr. Brewer and the FDA of the same date, Dr. Brewer's physician sponsored investigational new drug application (IND) for oral tetrathiomolybdate for Wilson's disease had been placed on clinical hold pending the potential resolution, if any, of  items described in the RTF. The IND that is the subject of the clinical hold includes an active dose optimization comparator protocol of oral tetrathiomolybdate that to date has enrolled and treated approximately 40 neurologically presenting Wilson's disease patients the data from which we intend to collect, analyze and present to the FDA at a Type B meeting to be requested to discuss a potential revised New Drug Application submission. We cannot provide any assurance that Dr. Brewer will be successful in lifting the clinical hold imposed by the FDA, that we will be successful in preparing and filing a revised NDA, that any such newly filed NDA will be accepted for filing or that upon review of any such NDA by the FDA, we will be successful in overcoming the concerns raised by the FDA and that oral tetrathiomolybdate for initially presenting neurologic Wilson's disease will be approved by the FDA. Based upon receipt of a written clinical hold letter communicated to Dr. Brewer from the FDA and forwarded to us on March 26, 2008, the FDA detailed its issues and concerns that are required to be addressed in order to lift the clinical hold, including chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) issues concerning the identity, strength and purity of oral TTM. We presently intend to assist Dr. Brewer in resolving the CMC issues raised by the FDA and do not presently intend to initiate patient dosing in our Italian clinical trial of oral TTM for Alzheimer's disease until such issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the FDA. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be successful in overcoming such CMC issues to the satisfaction of the FDA. Our license agreement with the University of Michigan required that we initiate patient dosing for an additional clinical trial of oral TTM on or before August 5, 2008. Given our determination to withhold patient dosing of our Italian Alzheimer's disease trial until the CMC issues raised by the FDA are satisfied, we are currently renegotiating this provision of the license agreement with the University of Michigan. We cannot assure you that our negotiations will be successful.  The written clinical hold letter also provided feedback not related to the clinical hold per se including the reference that the clinical endpoints, design and conduct of the dose comparator clinical study that has enrolled 40 patients to date will most likely not be sufficient for a NDA of oral TTM for neurologic Wilson's disease. Based on this communication, Pipex may request a Type B meeting with the FDA with potential corporate partners, if any, in attendance to discuss next steps for oral TTM development in neurologic Wilson's disease. Given the issues raised by the FDA in its RTF letter of January 28, 2008 as well as the FDA's written clinical hold letter to Dr. George Brewer forwarded to us on March 26, 2008, at the present time it appears that the FDA will not deem the three existing clinical trials of oral TTM to be sufficient for a New Drug Application of oral TTM for initially presenting neurologic Wilson's disease. Given the limited number of patients afflicted by this disease, an additional clinical trial of oral TTM for this indication will necessarily take a substantial amount of time and resources to plan, enroll and complete. The design of such further study is also uncertain given that existing drugs approved for Wilson's disease appear to be contraindicated for initially presenting neurologic Wilson's disease or too slow acting for this critically ill patient population. Should we elect to abandon our efforts to seek U.S. and/or European approval of oral TTM for neurologically presenting Wilson's disease we will most likely not have sufficient resources to pursue all of the additional indications for oral TTM that are the subject of our research and development, including, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, primary biliary cirrhosis and Huntington's disease. If we are are unable to identify interested corporate partners for oral TTM, we may elect to abandon our efforts to develop oral TTM for any or all of these indications, including, Wilson's disease.

 

We will need FDA approval to commercialize our product candidates in the U.S. and approvals from equivalent regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions to commercialize our product candidates in those jurisdictions. In order to obtain FDA approval for any of our product candidates, we  must submit to the FDA an NDA, demonstrating that the product candidate is safe for humans and effective for its intended use and that the product  candidate can be consistently manufactured and is stable. This demonstration requires significant research and animal tests, which are referred to as “pre-clinical studies,” human tests, which are referred to as “clinical trials” as well as the ability to manufacture the product candidate, referred to as  “chemistry manufacturing control” or “CMC.” We will also need to file additional investigative new drug applications and protocols in order to initiate clinical testing of our drug candidates in new therapeutic indications and delays in obtaining required FDA and institutional review board approvals to  commence such studies may delay our initiation of such planned additional studies.

 

 Satisfying the FDA’s regulatory requirements typically takes many years, depending on the type, complexity, and novelty of the product candidate, and requires substantial resources for research development, and testing. We cannot predict whether our research and clinical approaches will result in drugs that the FDA considers safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. The FDA has substantial discretion in the drug approval process and may require us to conduct additional pre-clinical and clinical testing or to perform post-marketing studies.

 

 The approval process may also be delayed by changes in government regulation, future legislation or administrative action, or changes in FDA policy that occur prior to or during our regulatory review. Delays in obtaining regulatory approvals may do the following:

 

	●	delay commercialization of, and our ability to derive product revenues from, our product candidates;
	●	impose costly procedures on us; and
	●	diminish any competitive advantages that we may otherwise enjoy.

 

 

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Even if we comply with all FDA requests, the FDA may ultimately reject one or more of our NDAs. We cannot be sure that we will ever obtain regulatory clearance for our product candidates. Failure to obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates will severely undermine our business by reducing our number of salable products and, therefore, corresponding product revenues.

 

 In foreign jurisdictions, we must receive approval from the appropriate regulatory authorities before we can commercialize our drugs. Foreign regulatory approval processes generally include all of the risks associated with the FDA approval procedures described above. We cannot assure you that we will receive the approvals necessary to commercialize our product candidate for sale outside the United States.

 

 We may not be able to retain rights licensed to us by others to commercialize key products and may not be able to establish or maintain the relationships we need to develop, manufacture, and market our products.

 

In addition to our own patent applications, we also currently rely on an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Michigan relating to various uses of oral TTM. We also have an exclusive license agreement with the McLean Hospital relating to the use of EFFIRMA to  treat fibromyalgia syndrome; an exclusive license agreement with Thomas Jefferson University relating to our CD4 inhibitor program; an exclusive  license agreement with the Regents of the University of California relating to our TRIMESTA technology; an exclusive license agreement with the  Children’s Hospital-Boston relating to our CORRECTA technology; an exclusive license agreement to license our T-cell vaccine program from  the University of Southern California (USC) an exclusive license to our oral immunotherapeutic tolerance program from UCSD and an exclusive license agreement with Dr. Newsome and Mr. Tate relating to our Zinthionein program. Each of these agreements requires us to use our best efforts to commercialize each of the technologies as well as meet certain diligence requirements and timelines in order to keep the license agreement in effect. In the event we are not able to meet our diligence requirements, we may not be able to retain the rights granted under our agreements or renegotiate our arrangement with these institutions on reasonable terms, or at all.

 

 Furthermore, we currently have very limited product development capabilities, and limited marketing or sales capabilities. For us to research, develop, and test our product candidates, we would need to contract with outside researchers, in most cases those parties that did the original research and from whom we have licensed the technologies.

 

 We can give no assurances that any of our issued patents licensed to us or any of our other patent applications will provide us with significant proprietary protection or be of commercial benefit to us. Furthermore, the issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its validity or enforceability, nor does the issuance of a patent provide the patent holder with freedom to operate without infringing the patent rights of others.

 

 Developments by competitors may render our products or technologies obsolete or non-competitive.

 

 Companies that currently sell or are developing both generic and proprietary pharmaceutical compounds to treat central-nervous-system and autoimmune diseases include: Pfizer, Inc., Aton Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Alcon, Inc., Shire Pharmaceuticals, Plc., Schering-Plough, Organon NV, Merck & Co., Eli  Lilly & Co., Serono, SA, Biogen Idec, Inc., Achillion, Ltd., Active Biotech, Inc., Panteri Biosciences, Meda, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,  Schering AG, Forest Laboratories, Inc., Attenuon, LLC, Cypress Biosciences, Inc., Novartis, Axcan Pharma, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Intermune, Inc.  Fibrogen, Inc., Active Biotech, CNSBio, Pty., Rare Disease Therapeutics, Inc., Prana Biotechnology, Inc., Merz & Co., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Chiesi Pharmaceuticals,  Inc., Alcon, Inc., Bausch and Lomb, Inc., Targacept, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, Inc. Alternative technologies or alternative delivery or dosages of already approved therapies are being  developed to treat dry AMD, autoimmune inflammatory, Fibromyalgia, MS, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Wilson’s diseases, several of which may be approved or are in early and  advanced clinical trials, such as zinc based combinations, FTY-720, Laquinimod, pirfenidone, milnacipram, Lyrica, anti-depressant combinations, Cymbalta, Effexor, Actimmune and other interferon preparations. Unlike us, many of our competitors have significant financial and human resources. In addition, academic research centers may develop technologies that compete with our TRIMESTA, Zinthionein, CD4 inhibitors, EFFIRMA, CORRECTA and oral TTM technologies. Should clinicians or regulatory authorities view these therapeutic regiments as or more effective than our products, this might delay or prevent us from obtaining regulatory approval for our products, or it might prevent us from obtaining favorable reimbursement rates from payers, such as Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.

 

 

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 We may not succeed in enforcing our orphan drug designations.

 

 Oral TTM has been designated by the FDA as an “orphan drug” for the treatment of Wilson’s disease patients presenting with neurologic complications. CORRECTA TM has also been designated by the FDA as an “orphan drug” for the treatment of pouchitis patients. We intend to file for “orphan drug” designations in the EMEA (the European equivalent of the FDA) for both oral TTM and CORRECTA TM for similar uses. Pursuant to our agreements with our scientific inventors and universities, we have acquired these designations. Orphan drug designation is an important element of our competitive strategy because there are no composition of matter patents for oral TTM a designated orphan drug for a rare disease generally receives marketing exclusivity for use of that drug for the designated condition for a period of seven years in the United States and ten years in the European Union.

 

To be successful in enforcing this designation, our new drug application would need to be the first NDA approved to use oral TTM to treat Wilson’s disease. While we are not aware of any other companies that have sought orphan drug designation for oral TTM or its active ingredient, tetrathiomolybdate, for this indication, other companies may in the future seek it and may obtain FDA marketing approval before we do. In addition, the FDA may permit other companies to market a form of tetrathiomolybdate to treat Wilson’s disease patients with neurologic complication if their product demonstrates clinical superiority. This could create a more competitive market for us.

 

 Competitors could develop and gain FDA approval of our products for a different indication.

 

Since we do not have composition of matter patent claims for oral TTM, EFFIRMA, Solovax and TRIMESTA, others may obtain approvals for other uses of these products which are not covered by our issued or pending patents. For example, the active ingredients in both EFFIRMA and TRIMESTA have been approved for marketing in overseas countries for different uses. Other companies, including the original developers or affiliates of these products may seek to develop EFFIRMA or TRIMESTA for these uses in the US or any country we are seeking approval for. We cannot provide any assurances that any other company may obtain FDA approval for products that contain EFFIRMA or TRIMESTA in various formulations or delivery systems that might adversely affect our ability to develop and market these products in the US.  Should a competitor obtain FDA approval for their product prior to us, we might be precluded under the Waxman-Hatch Act to obtain approval for our product candidates for a period of five years.

 

Other companies could manufacture and develop oral TTM and its active ingredient, tetrathiomolybdate, and secure approvals for different indications. We are aware that a potential competitor has an exclusive license from the University of Michigan (UM) to an issued U.S. patent that relates to the use of tetrathiomolybdate to treat angiogenic  diseases (the “Angiogenic Patent”) and is currently in phase I and phase II clinical trials for the treatment of various forms of cancer. To our knowledge, this competitor and UM have filed additional patent applications claiming various analog structures and formulations of tetrathiomolybdate to treat various diseases. Further, we cannot predict whether our competitor might obtain approval in the U.S. or Europe to market tetrathiomolybdate for cancer or another indication ahead of us. We also cannot predict whether, if issued, any patent corresponding to the Angiogenic Patent may prevent us from conducting our business or result in lengthy and costly litigation or the need for a license. Furthermore, if we need to obtain a license to these or other patents in order to conduct our business, we may find that it is not available to us on commercially reasonable  terms, or is not available to us at all.

 

 If the FDA approves other tetrathiomolybdate products to treat indications other than those covered by our issued or pending patent applications, physicians may elect to prescribe a competitor’s tetrathiomolybdate to treat Wilson’s disease—this is commonly referred to as “off-label” use. While under FDA regulations a competitor is not allowed to promote off-label uses of its product, the FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine and, as a result, cannot direct physicians as to which source it should use for the tetrathiomolybdate they prescribe to their patients. Consequently, we might be limited in our ability to prevent off-label use of a competitor’s tetrathiomolybdate to treat Wilson’s disease or inflammatory or fibrotic disease, even if we have orphan drug exclusivity. Our competitor might seek FDA or EMEA approval to market tetrathiomolybdate for any therapeutic indication, including Wilson’s disease or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). If we are not able to obtain and enforce these patents, a competitor could use tetrathiomolybdate for a treatment or use not covered by any of our patents.

 

 

 

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We rely primarily on method patents and patent applications and various regulatory exclusivities to protect the development of our technologies, and our ability to compete may decrease or be eliminated if we are not able to protect our proprietary technology.

 

Our competitiveness may be adversely affected if we are unable to protect our proprietary technologies. Other than our CD4 inhibitor, oral tolerance and Zinthionein program, we do not have composition of matter patents for TRIMESTA, EFFIRMA, CORRECTA, Solovax, oral TTM or their respective active ingredients estriol, flupirtine, clotrimazole and tetrathiomolybdate.  We also expect to rely on patent protection from an issued U.S. Patent for the use of oral TTM and related compounds to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases (U.S. Patent No 6,855,340). These patents have been exclusively licensed to us. We have also filed various pending patent applications which cover various formulations, packaging, distribution & monitoring methods for oral TTM. We rely on issued patent and pending patent applications for use of TRIMESTA to treat MS (issued U.S. Patent No. 6,936,599) and various other therapeutic indications which have been exclusively licensed to us. We have also exclusively licensed an issued patent for the treatment of fibromyalgia with EFFIRMA TM and have pending patent applications for our uses of CORRECTA.

 

 Our Zinthionein product candidate is exclusively licensed from its inventors, David A. Newsome, M.D. and David Tate, Jr.  Zinthionein is the subject of two issued U.S. patents, 7,164,035 and 6,586,611 and pending U.S. patent application ser. no. 11/621,380 which cover composition of matter claims.

 

 In our annual Form 10-KSB for the year ending December 31, 2007 filed March 31, 2008 (page 23), we described our receipt in March 2008 (and potential impact on claim 1 of our exclusively licensed issued U.S. patent 7,164,035) of an English translation of a Russian disclosure, Zegzhda et. al. Chemical Abstracts Vol. 85 Abstract No. 186052 (1976) that was cited by the U.S. patent examiner during our prosecution of the pending divisional U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/621,390. In April 2008, we analyzed the zinc-cysteine complex described by Zegzhda and concluded that such complex describes an insoluble zinc salt and does not describe a non-zinc salt zinc monocyteine complex and therefore believe that such disclosure should not affect the validity of any of our issued U.S. patent claims relating our zinc-monocysteine composition-of-matter claims.  We have filed a response and declaration describing the results of our analysis with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with respect to the Zegzhda reference with respect to U.S. patent application ser. no. 11/621,380. 

 

We also expect to rely on regulatory exclusivities, such as the Orphan Drug Designation with the FDA and EMEA (“Orphan Drug”) to protect oral  TTM, CORRECTA TM and our other future products for certain therapeutic indications. Orphan Drug protection provides for seven years of marketing exclusivity for that disease indication in the U.S. and ten years of marketing exclusivity for that disease indication in Europe. We have received an Orphan Drug Designation for the use of CORRECTA to treat pouchitis as well as an Orphan Drug Designation for the use of oral TTM to treat neurologically presenting Wilson’s disease and are in the process of filing similar designations in Europe. Orphan Drug Designation is an important element of our competitive strategy for oral TTM and CORRECTA. To be successful in enforcing this designation, our NDA would need to be the first NDA approved to use oral TTM and CORRECTA for that indication. While we are not aware of any other companies that have sought orphan drug designation for oral TTM and CORRECTA for any indication, other companies may in the future seek it and may obtain FDA marketing approval before we do.

 

 After the Orphan Drug exclusivity period expires, assuming our patents are validly issued, we still expect to rely on our issued and pending method of use patent applications to protect our proprietary technology with respect to the development of oral TTM and CORRECTA. The patent positions of pharmaceutical companies are uncertain and may involve complex legal and factual questions. We may incur significant expense in protecting our intellectual property and defending or assessing claims with respect to intellectual property owned by others. Any patent or other infringement litigation by or against us could cause us to incur significant expense and divert the attention of our management.

 

We may also rely on the United States Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, commonly known as the “Hatch-Waxman Amendments,” to protect some of our current product candidates, specifically oral TTM, TRIMESTA, zincmonocystine, Anti-CD4 802-2, EFFIRMA and other future product candidates we may develop. Once a drug containing a new molecule is approved by the FDA, the FDA cannot accept an abbreviated NDA for a generic drug containing that molecule for five years, although the FDA may accept and approve a drug containing the molecule pursuant to an NDA supported by independent clinical data. Recent amendments have been proposed that would narrow the scope of Hatch-Waxman exclusivity and permit generic drugs to compete with our drug.

 

 

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In July 2007 our exclusively licensed European patent covering our multivalent T-cell vaccine, Solovax, was opposed and revoked. In order to save resources, we have elected not to appeal such ruling and may elect to abandon the license with USC.

 

 Others may file patent applications or obtain patents on similar technologies or compounds that compete with our products. We cannot predict how broad the claims in any such patents or applications will be, and whether they will be allowed. Once claims have been issued, we cannot predict how they will be construed or enforced. We may infringe intellectual property rights of others without being aware of it. If another party claims we are infringing their technology, we could have to defend an expensive and time consuming lawsuit, pay a large sum if we are found to be infringing, or be prohibited from selling or licensing our products unless we obtain a license or redesign our product, which may not be possible.

 

 We also rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how to develop and maintain our competitive position. Some of our current or former employees, consultants, or scientific advisors, or current or prospective corporate collaborators, may unintentionally or willfully disclose our confidential information to competitors or use our proprietary technology for their own benefit. Furthermore, enforcing a claim alleging the infringement of our trade secrets would be expensive and difficult to prove, making the outcome uncertain. Our competitors may also independently develop similar knowledge, methods, and know-how or gain access to our proprietary information through some other means.

 

 We may fail to retain or recruit necessary personnel, and we may be unable to secure the services of consultants.

 

 As of July 29, 2008, we have 8 full-time employees. We have also engaged regulatory consultants to advise us on our dealings with the FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities. We intend to recruit certain key executive officers, including a Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs during 2008. Our future performance will depend in part on our ability to successfully integrate newly hired executive officers into our management team and our ability to develop an effective working relationship among senior management.

 

 Certain of our officers, directors, (including Jeffrey Kraws, a director and former VP of Business Development, Jeffrey Wolf, a director and Dr. Kuo, a director) scientific advisors, and consultants serve as officers, directors, scientific advisors, or consultants of other biopharmaceutical or biotechnology companies which might be developing competitive products to ours. None of our directors or officers is obligated under any agreement or understanding with us to make any additional products or technologies available to us. Similarly, we can give no assurances, and we do not expect and stockholders should not expect, that any biomedical or pharmaceutical product or technology identified by any of our directors or affiliates in the future would be made available to us.

 

 We can expect this to also be the case with personnel that we engage in the future. We can give no assurances that any such other companies will not have interests that are in conflict with our interests.

 

 Losing key personnel or failing to recruit necessary additional personnel would impede our ability to attain our development objectives. There is intense competition for qualified personnel in the drug-development field, and we may not be able to attract and retain the qualified personnel we would need to develop our business.

 

 We rely on independent organizations, advisors, and consultants to perform certain services for us, including handling substantially all aspects of regulatory approval, clinical management, manufacturing, marketing, and sales. We expect that this will continue to be the case. Such services may not always be available to us on a timely basis when we need them.

 

 

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We may experience difficulties in obtaining sufficient quantities of our products or other compounds.

 

 In order to successfully commercialize our product candidates, we must be able to manufacture our products in commercial quantities, in compliance with regulatory requirements, at acceptable costs, and in a timely manner. Manufacture of the types of biopharmaceutical products that we propose to develop present various risks. For example, manufacture of the active ingredient in oral TTM and Zinthionein is a complex process that can be difficult to scale up for purposes of producing large quantities. This process can also be subject to delays, inefficiencies, and poor or low yields of quality products. Furthermore, the active ingredient of Zinthionein has been difficult to scale up at larger quantities.  As such, we can give no assurances that we will be able to scale up the manufacturing of Zinthionein.  Oral TTM is also known to be subject to a loss of potency as a result of prolonged exposure to moisture and other normal atmospheric conditions. We are developing proprietary formulations and specialty packaging solutions to overcome this stability issue, but we can give no assurances that we will be successful in meeting the stability requirements required for approval by regulatory authorities such as the FDA or the requirements that our new proprietary formulations and drug product will demonstrate satisfactory comparability to less stable formulations utilized in prior clinical trials. We may experience delays in demonstrating satisfactory stability requirements and drug product comparability requirements that could delay acceptance or approval of our planned NDA for oral TTM.

 

For manufacturing and nonclinical information, we rely upon an agreement with Organon, a division of Schering-Plough for access to clinical, nonclinical, stability and drug supply relating to estriol, the active ingredient in TRIMESTA which is currently in a phase II/III clinical trial for MS. Should Organon terminate our agreement, this might delay enrollment and commercialization plans for our TRIMESTA clinical trial program. Organon has manufactured estriol for the European and Asian market for approximately 40 years.

 

Our SOLOVAX T-cell vaccine technology is complex to manufacture. The vaccine is manufactured through the procurement of a patient’s own T-cells derived from the patient’s plasma. This manufacturing process involves incubation of T-cells, irradiation and refrigeration of the cells. We plan to develop a revised manufacturing procedure which will streamline quality control of the vaccine.

 

Historically, our manufacturing has been handled by contract manufacturers and compounding pharmacies. We can give no assurances that we will be able to continue to use our current manufacturer or be able to establish another relationship with a manufacturer quickly enough so as not to disrupt commercialization of any of our products, or that commercial quantities of any of our products, if approved for marketing, will be available from contract manufacturers at acceptable costs.

 

In addition, any contract manufacturer that we select to manufacture our product candidates might fail to maintain a   current “good manufacturing practices” (cGMP) manufacturing facility. During February 2007, we established a commercial manufacturing facility for oral TTM product in Ann Arbor, MI and we have hired and trained our employees to comply with the extensive regulations applicable to such a facility. Upon FDA inspection our facility and/or cGMP procedures may require changes that could delay our intended product launch of oral TTM and other products that might develop.

 

The cost of manufacturing certain product candidates may make them prohibitively expensive. In order to successfully commercialize our product candidates we may be required to reduce the costs of production, and we may find that we are unable to do so. We may be unable to obtain, or may be required to pay high prices for compounds manufactured or sold by others that we need for comparison purposes in clinical trials and studies for our product candidates.

 

 

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 Clinical trials are very expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to design and implement.

 

Human clinical trials are very expensive and difficult to design and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. The clinical trial process is also time-consuming. We estimate that clinical trials of our product candidates would take at least several years to complete. Furthermore, failure can occur at any stage of the trials, and we could encounter problems that cause us to abandon or repeat clinical trials. Commencement and completion of clinical trials may be delayed by several factors, including: 

 

	●	unforeseen safety issues;
	●	determination of dosing;
	●	lack of effectiveness during clinical trials;
	●	slower than expected rates of patient recruitment;
	●	inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment; and
	●	inability or unwillingness of medical investigators to follow our clinical protocols.

 

 In addition, we or the FDA may suspend our clinical trials at any time if it appears that we are exposing participants to unacceptable health risks or if the FDA finds deficiencies in our submissions or conduct of our trials.

 

 The results of our clinical trials may not support our product candidate claims.

 

 Even if our clinical trials are completed as planned, we cannot be certain that the results will support our product-candidate claims. Success in pre-clinical testing and phase II clinical trials does not ensure that later phase II or phase III clinical trials will be successful. We cannot be sure that the results of later clinical trials would replicate the results of prior clinical trials and pre-clinical testing. Clinical trials may fail to demonstrate that our product candidates are safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. Any such failure could cause us to abandon a product candidate and might delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination of, our clinical trials would delay our obtaining FDA approval for the affected product candidate and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize that product candidate.

 

 Physicians and patients may not accept and use our technologies.

 

 Even if the FDA approves our product candidates, physicians and patients may not accept and use them. Acceptance and use of our product will depend upon a number of factors, including the following:

 

	●	the perception of members of the health care community, including physicians, regarding the safety and effectiveness of our drugs;
	●	the cost-effectiveness of our product relative to competing products;
	●	availability of reimbursement for our products from government or other healthcare payers; and
	●	the effectiveness of marketing and distribution efforts by us and our licensees and distributors, if any.

 

Because we expect sales of our current product candidates, if approved, to generate substantially all of our product revenues for the foreseeable future, the failure of any of these drugs to find market acceptance would harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing.

 

 

 

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We depend on researchers who are not under our control. 

 

Since we have in-licensed all of our product candidates, we depend upon independent investigators and scientific collaborators, such as universities and medical institutions or private physician scientists, to conduct our pre-clinical and clinical trials under agreements with us. These collaborators are not our employees and we cannot control the amount or timing of resources that they devote to our programs or the timing of their procurement of clinical-trial data. They may not assign as great a priority to our programs or pursue them as diligently as we would if we were undertaking those programs ourselves. Failing to devote sufficient time and resources to our drug-development programs, or substandard performance, could result in delay of any FDA applications and our commercialization of the drug candidate involved.

 

 Our oral TTM program is highly dependent on Dr. George Brewer, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Dr. Brewer was the principal investigator and conducted the clinical trials over an 18 year period on the oral TTM clinical trials which formed the basis of our NDA filing. We have retained Dr. Brewer, age 76 as an advisor and consultant to Pipex. In the event of Dr. Brewer’s untimely death or disability, may significantly hamper our development capabilities of oral TTM.

 

 These collaborators may also have relationships with other commercial entities, some of which may compete with us. Our collaborators assisting our competitors at our expense could harm our competitive position. For example, we depend on scientific collaborators for our TRIMESTA, Zinthionein, SOLOVAX, CORRECTA, CD4 Inhibitor, EFFIRMA oral tolerance and oral TTM development programs. Specifically, all of the clinical trials have been conducted under physician-sponsored investigational new drug applications (INDs), not corporate-sponsored INDs. Additionally, the clinical trials for oral TTM for the treatment of neurologic Wilson’s disease have been conducted and completed prior to us licensing this technology from the University of Michigan. Due to various patient privacy regulations and other administrative matters, we have experienced delays and/or an inability to obtain clinical trial data relating to oral TTM. As such, this delay or inability to obtain any data might result our inability to obtain regulatory approvals for oral TTM and our products. We are also dependent on government and private grants to fund certain of our clinical trials for our product candidates. For example, TRIMESTA has received a $5 million grant from the Southern Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society which funds a majority of our ongoing phase II/III clinical trial in relapsing remitting  multiple sclerosis. If we are unable to maintain these grants, we might be forced to scale back development of these product candidates. We have experienced difficulty in collecting the data or transferring these programs to corporate-sponsored INDs. Additionally, we are aware that all of our scientific collaborators may also act as advisors to our competitors.

 

 We have no experience selling, marketing, or distributing products and do not have the capability to do so.

 

 We currently have no sales, marketing, or distribution capabilities. We do not anticipate having resources in the foreseeable future to allocate to selling and marketing our proposed products. Our success will depend, in part, on whether we are able to enter into and maintain collaborative relationships with a pharmaceutical or a biotechnology company charged with marketing one or more of our products. We may not be able to establish or maintain such collaborative arrangements or to commercialize our products in foreign territories, and even if we do, our collaborators may not have effective sales forces.

 

 If we do not, or are unable to, enter into collaborative arrangements to sell and market our proposed products, we will need to devote significant capital, management resources, and time to establishing and developing an in-house marketing and sales force with technical expertise. We may be unsuccessful in doing so.

 

 

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 If we fail to maintain positive relationships with particular individuals, we may be unable to successfully develop our product candidates, conduct clinical trials, and obtain financing.

 

 If we fail to maintain positive relationships with members of our management team or if these individuals decrease their contributions to our company, our business could be adversely impacted. We do not carry key employee insurance policies for any of our key employees.

 

 We also rely greatly on employing and retaining other highly trained and experienced senior management and scientific personnel. The competition for these and other qualified personnel in the biotechnology field is intense. If we are not able to attract and retain qualified scientific, technical, and managerial personnel, we probably will be unable to achieve our business objectives.

 

 We may not be able to compete successfully for market share against other drug companies.

 

 The markets for our product candidates are characterized by intense competition and rapid technological advances. If our product candidates receive FDA approval, they will compete with existing and future drugs and therapies developed, manufactured, and marketed by others. Competing products may provide greater therapeutic convenience or clinical or other benefits for a specific indication than our products, or may offer comparable performance at a lower cost. If our products fail to capture and maintain market share, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

 

We will compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies, or other public and private research organizations. Many of these competitors have therapies to treat autoimmune fibrotic and central nervous system diseases already approved or in development. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, operate larger research-and-development programs than we do, have substantially greater financial resources than we do, and have significantly greater experience in the following areas: 

 

	●	developing drugs;
	●	undertaking pre-clinical testing and human clinical trials;
	●	obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of drugs;
	●	formulating and manufacturing drugs; and
	●	launching, marketing and selling drugs.

 

We may incur substantial costs as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to patent and other intellectual property rights, as well as costs associated with frivolous lawsuits.

 

 If any other person files patent applications, or is issued patents, claiming technology also claimed by us in pending applications, we may be required to participate in interference proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention. We, or our licensors, may also need to participate in interference proceedings involving our issued patents and pending applications of another entity.

 

 We cannot guarantee that the practice of our technologies will not conflict with the rights of others. In some foreign jurisdictions, we could become involved in opposition proceedings, either by opposing the validity of another’s foreign patent or by persons opposing the validity of our foreign patents.

 

 We may also face frivolous litigation or lawsuits from various competitors or from litigious securities attorneys. The cost to us of any litigation or other proceeding relating to these areas, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial and could distract management from our business. Uncertainties resulting from initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue our operations.

 

 

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If we infringe the rights of others we could be prevented from selling products or forced to pay damages. 

 

If our products, methods, processes, and other technologies are found to infringe the proprietary rights of other parties, we could be required to pay damages, or we may be required to cease using the technology or to license rights from the prevailing party. Any prevailing party may be unwilling to offer us a license on commercially acceptable terms.

 

 

Our ability to generate product revenues will be diminished if our drugs sell for inadequate prices or patients are unable to obtain adequate levels of reimbursement.

 

Our ability to commercialize our drugs, alone or with collaborators, will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement is available from government and health administration authorities, private health maintenance organizations, health insurers, and other healthcare payers. 

 

Significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved healthcare products. Healthcare payers, including Medicare, are challenging the prices charged for medical products and services. Government and other healthcare payers increasingly attempt to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for drugs. Even if our product candidates are approved by the FDA, insurance coverage may not be available, or may be inadequate, to cover the cost of our drugs. This could affect our ability to commercialize our products.

 

We may not be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage against product liability claims.

 

 Our business exposes us to the product liability risks inherent in the testing, manufacturing, marketing, and sale of human therapeutic technologies and products. Even if it is available, product liability insurance for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry generally is expensive. Adequate insurance coverage may not be available at a reasonable cost.

 

 

 

RISKS RELATING TO OUR STOCK

 

 We will seek to raise additional funds in the future, which may be dilutive to stockholders or impose operational restrictions.

 

 We expect to seek to raise additional capital in the future to help fund development of our proposed products. If we raise additional capital through the issuance of equity or debt securities, the percentage ownership of our current stockholders will be reduced. We may also enter into strategic transactions, issue equity as part of license issue fees to our licensors, compensate consultants using equity that may be dilutive. Our stockholders may experience additional dilution in net book value per share and any additional equity securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of the holders of our common stock. If we cannot raise additional funds, we will have to delay development activities of our products candidates.

 

 We are controlled by our current officers, directors, and principal stockholders.

 

 Currently, our directors, executive officers, and principal stockholders beneficially own a majority of our common stock. As a result, they will be able to exert substantial influence over the election of our board of directors and the vote on issues submitted to our stockholders.

 

 

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Our shares of common stock are from time to time thinly traded, so stockholders may be unable to sell at or near ask prices or at all if they need to sell shares to raise money or otherwise desire to liquidate their shares.

 

Our common stock has from time to time been “thinly-traded,” meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing our common stock at or near ask prices at any given time may be relatively small or non-existent. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that we are a small company that is relatively unknown to stock analysts, stock brokers, institutional investors and others in the investment community that generate or influence sales volume, and that even if we came to the attention of such persons, they tend to be risk-averse and would be reluctant to follow an unproven company such as ours or purchase or recommend the purchase of our shares until such time as we became more seasoned and viable. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in our shares is minimal or non­existent, as compared to a seasoned issuer which has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on share price. We cannot give stockholders any assurance that a broader or more active public trading market for our common shares will develop or be sustained, or that current trading levels will be sustained.

 

 Our compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC rules concerning internal controls may be time consuming, difficult and costly.

 

 Although individual members of our management team have experience as officers of publicly traded companies, much of that experience came prior to the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It may be time consuming, difficult and costly for us to develop and implement the internal controls and reporting procedures required by Sarbanes-Oxley. We may need to hire additional financial reporting, internal controls and other finance staff in order to develop and implement appropriate internal controls and reporting procedures. If we are unable to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley’s internal controls requirements, we may not be able to obtain the independent accountant certifications that Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires publicly-traded companies to obtain.

 

 We cannot assure you that the common stock will be liquid or that it will remain listed on a securities exchange.

 

 We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain the listing standards of the American Stock Exchange. The American Stock Exchange requires companies to meet certain listing criteria including certain minimum stockholders' equity and equity prices per share. We may not be able to maintain such minimum stockholders' equity or prices per share or may be required to effect a reverse stock split to maintain such minimum prices and/or issue additional equity securities in exchange for cash or other assets, if available, to maintain certain minimum stockholders' equity required by the American Stock Exchange.

 

 There may be issuances of shares of preferred stock in the future.

 

 Although we currently do not have preferred shares outstanding, the board of directors could authorize the issuance of a series of preferred stock that would grant holders preferred rights to our assets upon liquidation, the right to receive dividends before dividends would be declared to common stockholders, and the right to the redemption of such shares, possibly together with a premium, prior to the redemption of the common stock. To the extent that we do issue preferred stock, the rights of holders of common stock could be impaired thereby, including without limitation, with respect to liquidation.

 

 We have never paid dividends.

 

 We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying any for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

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RISKS RELATED TO OUR INDUSTRY

 

 Government Regulation

 

 The FDA, comparable foreign regulators and state and local pharmacy regulators impose substantial requirements upon clinical development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products. These and other entities regulate research and development and the testing, manufacture, quality control, safety, effectiveness, labeling, storage, record keeping, approval, advertising, and promotion of our products. The drug approval process required by the FDA under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act generally involves:

 

	●	Preclinical laboratory and animal tests;
	●	Submission of an IND, prior to commencing human clinical trials;
	●	Adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish safety and efficacy for intended use;
	●	Submission to the FDA of a NDA; and
	●	FDA review and approval of a NDA.

 

 The testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort, and financial resources, and we cannot be certain that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, if at all.

 

 Preclinical tests include laboratory evaluation of the product candidate, its chemistry, formulation and stability, and animal studies to assess potential safety and efficacy. Certain preclinical tests must be conducted in compliance with good laboratory practice regulations. Violations of these regulations can, in some cases, lead to invalidation of the studies, requiring them to be replicated. In some cases, long-term preclinical studies are conducted concurrently with clinical studies.

 

 We will submit the preclinical test results, together with manufacturing information and analytical data, to the FDA as part of an IND, which must become effective before we begin human clinical trials. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after filing, unless the FDA raises questions about conduct of the trials outlined in the IND and imposes a clinical hold, in which case, the IND sponsor and FDA must resolve the matters before clinical trials can begin. It is possible that our submission may not result in FDA authorization to commence clinical trials.

 

 Clinical trials must be supervised by a qualified investigator in accordance with good clinical practice regulations, which include informed consent requirements. An independent Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) at each medical center reviews and approves and monitors the study, and is periodically informed of the study’s progress, adverse events and changes in research. Progress reports are submitted annually to the FDA and more frequently if adverse events occur.

 

 Human clinical trials typically have three sequential phases that may overlap:

 

 Phase I: The drug is initially tested in healthy human subjects or patients for safety, dosage tolerance, absorption, metabolism, distribution, and excretion.

 

 Phase II: The drug is studied in a limited patient population to identify possible adverse effects and safety risks, determine efficacy for specific diseases and establish dosage tolerance and optimal dosage.

 

 Phase III: When phase II evaluations demonstrate that a dosage range is effective with an acceptable safety profile, phase III trials to further evaluate dosage, clinical efficacy and safety, are undertaken in an expanded patient population, often at geographically dispersed sites.

 

 

 

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We cannot be certain that we will successfully complete phase I, phase II, or phase III testing of our product candidates within any specific time period, if at all. Furthermore, the FDA, an IRB or the IND sponsor may suspend clinical trials at any time on various grounds, including a finding that subjects or patients are exposed to unacceptable health risk. Concurrent with these trials and studies, we also develop chemistry and physical characteristics data and finalize a manufacturing process in accordance with good manufacturing practice (“GMP”) requirements. The manufacturing process must conform to consistency and quality standards, and we must develop methods for testing the quality, purity, and potency of the final products. Appropriate packaging is selected and tested, and chemistry stability studies are conducted to demonstrate that the product does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf-life. Results of the foregoing are submitted to the FDA as part of a NDA for marketing and commercial shipment approval. The FDA reviews each NDA submitted and may request additional information.

 

 Once the FDA accepts the NDA for filing, it begins its in-depth review. The FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process and may disagree with our interpretation of the data submitted. The process may be significantly extended by requests for additional information or clarification regarding information already provided. As part of this review, the FDA may refer the application to an appropriate advisory committee, typically a panel of clinicians. Manufacturing establishments often are inspected prior to NDA approval to assure compliance with GMPs and with manufacturing commitments made in the application.

 

 Submission of a NDA with clinical data requires payment of a fee (for fiscal year 2008, $1,178,500). In return, the FDA assigns a goal of ten months for issuing its “complete response,” in which the FDA may approve or deny the NDA, or require additional clinical data. Even if these data are submitted, the FDA may ultimately decide the NDA does not satisfy approval criteria. If the FDA approves the NDA, the product becomes available for physicians prescription. Product approval may be withdrawn if regulatory compliance is not maintained or safety problems occur. The FDA may require post-marketing studies, also known as phase IV studies, as a condition of approval, and requires surveillance programs to monitor approved products that have been commercialized. The agency has the power to require changes in labeling or prohibit further marketing based on the results of post-marketing surveillance.

 

 Satisfaction of these and other regulatory requirements typically takes several years, and the actual time required may vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product. Government regulation may delay or prevent marketing of potential products for a considerable period of time and impose costly procedures on our activities. We cannot be certain that the FDA or other regulatory agencies will approve any of our products on a timely basis, if at all. Success in preclinical or early-stage clinical trials does not assure success in later-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from pre-clinical and clinical activities are not always conclusive and may be susceptible to varying interpretations that could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Even if a product receives regulatory approval, the approval may be significantly limited to specific indications or uses.

 

 Even after regulatory approval is obtained, later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product may result in restrictions on the product or even complete withdrawal of the product from the market. Delays in obtaining, or failures to obtain regulatory approvals would have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Any products manufactured or distributed by us pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing FDA regulation, including record-keeping requirements, reporting of adverse experiences, submitting periodic reports, drug sampling and distribution requirements, manufacturing or labeling changes, record-keeping requirements, and compliance with FDA promotion and advertising requirements. Drug manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their facilities with the FDA and state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections for GMP compliance, imposing procedural and documentation requirements upon us and third-party manufacturers. Failure to comply with these regulations could result, among other things, in suspension of regulatory approval, recalls, suspension of production or injunctions, seizures, or civil or criminal sanctions. We cannot be certain that we or our present or future subcontractors will be able to comply with these regulations.

 

 The FDA regulates drug labeling and promotion activities. The FDA has actively enforced regulations prohibiting the marketing of products for unapproved uses. The FDA permits the promotion of drugs for unapproved uses in certain circumstances, subject to stringent requirements. We and our product candidates are subject to a variety of state laws and regulations which may hinder our ability to market our products. Whether or not FDA approval has been obtained, approval by foreign regulatory authorities must be obtained prior to commencing clinical trials, and sales and marketing efforts in those countries. These approval procedures vary in complexity from country to country, and the processes may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval. We may incur significant costs to comply with these laws and regulations now or in the future.

 

 

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The FDA’s policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted which could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our potential products. Increased attention to the containment of health care costs worldwide could result in new government regulations materially adverse to our business. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse governmental regulation that might arise from future legislative or administrative action, either in the U.S. or abroad.

 

 Other Regulatory Requirements

 

 The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) also regulate certain pharmaceutical marketing practices. Government reimbursement practices and policies with respect to our products are important to our success.

 

 We are subject to numerous federal, state and local laws relating to safe working conditions, manufacturing practices, environmental protection, fire hazard control, and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances. We may incur significant costs to comply with these laws and regulations. The regulatory framework under which we operate will inevitably change in light of scientific, economic, demographic and policy developments, and such changes may have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

European Product Approval

 

Prior regulatory approval for human healthy volunteer studies (phase I studies) is required in member states of the European Union (E.U.). Summary data from successful phase I studies are submitted to regulatory authorities in member states to support applications for phase II studies. E.U. authorities typically have one to three months (which often may be extended in their discretion) to raise objections to the proposed study. One or more independent ethics committees (similar to U.S. IRBs) review relevant ethical issues.

 

For E.U. marketing approval, we submit to the relevant authority for review a dossier, or MAA (Market Authorization Application), providing information on the quality of the chemistry, manufacturing and pharmaceutical aspects of the product as well as non-clinical and clinical data.

 

Approval can take several months to several years, and can be denied, depending on whether additional studies or clinical trials are requested (which may delay marketing approval and involve unbudgeted costs) or regulatory authorities conduct facilities (including clinical investigation site) inspections and review manufacturing procedures, operating systems and personnel qualifications. In many cases, each drug manufacturing facility must be approved, and further inspections may occur over the product’s life.

 

The regulatory agency may require post-marketing surveillance to monitor for adverse effects or other studies. Further clinical studies are usually necessary for approval of additional indications. The terms of any approval, including labeling content, may be more restrictive than expected and could affect the marketability of a product.

 

Failure to comply with these ongoing requirements can result in suspension of regulatory approval and civil and criminal sanctions. European renewals may require additional data, resulting in a license being withdrawn. E.U. regulators have the authority to revoke, suspend or withdraw approvals, prevent companies and individuals from participating in the drug approval process, request recalls, seize violative products, obtain injunctions to close non-compliant manufacturing plants and stop shipments of violative products.

 

Pricing Controls

 

Pricing for products under approval applications is also subject to regulation. Requirements vary widely between countries and can be implemented disparately intra-nationally. The E.U. generally provides options for member states to control pricing of medicinal products for human use, ranging from specific price-setting to systems of direct or indirect controls on the producer’s profitability. U.K. regulation, for example, generally provides controls on overall profits derived from sales to the U.K. National Health Service that are based on profitability targets or a function of capital employed in servicing the National Health Service market. Italy generally utilizes a price monitoring system based on the European average price over the reference markets of France, Spain, Germany and the U.K. Italy typically establishes price within a therapeutic class based on the lowest price for a medicine belonging to that category. Spain generally establishes selling price based on prime cost plus a profit margin within a range established yearly by the Spanish Commission for Economic Affairs.

 

There can be no assurance that price controls or reimbursement limitations will result in favorable arrangements for our products.

 

 

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Third-Party Reimbursements

 

 In the U.S., the E.U. and elsewhere, pharmaceutical sales are dependent in part on the availability and adequacy of reimbursement from third party payers such as governments and private insurance plans. Third party payers are increasingly challenging established prices, and new products that are more expensive than existing treatments may have difficulty finding ready acceptance unless there is a clear therapeutic benefit.

 

In the U.S., consumer willingness to choose a self-administered outpatient prescription drug over a different drug or other form of treatment often depends on the manufacturer’s success in placing the product on a health plan formulary or drug list, which results in lower out-of-pocket costs. Favorable formulary placement typically requires the product to be less expensive than what the health plan determines to be therapeutically equivalent products, and often requires manufacturers to offer rebates. Federal law also requires manufacturers to pay rebates to state Medicaid programs in order to have their products reimbursed by Medicaid. Medicare, which covers most Americans over age 65 and the disabled, has adopted a new insurance regime that will offer eligible beneficiaries limited coverage for outpatient prescription drugs effective January 1, 2006. The prescription drugs that will be covered under this insurance will be specified on a formulary published by Medicare. As part of these changes, Medicare is adopting new payment formulas for prescription drugs administered by providers, such as hospitals or physicians that are generally expected to lower reimbursement.

 

The E.U. generally provides options for member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement. Member states can opt for a “positive” or “negative” list, with the former listing all covered medicinal products and the latter designating those excluded from coverage. The E.U., the U.K. and Spain have negative lists, while France uses a positive list. Canadian provinces establish their own reimbursement measures. In some countries, products may also be subject to clinical and cost effectiveness reviews by health technology assessment bodies. Negative determinations in relation to our products could affect prescribing practices. In the U.K., the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (“NICE”) provides such guidance to the National Health Service, and doctors are expected to take it into account when choosing drugs to prescribe. Health authorities may withhold funding from drugs not given a positive recommendation by NICE. A negative determination by NICE may mean fewer prescriptions. Although NICE considers drugs with orphan status, there is a degree of tension on the application of standard cost assessment for orphan drugs, which are often priced higher to compensate for a limited market. It is unclear whether NICE will adopt a more relaxed approach toward the assessment of orphan drugs.

 

We cannot assure you that any of our products will be considered cost effective, or that reimbursement will be available or sufficient to allow us to sell them competitively and profitably.

 

 Fraud and Abuse Laws

 

 The U.S. federal Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback law and similar state laws prohibit remuneration intended to induce physicians or others either to refer patients, or to acquire or arrange for or recommend the acquisition of health care products or services. While the federal law applies only to referrals, products or services receiving federal reimbursement, state laws often apply regardless of whether federal funds are involved. Other federal and state laws prohibit anyone from presenting or causing to be presented false or fraudulent payment claims. Recent federal and state enforcement actions under these statutes have targeted sales and marketing activities of prescription drug manufacturers. As we begin to market our products to health care providers, the relationships we form, such as compensating physicians for speaking or consulting services, providing financial support for continuing medical education or research programs, and assisting customers with third-party reimbursement claims, could be challenged under these laws and lead to civil or criminal penalties, including the exclusion of our products from federally-funded reimbursement. Even an unsuccessful challenge could cause adverse publicity and be costly to respond to, and thus could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. We intend to consult counsel concerning the potential application of these and other laws to our business and to our sales, marketing and other activities to comply with them. Given their broad reach and the increasing attention given them by law enforcement authorities, however, we cannot assure you that some of our activities will not be challenged.

 

 

 

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Patent Restoration and Marketing Exclusivity

 

 The U.S. Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (Hatch-Waxman) permits the FDA to approve Abbreviated New Drug Applications (“ANDAs”) for generic versions of innovator drugs, as well as NDAs with less original clinical data, and provides patent restoration and exclusivity protections to innovator drug manufacturers. The ANDA process permits competitor companies to obtain marketing approval for drugs with the same active ingredient and for the same uses as innovator drugs, but does not require the conduct and submission of clinical studies demonstrating safety and efficacy. As a result, a competitor could copy any of our drugs and only need to submit data demonstrating that the copy is bioequivalent to gain marketing approval from the FDA. Hatch-Waxman requires a competitor that submits an ANDA, or otherwise relies on safety and efficacy data for one of our drugs, to notify us and/or our business partners of potential infringement of our patent rights. We and/or our business partners may sue the company for patent infringement, which would result in a 30-month stay of approval of the competitor’s application. The discovery, trial and appeals process in such suits can take several years. If the litigation is resolved in favor of the generic applicant or the challenged patent expires during the 30-month period, the stay is lifted and the FDA may approve the application. Hatch-Waxman also allows competitors to market copies of innovator products by submitting significantly less clinical data outside the ANDA context. Such applications, known as “505(b)(2) NDAs” or “paper NDAs,” may rely on clinical investigations not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use and are subject to the ANDA notification procedures described above.

 

 The law also restores a portion of a product’s patent term that is lost during clinical development and NDA review, and provides statutory protection, known as exclusivity, against FDA approval or acceptance of certain competitor applications. Restoration can return up to five years of patent term for a patent covering a new product or its use to compensate for time lost during product development and regulatory review. The restoration period is generally one-half the time between the effective date of an IND and submission of an NDA, plus the time between NDA submission and its approval (subject to the five-year limit), and no extension can extend total patent life beyond 14 years after the drug approval date. Applications for patent term extension are subject to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) approval, in conjunction with FDA. Approval of these applications takes at least six months, and there can be no guarantee that it will be given at all.

 

 Hatch-Waxman also provides for differing periods of statutory protection for new drugs approved under an NDA. Among the types of exclusivity are those for a “new molecular entity” and those for a new formulation or indication for a previously-approved drug. If granted, marketing exclusivity for the types of products that we are developing, which include only drugs with innovative changes to previously-approved products using the same active ingredient, would prohibit the FDA from approving an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA relying on safety and efficacy data for three years. This three-year exclusivity, however, covers only the innovation associated with the original NDA. It does not prohibit the FDA from approving applications for drugs with the same active ingredient but without our new innovative change. These marketing exclusivity protections do not prohibit FDA from approving a full NDA, even if it contains the innovative change.

 

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ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

In April 2008, we issued a total of 37,603 shares of our common stock to 8 of our employees and 13,887 shares of our common stock to a consultant for services rendered. We also issued 5,421 shares of our common stock to 1 of our employees pursuant to a stock option exercise. These offering and sales of shares qualified for exemption under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 since the issuance did not involve a public offering. The offering was not a public offering as defined in Section 4(2) because the offer and sale was made to an insubstantial number of persons and because of the manner of the offering. This offering was done with no general solicitation or advertising by the Registrant. Based on an analysis of the above factors, the Registrant has met the requirements to qualify for exemption under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 for these sales.

In May and June 2008, we issued a total of 106,630 shares of our common stock to 2 universities for license fees and 39,370 to a university for a milestone payment. These offering and sales of shares qualified for exemption under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 since the issuance did not involve a public offering. The offering was not a public offering as defined in Section 4(2) because the offer and sale was made to an insubstantial number of persons and because of the manner of the offering. This offering was done with no general solicitation or advertising by the Registrant. Based on an analysis of the above factors, the Registrant has met the requirements to qualify for exemption under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 for these sales.

 

ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

 

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

 

The following matters were submitted to a vote of our stockholders at our 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 3, 2008 and approved by the requisite vote of our stockholders as follows:

 

 

1.	Election of the following director nominees to serve for the following year and until his successor is elected:

 

		Number of Shares
Nominee		For				Withheld
Steve H. Kanzer			12,360,562				255,815
Charles L. Bisgaier			12,360,730				255,647
Jeffrey J. Kraws			12,360,882				255,495
Nicholas Stergis			12,360,748				255,629
Jeff Wolf			12,410,981				205,396
Daniel J. Dorman			12,410,915				205,462
James S. Kuo			12,410,581				205,796

 

 

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2.	Approval of a grant of discretionary authority to the Board of Directors for a 24 month period to change the name of the Company or to determine not to proceed with the name change:

 

Number of Shares
For			Against	Abstain
12,414,170			162,863	39,344

 

 

3.	Approval of a grant of discretionary authority to the Board of Directors for a 24 month period to change the Company’s state of incorporation from Delaware to Nevada or to determine not to proceed with the reincorporation:

 

Number of Shares
For			Against		Abstain
9,416,844			278,169		1,252

 

 

4.	Ratification of the selection of Berman & Company, P.A. as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2008:

 

Number of Shares
For	Against	Abstain
12,477,525	121,049	17,803

 

 

The number of shares of our common stock eligible to vote as of the record date of  May 6, 2008 was 20,403,521 shares.

 

 

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION

 

Not applicable.

ITEM 6. EXHIBITS

 

10.21	License Agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Epitope Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
10.22	Consulting Agreement between Salvatore Albani, M.C. Ph.D. and Epitope Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
31.1	Certification pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a)
32.1	Certification pursuant to Section 1350 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

 

 

 

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