TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Page | ||||||||
| PART I | ||||||||
| ITEM 1. | IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS | |||||||
| ITEM 2. | OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE | |||||||
| ITEM 3. | KEY INFORMATION | |||||||
| A. Selected financial data | ||||||||
| B. Capitalization and indebtedness | ||||||||
| C. Reasons for the offer and use of proceeds | ||||||||
| D. Risk factors | ||||||||
| ITEM 4. | INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY | |||||||
| A. History and development of the company | ||||||||
| B. Business overview | ||||||||
| C. Organizational structure | ||||||||
| D. Property, plant and equipment | ||||||||
| ITEM 4A. | UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS | |||||||
| ITEM 5. | OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS | |||||||
| A. Operating results | ||||||||
| B. Liquidity and capital resources | ||||||||
| C. Research and development, patents and licenses, etc. | ||||||||
| D. Trend information | ||||||||
| E. Off-balance sheet arrangements | ||||||||
| F. Tabular disclosure of contractual obligations | ||||||||
| G. Other disclosures | ||||||||
| ITEM | ||||||||
| A. Directors and senior management | ||||||||
| B. Compensation | ||||||||
| C. Board practices | ||||||||
| D. Employees | ||||||||
| E. Share ownership | ||||||||
| ITEM 7. | MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS | |||||||
| A. Major shareholders | ||||||||
| B. Related party transactions | ||||||||
| C. Interests of experts and counsel | ||||||||
| ITEM 8. | FINANCIAL INFORMATION | |||||||
| A. Consolidated statements and other financial information | ||||||||
| B. Significant changes | ||||||||
| ITEM 9. | THE OFFER AND LISTING | |||||||
| A. Offer and listing details | ||||||||
| B. Plan of distribution | ||||||||
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| C. Markets | ||||||||
| D. Selling shareholders | ||||||||
| E. Dilution | ||||||||
| F. Expense of the issue | ||||||||
| ITEM 10. | ADDITIONAL INFORMATION | |||||||
| A. Share capital | ||||||||
| B. Memorandum and articles of association | ||||||||
| C. Material contracts | ||||||||
| D. Exchange controls | ||||||||
| E. Taxation | ||||||||
| F. Dividends and paying agents | ||||||||
| G. Statement by experts | ||||||||
| H. Documents on display | ||||||||
| I. Subsidiary information | ||||||||
| ITEM 11. | QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK | |||||||
| ITEM 12. | DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES OTHER THAN EQUITY SECURITIES | |||||||
| A. Debt securities | ||||||||
| B. Warrants and rights | ||||||||
| C. Other securities | ||||||||
| D. American Depositary Shares | ||||||||
| PART II | ||||||||
| ITEM 13. | DEFAULTS, DIVIDEND ARREARAGES AND DELINQUENCIES | |||||||
| ITEM 14. | MATERIAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE RIGHTS OF SECURITY HOLDERS AND USE OF PROCEEDS | |||||||
| ITEM 15. | ||||||||
| CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES | ||||||||
| ITEM | ||||||||
| ITEM 16A | ||||||||
| ITEM 16B | Code of ethics | |||||||
| ITEM 16C | Principal accountant fees and services | |||||||
| ITEM 16D | Exemptions from the listing standards for audit committees | |||||||
| ITEM 16E | Purchases of equity securities by the issuer and affiliated purchasers | |||||||
| ITEM 16F | Changes in registrant’s certifying accountant | |||||||
| ITEM 16G | Corporate governance | |||||||
| ITEM 16H | Mine safety disclosure | |||||||
| PART III | ||||||||
| ITEM 17. | FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | |||||||
| ITEM 18. | FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | |||||||
| ITEM 19. | EXHIBITS | |||||||
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GENERAL INFORMATION
All references in this TransitionAnnual Report on Form 20-F, or TransitionAnnual Report, to “Autolus,” the “company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Autolus Therapeutics plc and its consolidated subsidiaries, except where the context otherwise requires.
PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER INFORMATION
The consolidated financial statement data as atof December 31, 20182020 and September 30, 20182019 and 2017for the years ended December 31, 2020 and for2019, the three months ended December 31, 2018, and the yearsyear ended September 30, 2018 2017 and 2016 have been derived from our consolidated financial statements, as presented elsewhere in this TransitionAnnual Report, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, as issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB.
All references in this TransitionAnnual Report to “$” are to U.S. dollars and all references to “£” are to pounds sterling. Solely for the convenience of the reader, unless otherwise indicated, all pounds sterling amounts as of and for the three months ended December 31, 20182020 have been translated into U.S. dollars aton the noon buying ratelast business day of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York onour fiscal year ended December 31, 20182020, using the exchange rate of £1.00 = $1.2763.$1.3663. All pound sterling amounts for the year ended December 31, 2020 have been translated into U.S. dollars using the average annual exchange rate £1.00 = $1.2862. These translations should not be considered representations that any such amounts have been, could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars at that or any other exchange rate as at that or any other date.
5 8.A.7., 13, 14 and 17 or 18 of Form 20-F.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This TransitionAnnual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in Part I, Item 4.B “Business Overview,” Part I, Item 3.D. “Risk Factors,” and Part I, Item 5. “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” but are also contained elsewhere in this TransitionAnnual Report. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the words “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “objective,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue” and “ongoing,” or the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology intended to identify statements about the future. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.Although The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report and, while we believe we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this TransitionAnnual Report, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our expectations of the future, about which we cannot be certain. Forward-looking statements include statements about:
•the development of our product candidates, including statements regarding the timing of initiation, completion and the outcome of clinical studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available and our research and development programs;
•our ability to advance our product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical trials;
•our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates in the indications for which we plan to develop them, and any related restrictions, limitations or warnings in the label of an approved drug or therapy;
•the interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel, quarantines or social distancing protocols imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others in connection with the ongoing coronavirus 2019, or COVID-19, pandemic;
•our ability to license additional intellectual property relating to our product candidates from third parties and to comply with our existing license agreement;
•our plans to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize our product candidates;
•the timing or likelihood of our regulatory filings and approvals for our product candidates, along with regulatory developments in the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom and other foreign countries;
•the size and growth potential of the markets for our product candidates, if approved, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, including reimbursement that may be received from payors;
•our ability to raise additional capital;
•our commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy;
•our ability to attract collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise;
•our expectations regarding our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection;
•our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel;
•our ability to contract with third-party suppliers and manufacturers and their ability to perform adequately;
•the scalability and commercial viability of our manufacturing methods and processes;
•the success of competing therapies that are or may become available;
•whether we are classified as a PFIC for current and future periods; and
•our estimates regarding future expenses, revenues and needs for additional financing and the accuracy thereof.
You should refer to the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on November 23, 2018, or the Annual Report, as well as our subsequent periodic reportsItem 3.D. "Risk Factors" for a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this TransitionAnnual Report will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any
specified time frame, or at all. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this TransitionAnnual Report.
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PART I
Item 5. Operating1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers.
Not applicable.
Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable.
Not applicable.
Item 3. Key Information.
A. Selected financial data.
We have elected to voluntarily comply with Item 3.A, as effective February 10, 2021 and are omitting this disclosure in reliance thereon.
B. Capitalization and indebtedness.
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the offer and use of proceeds.
Not applicable.
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D.Risk factors.
An investment in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, and all other information appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes hereto, before making an investment decision regarding our securities. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
RISKFACTORS SUMMARY
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those risks discussed at-length in the section below titled “Risk Factors.” These risks include, among others, the following:
•The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
•We have incurred significant losses in every year since our inception. We expect to continue to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
•Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
•We will need additional funding to complete the development of our product candidates, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
•We are early in our development efforts. All of our product candidates are in clinical development or in preclinical development. If we are unable to advance our product candidates through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
•Our proprietary, next-generation T cell programming technologies, our modular approach for engineering T cells and our manufacturing platform for our programmed T cell product candidates, represent emerging approaches to cancer treatment that face significant challenges and hurdles.
•Our future success is highly dependent on the regulatory approval of our current clinical-stage programmed T cell product candidates and our preclinical programs. All of our product candidates will require significant clinical or preclinical testing before we can seek regulatory approval for and launch a product commercially.
•Adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with our product candidates could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, cause us to abandon product candidates, could limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or could result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.
•If the clinical trials of any of our product candidates fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities, or do not otherwise produce favorable results, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.
•We may not be able to successfully create our own manufacturing infrastructure for supply of our requirements of programmed T cell product candidates for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale.
•Our product candidates are biologics and the manufacture of our product candidates is complex and we may encounter difficulties in production, particularly with respect to process development or scaling-out of our manufacturing capabilities. If we encounter such difficulties, our ability to provide supply of our product candidates for clinical trials or our products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or stopped.
•We operate in a rapidly changing industry and face significant competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.
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•If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our T cell programming technologies and product candidates, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and biologics similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and product candidates may be impaired.
•As an English public limited company, certain capital structure decisions will require shareholder approval, which may limit our flexibility to manage our capital structure.
Risks Related to Our Financial ReviewPosition and Prospects.Need For Capital
We have incurred significant losses in every year since our inception. We expect to continue to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history and we have incurred significant net losses since our inception in 2014. We have incurred losses of $142.1 million and $123.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, $20.6 million for three months ended December 31, 2018, and $44.8 million for the year ended September 30, 2018, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $379.2 million. We have funded our operations to date primarily with proceeds from the sale of our equity securities.
We have no products approved for commercial sale, and while we have generated a small amount of revenue from licensing, we are devoting substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to research and development of our programmed T cell product candidates as well as to building out our manufacturing infrastructure, T cell programming technologies and management team. Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any potential product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate effect or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable.
We expect that it will take at least several years until any of our product candidates receive marketing approval and are commercialized, and we may never be successful in obtaining marketing approval and commercializing product candidates. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. These net losses will adversely impact our shareholders’ equity and net assets and may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially as we:
•continue our ongoing and planned research and development of our current programmed T cell product candidates for the treatment of hematological cancers and solid tumors;
•initiate preclinical studies and clinical trials for any additional product candidates that we may pursue in the future, including our planned development of additional T cell therapies for the treatment of hematological cancers and solid tumors;
•seek to discover and develop additional product candidates and further expand our clinical product pipeline;
•seek regulatory approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;
•continue to scale up internal and external manufacturing capacity with the aim of securing sufficient quantities to meet our capacity requirements for clinical trials and potential commercialization;
•establish sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any product candidate for which we may obtain regulatory approval;
•make required milestone and royalty payments to UCL Business Ltd., or UCLB, the technology-transfer company of University College London, or UCL, or other third parties, under license agreements pursuant to which we were granted some of our intellectual property rights;
•develop, maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio;
•acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;
•hire additional clinical, quality control and manufacturing personnel;
•add clinical, operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts;
•expand our operations in the United States, Europe and other geographies; and
•incur additional legal, accounting and other expenses associated with operating as a public company.
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To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and eventually commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval, manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval, as well as discovering and developing additional product candidates. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability.
Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development, manufacturing, delivery and commercialization of complex autologous cell therapies, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. If we are required by regulatory authorities to perform studies in addition to those currently expected, or if there are any delays in the initiation and completion of our clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates, our expenses could increase and profitability could be further delayed.
Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would depress the value of our ADSs and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our ADSs could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.
Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. As an organization, we have not demonstrated an ability to successfully complete late-stage clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture our product candidates at commercial scale or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization, or obtain reimbursement in the countries of sale. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, and delays in achieving our business objectives. Our limited history as an operating company makes any assessment of our future success or viability subject to significant uncertainty. If we do not address these risks successfully or are unable to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities, then our business will suffer.
We will need additional funding to complete the development of our product candidates, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
We will require substantial additional funding to meet our financial needs and to pursue our business objectives. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or altogether cease our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
Since our inception, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to fund the operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements associated with the research and development of our product candidates. These programs are described in greater detail under the heading “Our Pipeline” in the section titled “Business Overview” of this Annual Report. Our current funding will not be sufficient for us to fund any of our programmed T cell product candidates through regulatory approval, and we will need to raise additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of our programmed T cell product candidates, and in connection with our continuing operations and other planned activities. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
•the progress, results and costs of laboratory testing, manufacturing, and preclinical and clinical development of our current and future product candidates;
•the timing and amounts of any milestone or royalty payments we may be required to make under current or future license agreements;
•the costs of leasing, building out, equipping, and operating the facilities necessary to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize our product candidates, as well as to support our continuing operations;
•the costs of hiring additional clinical, quality control and manufacturing personnel;
•the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
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•the costs and timing of future commercialization activities, including product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution, for any of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;
•the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;
•the costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending any intellectual property-related claims; and
•the costs of operating as a public company.
Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our product revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of product candidates that we do not expect to be commercially available for several years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.
To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a shareholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, could result in fixed payment obligations, and we may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness, force us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios or restrict our ability to pay dividends or make acquisitions.
If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. In addition, we could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborators or others at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable. If we raise funds through research grants, we may be subject to certain requirements, which may limit our ability to use the funds or require us to share information from our research and development. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to a third party to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. Raising additional capital through any of these or other means could adversely affect our business and the holdings or rights of our shareholders and may cause the market price of our ADSs to decline.
Risks Related to the Development of Our Product Candidates
We are early in our development efforts. All of our product candidates are in clinical development or in preclinical development. If we are unable to advance our product candidates through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We have established clinical proof-of-concept for only one of our product candidates. There is no assurance that our current or any other future clinical trials of our product candidates will be successful or will generate positive clinical data and we may not receive marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, or other regulatory agencies, including the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, for any of our product candidates. In order to commence a clinical trial in the United States, we must submit an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, to the FDA and have the IND application go into effect. Trials in the United States must be conducted pursuant to an active IND. An investigator may not administer an investigational new drug to human subjects until the IND application goes into effect. Similar requirements apply to our conduct of trials in the United Kingdom and European Union. We have active clinical trial applications in effect for two of our current clinical-stage product candidates, AUTO1 and AUTO3. There can be no assurance that the FDA, EMA or other regulatory agencies will permit any future clinical trial application to go into effect in a timely manner or at all.
Biopharmaceutical development is a long, expensive and uncertain process, and delay or failure can occur at any stage of any of our clinical trials. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates will prevent us from commercializing and marketing our product candidates. The success in the development of our programmed T cell product candidates will depend on many factors, including:
•completing preclinical studies and receiving regulatory approvals or clearance for conducting clinical trials for our preclinical-stage programs;
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•obtaining positive results in our clinical trials demonstrating efficacy, safety, and durability of effect of our product candidates;
•receiving approvals for commercialization of our product candidates from regulatory authorities;
•manufacturing our product candidates at an acceptable cost; and
•maintaining and growing an organization of scientists, medical professionals and business people who can develop and commercialize our products and technology.
Many of these factors are beyond our control, including the time needed to adequately complete clinical testing and the regulatory submission process. It is possible that none of our product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval, even if we expend substantial time and resources seeking such approval. If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, or any other factors impacting the successful development of biopharmaceutical products, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully develop our product candidates, which would materially harm our business.
Our proprietary, next-generation T cell programming technologies, our modular approach for engineering T cells and our manufacturing platform for our programmed T cell product candidates, represent emerging approaches to cancer treatment that face significant challenges and hurdles.
We have concentrated our research and development efforts on our T cell technology platform using our expertise in tumor biology and cell programming, and our future success is highly dependent on the successful development and manufacture of our programmed T cell product candidates. We do not currently have any approved or commercialized products. One of our most advanced product candidates employs a dual-targeting mechanism. By targeting two separate antigens on the cancer cell surface, we believe this product candidate has the potential to improve durability of treatment response and reduce the frequency of cancer relapse as compared to other currently available single-targeting T cell therapies. Our product candidate for the treatment of T-cell lymphoma employs a novel approach to killing malignant T cells that aims to preserve approximately half of the normal, healthy T cells. Some of our product candidates include a “safety switch” that is designed to allow for the elimination of the engineered T cells if a patient experiences severe adverse side effects from the treatment. However, this “safety switch” technology has not been used to date in our clinical studies, and we do not know whether it would have the intended effect if used. Additionally, as with other targeted therapies, off-tumor or off-target activity could delay development or require us to re-engineer or abandon a particular product candidate. Because programmed T cell therapies represent a relatively new field of cellular immunotherapy and cancer treatment generally, developing and commercializing our product candidates subjects us to a number of risks and challenges, including:
•obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates, as the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities have limited experience with programmed T cell therapies for cancer;
•sourcing clinical and, if approved, commercial supplies of the materials used to manufacture our product candidates;
•developing programming modules with the desired properties, while avoiding adverse reactions;
•creating viral vectors capable of delivering multiple programming modules;
•developing a reliable and consistent vector and cell manufacturing process;
•establishing manufacturing capacity suitable for the manufacture of our product candidates in line with expanding enrollment in our clinical studies and our projected commercial requirements;
•achieving cost efficiencies in the scale-up of our manufacturing capacity;
•developing protocols for the safe administration of our product candidates;
•educating medical personnel regarding our programmed T cell therapies and the potential side effect profile of each of our product candidates, such as potential adverse side effects related to cytokine release syndrome;
•establishing integrated solutions in collaboration with specialty treatment centers in order to reduce the burdens and complex logistics commonly associated with the administration of T cell therapies;
•establishing sales and marketing capabilities to successfully launch and commercialize our product candidates if and when we obtain any required regulatory approvals, and risks associated with gaining market acceptance of a novel therapy if we receive approval; and
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•obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for our novel and personalized therapies in connection with commercialization of any approved product candidates.
We may not be able to successfully develop our programmed T cell product candidates or our T cell programming technologies in a manner that will yield products that are safe and effective, scalable or profitable.
Additionally, because our technology involves the genetic modification of patient cells ex vivo, we are subject to additional regulatory challenges and risks, including regulatory requirements governing genetically modified organisms that have changed frequently and will likely continue to change in the future, and that may limit or delay our ability to import our product candidates into certain countries for use in clinical trials or for commercial sale even if we receive applicable marketing approvals.
Moreover, public perception and awareness of T cell therapy safety issues may adversely influence the willingness of subjects to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates, or if approved, of physicians to prescribe our products. Physicians, hospitals and third-party payors often are slow to adopt new products, technologies and treatment practices that require additional upfront costs and training. Treatment centers may not be willing or able to devote the personnel and establish other infrastructure required for the administration of programmed T cell therapies. Physicians may not be willing to undergo training to adopt this novel and personalized therapy, may decide the therapy is too complex to adopt without appropriate training and may choose not to administer the therapy. Based on these and other factors, hospitals and payors may decide that the benefits of this new therapy do not or will not outweigh its costs.
Our future success is highly dependent on the regulatory approval of our current clinical-stage programmed T cell product candidates and our preclinical programs. All of our product candidates will require significant clinical or preclinical testing before we can seek regulatory approval for and launch a product commercially.
We do not have any products that have gained regulatory approval. Our business is substantially dependent on our ability to obtain regulatory approval for, and, if approved, to successfully commercialize our programmed T cell product candidates. We cannot commercialize product candidates in the United States without first obtaining regulatory approval for the product from the FDA; similarly, we cannot commercialize product candidates in countries outside of the United States without obtaining regulatory approval from comparable regulatory authorities in relevant jurisdictions, such as the EMA in Europe. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any product candidate for a particular indication, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence gathered in preclinical and clinical studies, that the product candidate is safe and effective for that indication and that the manufacturing facilities, processes and controls are adequate with respect to such product candidate. To date, we have had only limited interaction with both the FDA and the EMA regarding our product candidates. Prior to seeking approval for any of our product candidates, we will need to confer with the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities regarding the design of our clinical trials and the type and amount of clinical data necessary to seek and gain approval for our product candidates.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following discussionthe commencement of preclinical studies and clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. It is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any future product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval from the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities for many reasons, including:
•disagreement with the design, protocol or conduct of our clinical trials;
•failure to demonstrate that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;
•failure of clinical trials to meet the level of statistical significance required for approval;
•failure to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;
•disagreement with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;
•insufficiency of data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates to support the submission and filing of a Biologics License Application, or BLA, or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval;
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•failure to obtain approval of the manufacturing processes or our facilities;
•changes in the approval policies or regulations that render our preclinical and clinical data insufficient for approval; or
•lack of adequate funding to complete a clinical trial in a manner that is satisfactory to the applicable regulatory authority.
The FDA, the EMA or a comparable regulatory authority may require more information, including additional preclinical or clinical data to support approval, including data that would require us to perform additional clinical trials or modify our manufacturing processes, which may delay or prevent approval and our commercialization plans, or we may decide to abandon the development program. If we change our manufacturing processes, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies, which also could delay or prevent approval of our product candidates. If we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer indications than we request (including failing to approve the most commercially promising indications), may limit indications, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials or other post-marketing commitments, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate.
Depending on results we observe in our clinical trials, our development strategy may include the pursuit of expedited approvals from the FDA or the EMA, such as through the accelerated approval pathway, and we may seek to achieve breakthrough therapy designation or regenerative medicine advanced therapy, or RMAT, designation from the FDA or the PRIority MEdicines, or PRIME, designation from the EMA. Our product candidates may not qualify for such designations, and the clinical data obtained from trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to qualify for any expedited approval program.
Even if a product candidate were to successfully obtain approval from the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, any approval might contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, or may be subject to burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for one of our product candidates in one or more jurisdictions, or any approval contains significant limitations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient funding to continue the development of that product or generate revenues attributable to that product candidate. Also, any regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates, once obtained, may be withdrawn. See the risk factor titled “—Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the regulatory approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or if, and in which territories, we will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a product candidate.”
We may not be successful in our efforts to build a pipeline of product candidates.
A key element of our strategy is to use our expertise in tumor biology and cell programming and our proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies to develop what we believe are safer and more effective T cell therapies. Our initial focus is on the development of a pipeline of product candidates for the treatment of hematological cancers and the progression of these product candidates through clinical development. We also intend to develop follow-on, or next-generation, product candidates with additional elements of programming built into the programmed T cell product candidate to offer enhanced characteristics as compared to the earlier product generation, such as pharmacological control or insensitivity to checkpoint inhibition. However, we may not be able to develop product candidates that are safe and effective, or which compare favorably with our existing product candidates. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline and developing next-generation product candidates or expanding into solid tumor indications, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, including as a result of lack of safety, lack of tolerability, lack of anti-tumor activity, or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval, achieve market acceptance or obtain reimbursements from third-party payors. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize product candidates or collaborate with others to do so, we will not be able to obtain product revenue in future periods, which could significantly harm our financial position and adversely affect the trading price of our ADSs.
Our preclinical programs may experience delays or may never advance to clinical trials, which would adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approvals or to commercialize these programs on a timely basis or at all, which would have an adverse effect on our business.
Many of our product candidates are in the preclinical development stage. The risk of failure of preclinical programs is high. Before we can commence clinical trials for a product candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies to obtain regulatory clearance to initiate human clinical trials, including based on IND applications in effect in the United States and clinical trial applications, or CTAs, in Europe. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical testing
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and studies and cannot predict if the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities will accept our proposed clinical programs or if the outcome of our preclinical testing and studies will ultimately support the further development of our programs. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit INDs or similar applications for our preclinical programs on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of INDs or similar applications will result in the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities allowing clinical trials to begin.
Clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, involve uncertain outcomes and may not be successful.
Human clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. The design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product, and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. As an organization, we have limited experience designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support regulatory approval. There is a high failure rate for biologic products proceeding through clinical trials, which may be higher for our product candidates because they are based on new technology and engineered on a patient-by-patient basis. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of our product candidate development. Any such delays could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Success in preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials.
Results from preclinical studies are not necessarily predictive of future clinical trial results, and interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. For example, we have treated only a small number of patients in all of our ongoing clinical trials. For that reason, we do not know whether these candidates will be effective for the intended indications or safe in humans. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials. This failure to establish sufficient efficacy and safety could cause us to abandon clinical development of our product candidates.
We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates. If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:
•the patient eligibility criteria defined in the protocol;
•the number of patients with the disease or condition being studied;
•the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate in the trial;
•clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating or drugs that may be used off-label for these indications;
•the size and nature of the patient population required for analysis of the trial’s primary endpoints;
•the proximity of patients to study sites;
•the design of the clinical trial;
•our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;
•competing clinical trials for similar therapies or other new therapeutics not involving T cell-based immunotherapy;
•our ability to obtain and maintain patient consents;
•disruptions to health care systems caused by the coronavirus pandemic; and
•the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the clinical trials before completion of their treatment.
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In particular, some of our clinical trials will look to enroll patients with characteristics which are found in a very small population. For example, our clinical trial for AUTO4 seeks to enroll patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, a rare and heterogeneous form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or NHL. Other companies are conducting clinical trials with their redirected T cell therapies in multiple myeloma, pediatric relapsed or refractory acute B lymphocytic leukemia, or pediatric ALL, and relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or DLBCL, and seek to enroll patients in their studies that may otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials, which could lead to slow recruitment and delays in our clinical programs. In addition, since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which could further reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in these clinical trial sites. Moreover, because our product candidates represent a departure from more commonly used methods for cancer treatment, potential study participants and their doctors may be inclined to use conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy and antibody therapy, rather than participate in our clinical trials.
Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these clinical trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates. In addition, many of the factors that may lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
The market opportunities for certain of our product candidates may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for or have failed prior treatments and may be small, and our projections regarding the size of the addressable market may be incorrect.
Cancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first line, second line or third line, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for third line use. When blood cancers are detected, they are treated with the first line of therapy with the intention of curing the cancer. This generally consists of chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor-targeted small molecules, or a combination of these. In addition, sometimes a bone marrow transplantation can be added to the first line therapy after the combination chemotherapy is given. If the patient’s cancer relapses, then they are given a second line or third line therapy, which can consist of more chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor-targeted small molecules, or a combination of these, or a bone marrow transplant. Generally, the higher the line of therapy, the lower the chance of a cure. With third or higher line, the goal of the therapy in the treatment of lymphoma and myeloma is to control the growth of the tumor and extend the life of the patient, as a cure is unlikely to happen. Patients are generally referred to clinical trials in these situations.
We are initially developing AUTO1 as second line therapy for patients with ALL who are considered at high risk for relapse and as third line therapy for other patients with ALL, AUTO3 as a third line therapy for DLBCL and AUTO4 as a second line therapy for TRBC1-positive T-cell lymphoma patients. If AUTO4 is approved as a second line therapy, we may initiate a trial to position it as a consolidation therapy after first line chemotherapy in T-cell lymphoma. There is no guarantee that any of our product candidates, even if approved, would be approved for an earlier line of therapy. In addition, we may have to conduct additional large randomized clinical trials prior to gaining approval for the earlier line of therapy.
Our projections of both the number of people who have the cancers we are targeting, as well as the size of the patient population subset of people with these cancers in a position to receive first, second, third and fourth line therapy and who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations, or market research and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these cancers. The number of patients may turn out to be fewer than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our product candidates. For instance, in our clinical trial for AUTO4, we are initially targeting a small patient population that suffers from peripheral T-cell lymphoma, a rare and heterogeneous form of NHL. Even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve significant revenues without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications or as part of earlier lines of therapy.
Adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with our product candidates could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, cause us to abandon product candidates, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.
In clinical trials conducted by other companies involving CAR T cells, the most prominent acute toxicities included symptoms thought to be associated with cytokine release syndrome, or CRS, such as fever, low blood pressure and kidney dysfunction. Some patients also experienced toxicity of the central nervous system, or neurotoxicity, such as confusion, tremor, cranial nerve dysfunction, seizures and speech impairment. Adverse events with the worst grades and attributed to CAR T cells were severe and life threatening in some patients. The life threatening events were related to kidney dysfunction and neurotoxicity. Severe and life threatening toxicities occurred mostly in the first two weeks after cell infusion and generally resolved within three weeks, but several patients died in clinical trials involving CAR T cells developed by other companies and academic institutions.
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For example, as of the most recent data cut-off date of November 12, 2020, 20 patients in the ALLCAR19 clinical trial have received AUTO1. Of those 20 patients, three patients (15%) experienced Grade 3 neurotoxicity that resolved swiftly with steroids. We also observed Grade 3 or higher neutropenias in 7 of 20 patients reporting such neutropenias prior to treatment with AUTO1 and 8 of 17 patients reporting Grade 3 or higher neutropenias 28 days after treatment with AUTO1, with most resolving by month two or three post-dosing. Of the 20 patients, seven patients died while enrolled in the ALLCAR19 clinical trial, of which two deaths were determined to be due to progression of the leukemia, one death occurred post progression following infective complication post-transplant and the four remaining deaths were determined to be due to infectious complications (a common complication of advanced ALL). There can be no assurance that patients in ongoing or future trials of AUTO1, AUTO3, AUTO4 or any of our other product candidates will not experience more severe CRS, unacceptable levels of neurotoxicity or other serious adverse events.
Our clinical trials include cancer patients who are very sick and whose health is deteriorating, and we expect that additional clinical trials of our other product candidates will include similar patients with deteriorating health. It is possible that some of these patients may experience similar adverse side effects as were observed in clinical trials conducted by other companies and academic institutions involving CAR T cells, and that additional patients may die during our clinical trials for various reasons, including as a result of receiving our product candidates, because the patient’s disease is too advanced, or because the patient experiences medical problems that may not be related to our product candidate. Even if the deaths are not related to our product candidate, the deaths could affect perceptions regarding the safety of our product candidate.
Patient deaths and severe side effects caused by our product candidates, or by products or product candidates of other companies that are thought to have similarities with our therapeutic candidates, could result in the delay, suspension, clinical hold or termination of clinical trials by us, the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities for a number of reasons. If we elect or are required to delay, suspend or terminate any clinical trial of any product candidates that we develop, the commercial prospects of such product candidates will be harmed and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates would be delayed or eliminated. Serious adverse events observed in clinical trials could hinder or prevent market acceptance of the product candidate at issue. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations should be read together with Item 3.A. “Selected Consolidated Financial Data”significantly.
If the clinical trials of any of our product candidates fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities, or do not otherwise produce favorable results, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.
We may not commercialize, market, promote or sell any product candidate without obtaining marketing approval from the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authority, and we may never receive such approvals. It is impossible to predict accurately when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans and will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical testing and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing.
We may experience numerous unforeseen events prior to, during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize any of our product candidates, including:
•the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authority may disagree as to the number, design or implementation of our clinical trials, or may not interpret the results from clinical trials as we do;
•regulators or institutional review boards may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;
•we may not reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different clinical trial sites;
•clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results;
•we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs;
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•the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate or we may fail to recruit suitable patients to participate in a trial;
•our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;
•regulators may issue a clinical hold, or regulators or institutional review boards may require that we or our investigators suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
•the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate;
•the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities may fail to approve our manufacturing processes or facilities;
•the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate;
•our product candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, particularly given their novel, first-in-human application, such as cytokine-induced toxicity and T cell aplasia, causing us or our investigators, regulators or institutional review boards to suspend or terminate the clinical trials; and
•the approval policies or regulations of the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory for the FDA, the EMA or regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdiction to approve our BLA, Marketing Approval Application, or MAA, or other comparable application, the commercialization of our product candidates may be significantly delayed, or we may be required to expend significant additional resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates.
We may not be able to successfully create our own manufacturing infrastructure for supply of our requirements of programmed T cell product candidates for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale.
Our manufacturing and commercialization strategy is based on establishing a fully integrated vein-to-vein product delivery cycle. Over time, we expect to establish regional manufacturing hubs to service major markets to meet projected needs for commercial sale quantities. However, we do not currently own any facility that may be used as our clinical-scale manufacturing and processing facility and we currently use facilities and equipment at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, as well as third party vendors, for vector and cell manufacturing.
We are establishing our viral vector and cell manufacturing capacity by taking occupancy of manufacturing suites at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing center in Stevenage, United Kingdom, as well as several smaller facilities in the Stevenage, United Kingdom area. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing center provides shared infrastructure to collaborators working in segregated manufacturing suites. We have little to no control over the actions of other collaborators and their actions could inadvertently damage or delay our ability to manufacture our product candidates. In addition, we rely on external vendors to manufacture viral vector for certain of our product candidates. Our long-term plan is to establish additional manufacturing sites in the United States and in Europe as needed. The implementation of this plan is subject to many risks. For example, the establishment of a cell-therapy manufacturing facility is a complex endeavor requiring knowledgeable individuals. Creating an internal manufacturing infrastructure will rely upon finding personnel with an appropriate background and training to staff and operate the facility. Should we be unable to find these individuals, we may need to rely on external contractors or train additional personnel to fill the needed roles. There are a small number of individuals with experience in cell therapy and the competition for these individuals is high.
We expect that the establishment of our own commercial cell manufacturing facilities will provide us with enhanced control of product supply for both clinical trials and the commercial market, enable the more rapid implementation of process changes, and allow for better long-term cost margins. However, we have no experience as a company in designing and operating a commercial manufacturing facility and may never be successful in developing our own manufacturing facility or capability. We may establish additional manufacturing sites as we expand our commercial footprint to multiple geographies, which may lead to regulatory delays or prove costly. Even if we are successful, our manufacturing operations could be affected by cost-overruns, unexpected delays, equipment failures, labor shortages, natural disasters, power failures and numerous other factors, or we may not
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be successful in establishing sufficient capacity to produce our product candidates in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential launch or to meet potential future demand, all of which could prevent us from realizing the intended benefits of our manufacturing strategy and have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may not be successful in achieving cost of goods at commercial scale that provide for an attractive margin.
We believe that our current, fully enclosed manufacturing processes are fit for commercial scale and we anticipate they will enable commercial supply at an economical cost. However, we have not yet established manufacturing capacity at commercial scale and may underestimate the cost and time required to do so, or overestimate cost reductions from economies of scale that can be realized with our manufacturing processes. We may ultimately be unable to manage the cost of goods for our product candidates to levels that will allow for a margin in line with our expectations and return on investment if and when those product candidates are commercialized.
Our product candidates are biologics and the manufacture of our product candidates is complex and we may encounter difficulties in production, particularly with respect to process development or scaling-out of our manufacturing capabilities. If we encounter such difficulties, our ability to provide supply of our product candidates for clinical trials or our products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or stopped.
We have developed a process for manufacturing programmed T cells in a fully enclosed system designed to minimize the risk of contamination, and we have improved the viral transduction process to help eliminate processing inconsistencies. We believe that our current processes are suitable for commercialization. While we have established a process which we believe is scalable for commercial production, each manufacturing process must be validated through the performance of process validation runs to guarantee that the facility, personnel, equipment, and process work as designed. We have not yet manufactured or processed our product candidates on a commercial scale and may not be able to do so for any of our product candidates.
We, like other manufacturers of biologic products, may encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up or out, validating the production process, and assuring high reliability of the manufacturing process. These problems include delays or break-downs in logistics and shipping, difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, and product testing, operator error, lack of availability of qualified personnel, as well as failure to comply with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations.
Furthermore, if microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our supply of product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination. We cannot assure you that any of these or other issues relating to the manufacture of our product candidates will not occur in the future. Any delay or interruption in the supply of clinical trial supplies could delay the completion of clinical trials, increase the costs associated with maintaining clinical trial programs and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to begin new clinical trials at additional expense or terminate clinical trials completely.
The manufacture and delivery of programmed T cell therapies to patients involves complex, integrated processes, including harvesting T cells from patients, programming the T cells ex vivo, multiplying the T cells to obtain the desired dose, and ultimately infusing the T cells back into a patient’s body. As a result of the complexities, the cost to manufacture biologics in general, and our programmed T cell product candidates in particular, is generally higher than traditional small molecule chemical compounds, and the manufacturing process is less reliable and is more difficult and costly to reproduce. In addition, our manufacturing process will be susceptible to product loss or failure due to logistical issues associated with the collection of white blood cells from the patient, shipping such patient material to the manufacturing site, storing and processing such patient material, shipping the patient material with the programmed T cells back to the patient, and infusing the patient with the final product. Other manufacturing issues include the differences in patient starting materials, inconsistency in cell growth, variability in product characteristics, interruptions in the manufacturing process, equipment or reagent failure, improper installation or operation of equipment, and vendor or operator error. Even minor deviations from normal manufacturing processes could result in reduced production yields, product defects, and other supply disruptions. For example, in clinical trials of AUTO1 conducted by UCL using a manufacturing process that differs from our semi-automated manufacturing process, UCL experienced product failures for three patients enrolled in the CARPALL trial and produced only a partial dose for one patient in the ALLCAR19 trial. If we lose, destroy or otherwise impair the patient materials at any point in the vein-to-vein supply chain, the manufacturing process for that patient will need to be restarted and the resulting delay may adversely affect that patient’s outcome due to the risk of disease progression. In addition, because our product candidates are manufactured for each particular patient, we will be required to maintain a chain of identity with respect to materials as they move from the patient to the manufacturing facility, through the manufacturing process, and back to the patient. Maintaining such a chain of identity is difficult and complex, and failure to do so could result in adverse patient outcomes, loss of product, or regulatory action including withdrawal of our products from the market. Further, as product candidates are developed through preclinical to late stage clinical trials towards approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results.
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Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives, and any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials.
Our manufacturing facilities also require commissioning and validation activities to demonstrate that they operate as designed, and are subject to government inspections by the FDA, the EMA and other comparable regulatory authorities. If we are unable to reliably produce products to specifications acceptable to the regulatory authorities, we may not obtain or maintain the approvals we need to manufacture our products. Further, our facilities may fail to pass government inspections prior to or after the commercial launch of our product candidates, which would cause significant delays and additional costs required to remediate any deficiencies identified by the regulatory authorities. Any of these challenges could delay completion of clinical trials, require bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidate, impair commercialization efforts, increase our cost of goods, and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Prior treatments can alter the cancer and negatively impact chances for achieving clinical activity with our programmed T cells.
Patients with hematological cancers receive highly toxic lympho-depleting chemotherapy as their initial treatments. These therapies can impact the viability of the T cells collected from the patient and can contribute to highly variable responses to programmed T cell therapies. Patients could also have received prior therapies that target the same target antigen on the cancer cells as our intended programmed T cell product candidate and thereby lead to a selection of cancer cells with low or no expression of the target. As a result, our programmed T cell product candidates may not recognize the cancer cell and may fail to achieve clinical activity. Both of our most advanced product candidates, AUTO1 and AUTO3, may face this challenge. For example, ALL patients could have received blinatumomab or Kymriah, or a CD19 ADC, or a CD22 targeting CAR T, or CD22 ADC, like inotuzomab, or similar products or product candidates prior to receiving AUTO1; and DLBCL patients could have received Yescarta, Kymriah, JCAR-17, inotuzomab, CD22-targeting CAR or blinatumomab, or similar products or product candidates prior to receiving AUTO3. If any of our product candidates do not achieve a sufficient level of clinical activity, we may discontinue the development of that product candidate, which could have an adverse effect on the value of our ADSs.
We may expend our resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or have a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and management resources, we focus on research programs and product candidates that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
We plan to seek, but may fail to obtain “breakthrough therapy” designation or “regenerative medicine advanced therapy” (RMAT) designation from the FDA and “PRIME” designation from the EMA, and may pursue accelerated approval for some or all of our programmed T cell product candidates, which may prolong the regulatory approval process for our product candidates.
In 2012, the FDA established a breakthrough therapy designation which is intended to expedite the development and review of product candidates that treat serious or life-threatening diseases when “preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development.” The designation of a product candidate as a breakthrough therapy provides potential benefits that include more frequent meetings with FDA to discuss the development plan for the product candidate and ensure collection of appropriate data needed to support approval; more frequent written correspondence from the FDA about such things as the design of the proposed clinical trials and use of biomarkers; guidance on an efficient drug development program, beginning as early as Phase 1; organizational commitment involving senior managers; and eligibility for rolling review and priority review. The frequency of communication from the FDA is intended to allow for questions and issues to be resolved quickly, which often leads to earlier drug approval and access by patients.
RMAT was introduced as a new designation under the 21st Century Cures Act for the development and review of certain regenerative medicine therapies. To receive RMAT designation, a regenerative medicine product candidate must be intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition with preliminary clinical evidence indicating that the drug has the potential to address unmet medical need. RMAT designation does not require evidence to indicate that the drug may offer a substantial improvement over available therapies, as breakthrough designation requires. In November 2017, the FDA released draft guidance that clarified that gene therapies, including genetically modified cells, that lead to a durable modification of
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cells or tissues, may meet the definition of a regenerative medicine therapy for RMAT designation. Similar to breakthrough designation, an RMAT product candidate receives: intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program; intensive involvement of senior managers and experienced staff on a proactive, collaborative and cross-disciplinary review; and a rolling review. Regenerative medicine therapies that qualify for RMAT designation may also qualify for other FDA expedited programs, if they meet the criteria for such programs.
Similarly, the EMA has established the PRIME scheme to expedite the development and review of product candidates that show a potential to address to a significant extent an unmet medical need, based on early clinical data.
We intend to seek breakthrough therapy designation, RMAT designation or PRIME designation for some or all of our programmed T cell product candidates that may qualify. There is no assurance that we will obtain breakthrough therapy designation or RMAT designation, or that we will obtain access to PRIME for any of our product candidates. Breakthrough therapy designation and PRIME eligibility do not change the standards for product approval, and there is no assurance that such designation or eligibility will result in expedited review or approval. Additionally, breakthrough therapy designation and access to PRIME can each be revoked if the criteria for eligibility cease to be met as clinical data emerges.
We may also seek accelerated approval for certain of our product candidates. Under the FDA’s fast track and accelerated approval programs, the FDA may approve a drug or biologic for a serious or life-threatening illness that provides meaningful therapeutic benefit to patients over existing treatments based upon a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. For drugs granted accelerated approval, post-marketing confirmatory trials have been required to describe the anticipated effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. These confirmatory trials must be completed with due diligence. Moreover, the FDA may withdraw approval of our indication approved under the accelerated approval pathway if, for example:
•the trial or trials required to verify the predicted clinical benefit of our product candidates fail to verify such benefit or do not demonstrate sufficient clinical benefit to justify the risks associated with the drug;
•other evidence demonstrates that our product candidates are not shown to be safe or effective under the conditions of use;
•we fail to conduct any required post-approval trial of our product candidates with due diligence; or
•we disseminate false or misleading promotional materials relating to the relevant product candidate.
Risks Related to our Business Operations
The effects of health epidemics, including the ongoing global coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic,in regions where we, or the third parties on which we rely, have business operations could adversely impact our business, including our clinical trials, preclinical studies and supply chains, depending on the location, duration and severity of disruptions to the systems affecting our business.
Beginning in late 2019, the outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has evolved into a global pandemic and in March 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has continued to spread, and the related adverse public health developments, including orders to shelter-in-place, travel restrictions, and the imposition of additional requirements on businesses, have adversely affected workforces, organizations, healthcare communities, economies, and financial markets globally, leading to an economic downturn and increased market volatility. The U.S. government also has imposed travel restrictions on travel between the United States, United Kingdom and certain other countries. It has also disrupted the normal operations of businesses across industries, including ours, and caused significant disruption in the operations of third party manufacturers and contract research organizations, or CROs, upon whom we rely.
In response to the spread of COVID-19 as well as public health directives and orders, we have implemented work-from-home policies to support the community efforts to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and protect employees, complying with guidance from government authorities in the countries within which we operate. We have implemented a number of measures to ensure employee safety and business continuity, including limiting access to our laboratory and manufacturing facilities to only those individuals required to execute their job responsibilities and restricted the number of staff working concurrently in any given laboratory. Our company headquarters is located in London, our U.S. headquarters is located in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, and our CROs and CMOs are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and European Union.
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We are currently conducting clinical trials in the United States, United Kingdom and Spain. Timely enrollment in our clinical trials is dependent upon capacity at our clinical trial sites, some of which have been and are currently adversely affected by COVID-19. Due to the uneven geographic impact of the pandemic, these localized disruptions are difficult to predict. Shutdowns or other restrictions related to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases could impact personnel at third-party manufacturing facilities, which, in turn, could impact the availability or cost of materials and disrupt our supply chain. Additionally, many of our clinical trials involve immunocompromised patients who are at higher risk for COVID-19 and who are therefore more likely to avoid hospitals or other high-risk areas.
The effects of the governmental restrictions and guidelines, and the measures we have implemented to comply with them, may negatively impact productivity, disrupt our business and delay our clinical programs and timelines (for example, our timelines for AUTO1 and AUTO3). The magnitude of these potential disruptions will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course.
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, or similar pandemics, we may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business, clinical trials and preclinical studies, including:
•delays or difficulties in enrolling patients in our clinical trials, including travel restrictions on patients and constraints on the capacity of our clinical trial sites;
•delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in training clinical site investigators and clinical site staff;
•delays or disruptions in non-clinical experiments and investigational new drug application-enabling good laboratory practice standard toxicology studies due to unforeseen circumstances in supply chain;
•delays or disruptions in our ability to manufacture programmed T cell therapies due to supply chain and transportation system disruptions or lack of manufacturing staff;
•increased rates of patients withdrawing from our clinical trials following enrollment as a result of contracting COVID-19, being forced to quarantine, or being unable to visit clinical trial locations;
•diversion or prioritization of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials and towards the COVID-19 pandemic, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials, particularly for clinical trials that require in-patient monitoring following administration of the product candidate;
•delays or disruptions in the availability of clinical site staff, who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to COVID-19, which, in turn, could adversely impact our clinical trial operations;
•interruption of our key clinical trial activities, such as clinical assessments at pre-specified time points during the trial and clinical trial site data monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by governmental entities, employers and others or interruption of clinical trial subject visits and study procedures (particularly any procedures that may be deemed non-essential), which may impact the integrity of subject data and clinical study endpoints;
•interruption or delays in the operations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and comparable foreign regulatory agencies or their refusal to accept data from clinical trials in affected geographies, which may impact approval timelines;
•delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees;
•limitations on employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families, the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people, an increased reliance on working from home or mass transit disruptions; and
•reduced ability to engage with the medical and investor communities due to the cancellation of conferences scheduled throughout the year.
These and other factors arising from the COVID-19 pandemic could worsen in countries that are already afflicted with COVID-19, could continue to spread to additional countries, or could return to countries where the pandemic has been partially contained, each of which could continue to adversely impact our ability to conduct clinical trials and our business generally, and could have a material adverse impact on our operations and financial condition and results.
In addition, the trading price for our ADSs as well as trading price for the publicly traded securities of other biopharmaceutical companies, as well as the broader global financial markets, have been highly volatile as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting impact on U.K. and U.S. economic activities. As a result, we may face difficulties raising capital when needed, and any such sales may be on unfavorable terms to us. Further, to the extent we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of existing shareholders will be diluted.
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The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations is highly uncertain and subject to change and will depend on future developments which are difficult to predict, including the duration of the pandemic, the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, additional or modified government actions, new information that will emerge concerning the severity and impact of COVID-19 and other actions taken to contain or address its impact in the short and long term, among others. We do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, our commercialization efforts, our clinical studies, our research programs, healthcare systems or the global economy, and if the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting uncertain economic and healthcare environment is more severe than we anticipated, we may not be able to execute on our current operating plan or on our strategy. If the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated period of business and social restrictions and economic uncertainty is longer than we anticipated, our cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities may not be sufficient to fund the activities under our operating plan for the time period that we anticipated, and we may be required to revise our operating plan further. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.
As a company based outside of the United States, our business is subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.
Our business is subject to risks associated with conducting business outside of the United States, as our company is based in the United Kingdom and conducts operations internationally. Many of our suppliers and clinical trial relationships are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:
•economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular non-U.S. economies and markets;
•differing and changing regulatory requirements for product approvals;
•differing jurisdictions could present different issues for securing, maintaining or obtaining freedom to operate in such jurisdictions;
•potentially reduced protection for intellectual property rights;
•difficulties in compliance with different, complex and changing laws, regulations and court systems of multiple jurisdictions and compliance with a wide variety of foreign laws, treaties and regulations;
•changes in non-U.S. regulations and customs, tariffs and trade barriers;
•changes in non-U.S. currency exchange rates of the pound sterling, U.S. dollar, euro and currency controls;
•changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic environment, including the implications of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union;
•trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements or other restrictive actions by governments;
•differing reimbursement regimes and price controls in certain non-U.S. markets;
•negative consequences from changes in tax laws;
•compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad, including, for example, the variable tax treatment in different jurisdictions of options granted under our share option schemes or equity incentive plans;
•workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is more common than in the United States;
•litigation or administrative actions resulting from claims against us by current or former employees or consultants individually or as part of class actions, including claims of wrongful terminations, discrimination, misclassification or other violations of labor law or other alleged conduct;
•difficulties associated with staffing and managing international operations, including differing labor relations;
•production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and
•business interruptions resulting from geo-political actions, including war and terrorism, natural disasters--including earthquakes, typhoons, floods and fires--or health epidemics, such as the coronavirus pandemic.
Exchange rate fluctuations may materially affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our functional currency and that of our subsidiaries is the pound sterling and our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. Given that our functional currency and that of our subsidiaries is the pound sterling, but our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, fluctuations in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the pound sterling could materially and adversely affect our business. There may be instances in which costs and revenue will not be matched with respect to currency denomination. Currently, we do not have any exchange rate hedging arrangements in place.
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Additionally, although we are based in the United Kingdom, we source research and development, manufacturing, consulting and other services from the United States and other countries. Further, potential future revenue may be derived from the United States, countries within the euro zone, and various other countries around the world. As a result, our business and the price of our ADSs may be affected by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates not only between the pound sterling and the U.S. dollar, but also the euro and other currencies, which may have a significant impact on our results of operations and cash flows from period to period. As a result, to the extent we continue our expansion on a global basis, we expect that increasing portions of our revenue, cost of revenue, assets and liabilities will be subject to fluctuations in currency valuations. We may experience economic loss and a negative impact on earnings or net assets solely as a result of currency exchange rate fluctuations.
We will need to manage the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties.
As of December 31, 2020, we had 384 employees, 376 of whom are full-time. In January 2021, we announced adjustments to our workforce and infrastructure footprint, which will involve an overall reduction in headcount of approximately 20%. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, and as we further develop as a public company, we may need additional managerial, operational, financial and other personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:
•identifying, recruiting, integrating, maintaining and motivating additional employees;
•managing our internal development efforts effectively, including the clinical, FDA and EMA review processes for our product candidates; and
•improving our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures.
There are a small number of individuals with experience in cell therapy and the competition for these individuals is high. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.
If we are not able to effectively manage the size of our organization, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.
In addition to expanding our organization, we are building out our development and manufacturing capabilities, which requires significant capital expenditures. If these capital expenditures are higher than expected, it may adversely affect our financial condition and capital resources. In addition, if the availability of manufacturing capacity is delayed, it may limit our ability to rapidly expand the size of our organization in order to meet our corporate goals.
Our future success depends on our ability to retain key members of senior management and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biopharmaceutical industry depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified management, research and development, clinical, financial and business development personnel. We are highly dependent on our management, scientific and medical personnel, including Dr. Christian Itin, our Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Martin Pulé, our scientific founder, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Each member of our senior management may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain ‘‘key person’’ insurance for any of our employees.
Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and clinical personnel and, if we progress the development of any of our product candidates, commercialization, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel, will be critical to our success. The loss of the services of members of our senior management or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing members of our senior management and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level and senior managers, as well as junior, mid-level and senior scientific and medical personnel. Competition to hire from this limited candidate pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.
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We will require additional funding to continue our planned operations. If we engage in future acquisitions or strategic collaborations, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our shareholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.
We will need additional capital in the future to continue our planned operations. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our shareholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell ordinary shares or ADSs, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell ordinary shares or ADSs, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. These sales may also result in material dilution to our existing shareholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing shareholders. In addition, we have an Open Market Sale AgreementSM, or Sales Agreement, with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, to sell up to $100.0 million worth of our ADSs, from time to time, through an “at the market” equity offering program under which Jefferies will act as sales agent. As of March 1, 2021, $84.1 million worth of ADSs remained available for sale under the “at the market” equity offering program. If we raise additional capital through our “at the market” equity offering program, or other public or private equity offerings, the ownership interest of our existing shareholders will be diluted and may cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. Furthermore, new investors purchasing securities that we may issue and sell in the future could obtain rights superior to the rights of our existing shareholders.
From time to time, we may also evaluate various acquisitions and strategic collaborations, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses, as we may deem appropriate to carry out our business plan. Any potential acquisition or strategic collaboration may entail numerous risks, including:
•increased operating expenses and cash requirements;
•the assumption of additional indebtedness or contingent liabilities;
•assimilation of operations, intellectual property and products of an acquired company, including difficulties associated with integrating new personnel;
•the diversion of our management’s attention from our existing programs and initiatives in pursuing such a strategic partnership, merger or acquisition;
•retention of key employees, the loss of key personnel and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships;
•risks and uncertainties associated with the other party to such a transaction, including the prospects of that party and their existing products or product candidates and regulatory approvals; and
•our inability to generate revenue from acquired technology sufficient to meet our objectives in undertaking the acquisition or even to offset the associated acquisition and maintenance costs.
Additionally, if we undertake acquisitions, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expenses. Moreover, we may not be able to locate suitable acquisition opportunities and this inability could impair our ability to grow or obtain access to technology or products that may be important to the development of our business.
Our internal computer systems, or those of our future collaborators or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a significant disruption of our product development programs and our ability to operate our business effectively.
Our internal computer systems and those of our current and any future collaborators and other contractors or consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we have not experienced any significant system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other proprietary information or other similar disruptions. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability, our competitive position could be harmed and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.
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European data collection is governed by restrictive regulations governing the use, processing, and cross-border transfer of personal information.
The collection, use, disclosure, transfer, or other processing of personal data (including data concerning health and/or genetic data) regarding individuals in the European Economic Area, or EEA, or otherwise carried out in the context of any establishment in the EEA, is subject to the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, which became effective and enforceable across all then-current member states of the EEA on May 25, 2018. Further, by operation of the UK GDPR, as defined below, the GDPR continues to apply in substantially equivalent form in the context of UK establishments and UK-related processing operations. Where we refer to the GDPR in this risk factor, we are also making reference to the UK GDPR in the context of the UK, unless we make a specific distinction between the UK and EU GDPR or the context requires otherwise.
Both the GDPR and UK GDPR have “extra-territorial” reach in that they apply to processing of personal data carried out in the context of a controller’s or processor’s establishment in the EEA/UK (as applicable), and also to the processing of personal data by a controller or processor with no establishment in the EEA/UK (as applicable) where the processing in question concerns the offering of goods or services to, and/or the monitoring of the behavior of, individuals in the EEA/UK (as applicable).
The GDPR sets out a number of requirements that must be complied with when handling personal data (i.e., data relating to an identified or identifiable living individual) such as: limiting permitted processing of personal data to only that which is necessary for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes; requiring the establishment a legal basis for processing personal data; expressly confirming that “pseudonymized” or key‑coded data constitutes personal data to which the GDPR applies; creating obligations for controllers and processors to appoint data protection officers in certain circumstances; increasing transparency obligations to data subjects for controllers (including presentation of certain information in a concise, intelligible and easily accessible form about how their personal data is used and their rights vis-à-vis that data and its use); introducing the obligation to carry out so-called data protection impact assessments in certain circumstances; establishing limitations on collection and retention of personal data through “data minimization” and “storage limitation” principles; establishing obligations to implement “privacy by design”; introducing obligations to honor increased rights for data subjects (such as rights for individuals to be ‘forgotten,’ rights to data portability, rights to object etc. in certain circumstances); formalizing a heightened and codified standard of data subject consent; establishing obligations to implement certain technical and organizational safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data; introducing obligations to agree to certain specific contractual terms and to take certain measures when engaging third‑party processors and joint controllers; introducing the obligation to provide notice of certain significant personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority(ies) and affected individuals; and mandating the appointment of representatives in the UK and/or EU in certain circumstances. The processing of “special category personal data”, such as health information, may also impose heightened compliance burdens under the GDPR and is a topic of active interest among relevant regulators.
The GDPR provides that EEA Member States may make their own further laws and regulations to introduce specific requirements related to the processing of “special categories of personal data”, including personal data related to health, biometric data used for unique identification purposes and genetic information; as well as personal data related to criminal offences or convictions – in the UK, the Data Protection Act 2018 complements the UK GDPR in this regard. This fact may lead to greater divergence on the law that applies to the processing of such data types across the EEA and/or UK, compliance with which, as and where applicable, may increase our costs and could increase our overall compliance risk. Such country-specific regulations could also limit our ability to collect, use and share data in the context of our EEA and/or UK operations, and/or could cause our compliance costs to increase, ultimately having an adverse impact on our business, and harming our business and financial condition.
The GDPR also provides for more robust regulatory enforcement and greater penalties for noncompliance than previous data protection laws, including fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue of any noncompliant company for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. In addition to administrative fines, a wide variety of other potential enforcement powers are available to competent supervisory authorities in respect of potential and suspected violations of the GDPR, including extensive audit and inspection rights, and powers to order temporary or permanent bans on all or some processing of personal data carried out by noncompliant actors. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies, and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR.
A particular issue presented by certain European data protection laws, including the GDPR, is that they generally restrict transfers of personal data from Europe, including the EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland, to the United States and most other countries unless the parties to the transfer have implemented specific safeguards to protect the transferred personal data. One of the primary safeguards allowing U.S. companies to import personal data from Europe had been certification to the EU-U.S. Privacy
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Shield and Swiss U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, the EU U.S. Privacy Shield was invalidated in July 2020 by the Court of Justice of the European Union, or CJEU, in a case known colloquially as “Schrems II.” Following this decision, the United Kingdom government has similarly invalidated use of the EU U.S. Privacy Shield as a mechanism for lawful personal data transfers from the United Kingdom to the United States under the UK GDPR. Also, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, or the FDPIC, announced that the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield does not provide adequate safeguards for the purposes of personal data transfers from Switzerland to the United States. The CJEU’s decision in Schrems II also raised questions about whether one of the primary alternatives to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, namely, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, can lawfully be used for personal data transfers from Europe to the United States or other third countries that are not the subject of an adequacy decision of the European Commission. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the Standard Contractual Clauses in principle in Schrems II, it made clear that reliance on those Clauses alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the Standard Contractual Clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular regarding applicable surveillance laws and relevant rights of individuals with respect to the transferred data. In the context of any given transfer, where the legal regime applicable in the destination country may or does conflict with the intended operation of the Standard Contractual Clauses and/or applicable European law, the decision in Schrems II and subsequent draft guidance from the European Data Protection Board, or EDPB, would require the parties to that transfer to implement certain supplementary technical, organizational and/or contractual measures to rely on the Standard Contractual Clauses as a compliant transfer mechanism. However, the aforementioned draft guidance from the EDPB on such supplementary technical, organizational and/or contractual measures appears to conclude that no combination of such measures could be sufficient to allow effective reliance on the Standard Contractual Clauses in the context of transfers of personal data in the clear to recipients in countries where the power granted to public authorities to access the transferred data goes beyond that which is ‘necessary and proportionate in a democratic society’ – which may, following the CJEU’s conclusions in Schrems II on relevant powers of United States public authorities and commentary in that draft EDPB guidance, include the United States in certain circumstances (e.g., where Section 702 of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applies).At present, there are few, if any, viable alternatives to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and the Standard Contractual Clauses. As such, if we are unable to implement a valid solution for personal data transfers from Europe, including, for example, obtaining individuals’ explicit consent to transfer their personal data from Europe to the United States or other countries, we will face increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and injunctions against processing personal data from Europe. Inability to import personal data from Europe, including the EEA, United Kingdom or Switzerland, may also: restrict our activities in Europe; limit our ability to collaborate with partners as well as other service providers, contractors and other companies subject to European data protection laws; and/or require us to increase our data processing capabilities in Europe at significant expense or otherwise cause us to change the geographical location or segregation of our relevant systems and operations – any or all of which could adversely affect our financial results.Additionally, other countries outside of Europe have enacted or are considering enacting similar cross-border data transfer restrictions and laws requiring local data residency, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services and operating our business. The type of challenges we face in Europe will likely also arise in other jurisdictions that adopt laws similar in construction to the GDPR or regulatory frameworks of equivalent complexity.
Further, Brexit has created uncertainty regarding data protection regulation in the United Kingdom. Following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on January 31, 2020, pursuant to the transitional arrangements agreed to between the United Kingdom and European Union, the GDPR continued to have effect in law in the United Kingdom, and continued to do so until December 31, 2020 as if the United Kingdom remained a Member State of the European Union for such purposes. Following December 31, 2020, and the expiry of those transitional arrangements, the data protection obligations of the GDPR continue to apply to United Kingdom-related processing of personal data in substantially unvaried form under the so-called “UK GDPR” (i.e., the GDPR as it continues to form part of United Kingdom laws by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended (including by the various Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations)). However, going forward, there will be increasing scope for divergence in application, interpretation and enforcement of the data protection law as between the United Kingdom and EEA. Furthermore, the relationship between the United Kingdom and the EEA in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains somewhat uncertain. For example, it is unclear whether transfers of personal data from the EEA to the United Kingdom will be permitted to take place on the basis of a future adequacy decision of the European Commission, or whether a “transfer mechanism,” such as the Standard Contractual Clauses, will be required. For the meantime, under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, it has been agreed that transfers of personal data to the United Kingdom from European Union Member States will not be treated as “restricted transfers” to a non-EEA country for a period of up to four months from January 1, 2021, plus a potential further two months extension, or the extended adequacy assessment period. This will also apply to transfers to the United Kingdom from EEA Member States, assuming those Member States accede to the relevant provision of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Although the current maximum duration of the extended adequacy assessment period is six months it may end sooner, for example, in the event that the European Commission adopts an adequacy decision in respect of the United Kingdom, or the United Kingdom amends the UK GDPR and/or makes certain changes regarding data transfers under the UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018 without the consent
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of the European Union (unless those amendments or decisions are made simply to keep relevant United Kingdom laws aligned with the European Union’s data protection regime). If the European Commission does not adopt an ‘adequacy decision’ in respect of the United Kingdom prior to the expiry of the extended adequacy assessment period, from that point onwards the United Kingdom will be an “inadequate third country” under the GDPR and transfers of data from the EEA to the United Kingdom will require a “transfer mechanism,” such as the Standard Contractual Clauses.
Additionally, as noted above, the United Kingdom has transposed the GDPR into United Kingdom domestic law by way of the UK GDPR with effect from January 2021, which could expose us to two parallel regimes, each of which potentially authorizes similar fines and other potentially divergent enforcement actions for certain violations (each regime separately having the ability to fine up to the higher of€20,000,000/£17,000,000 or 4% of an undertaking’s total global annual turnover). Also, following the expiry of the post-Brexit transitional arrangements, the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office is not able to be our “lead supervisory authority” in respect of any “cross border processing” for the purposes of the GDPR. For so long as we are unable to, and/or do not, designate a lead supervisory authority in an EEA member state, with effect from January 1, 2021, we are not able to benefit from the GDPR’s “one stop shop” mechanism. Amongst other things, this would mean that, in the event of a violation of the GDPR affecting data subjects across the United Kingdom and the EEA, we could be investigated by, and ultimately fined by the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office and the supervisory authority in each and every EEA member state where data subjects have been affected by such violation.
Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.
Our operations, and those of our vendors and suppliers, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are predominantly self-insured. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. We currently rely on third-party suppliers to produce and process our product candidates on a patient-by-patient basis. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption.
Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties
We are dependent on intellectual property obtained or licensed from third parties, and if we were to fail to comply with our obligations under our existing and any future intellectual property licenses with third parties, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business and we may not be able to continue developing or commercializing our product candidates, if approved.
We are party to an exclusive intellectual property license agreement with UCL Business Ltd., or UCLB, the technology-transfer company of University College London, or UCL, which is important to our business and under which we have acquired or licensed patent rights related to 25 patent families and other intellectual property related to our business. We expect to enter into additional license agreements in the future. Our existing license agreement with UCLB imposes, and we expect that future license agreements will impose, various due diligence, milestone payment, royalty, insurance and other obligations on us. Any uncured, material breach under the UCLB license agreement could result in our loss of rights to practice the patent rights (including those that have been assigned to us) and other intellectual property licensed to us, and could compromise our development and commercialization efforts for our current or any future product candidates.
Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. For example, under our license agreement with UCLB, our exclusive rights under certain of the patents is subject to specified exclusions. Our right to enforce any patents that may issue from such patent rights similarly excludes enforcing them in such excluded fields, and obligates us to coordinate our enforcement efforts with a third-party licensee, if any, with rights in that excluded field. If a third party-licensee has the right to enforce those patents in their field, it could put a patent that may issue from this family at risk of being invalidated or construed narrowly, in which case we would no longer have the benefit of the patents for our own exclusivity. Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including disputes regarding:
•the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;
•whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;
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•our rights to third parties;
•our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our product candidates, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;
•the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and us;
•our right to transfer or assign the license; and
•the effects of termination.
If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangement on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates. See the section of this Annual Report titled “Business Overview - Our License Agreement with UCL Business Ltd.” for a more detailed description of our license agreement with UCLB, as well as our rights and obligations under the agreement.
We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct the preclinical and clinical trials for our product candidates, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials or failing to comply with applicable regulatory requirements.
We depend and will continue to depend upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as universities, medical institutions, and strategic partners to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials. Agreements with such third parties might terminate for a variety of reasons, including a failure to perform by the third parties. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, our product development activities would be delayed.
Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with regulatory standards, commonly referred to as good laboratory practices, or GLP, and good clinical practices, or GCP, for conducting, recording and reporting the results of preclinical and clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. Similar regulatory requirements apply outside the United States, including the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, or ICH. We are also required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and post the results of certain completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within specified timeframes. Failure to do so by us or third parties can result in FDA refusal to approve applications based on the clinical data, enforcement actions, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Furthermore, these third parties may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates.
In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and may receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such services. If these relationships and any related compensation result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or the FDA concludes that the financial relationship may have affected the interpretation of the trial, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be questioned and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized, which could result in the delay or rejection by the FDA. Any such delay or rejection could prevent us from commercializing our clinical-stage product candidates or any future product candidates.
Cell-based therapies rely on the availability of reagents, specialized equipment, and other specialty materials, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. For some of these reagents, equipment, and materials, we rely or may rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors, which could impair our ability to manufacture and supply our products.
Manufacturing our product candidates will require many reagents, which are substances used in our manufacturing processes to bring about chemical or biological reactions, and other specialty materials and equipment, some of which are manufactured or supplied by small companies with limited resources and experience to support commercial biologics production. We currently depend on a limited number of vendors for access to facilities and supply of certain materials and equipment used in the manufacture of our product candidates. For example, we currently use facilities and equipment at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, as well as third party vendors, for vector and cell manufacturing. In addition, we purchase equipment and reagents critical
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for the manufacture of our product candidates from Miltenyi Biotec GmbH and other suppliers on a purchase order basis. Some of our suppliers may not have the capacity to support commercial products manufactured under cGMP by biopharmaceutical firms or may otherwise be ill-equipped to support our needs. We also do not have supply contracts with many of these suppliers, and may not be able to obtain supply contracts with them on acceptable terms or at all. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain key materials and equipment to support clinical or commercial manufacturing.
For some of these reagents, equipment, and materials, we rely and may in the future rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors. An inability to continue to source product from any of these suppliers, which could be due to regulatory actions or requirements affecting the supplier, adverse financial or other strategic developments experienced by a supplier, labor disputes or shortages, unexpected demands, or quality issues, could adversely affect our ability to satisfy demand for our product candidates, which could adversely and materially affect our product sales and operating results or our ability to conduct clinical trials, either of which could significantly harm our business.
As we continue to develop and scale our manufacturing process, we may need to obtain rights to and supplies of certain materials and equipment to be used as part of that process. We may not be able to obtain rights to such materials on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to alter our process in a commercially viable manner to avoid the use of such materials or find a suitable substitute, it would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters
Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the regulatory approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or if, and in which territories, we will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a product candidate.
Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, research, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, quality control, recordkeeping, labeling, packaging, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import, export, and reporting of safety and other post-market information, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA, the EMA and other comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have not received approval to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction. We have only limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals and may rely on third-party contract research organizations, or CROs, to assist us in this process. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, the accompanying label may limit its approved use, which could limit sales of the product.
The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive and may take many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. The FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities may determine that our product candidates are not safe and effective, only moderately effective or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use.
In addition, we are developing a proprietary diagnostic test for use with our AUTO4 and AUTO5 product candidates. This test will require separate regulatory approval in addition to the regulatory approval of AUTO4 and AUTO5, respectively. Failure to obtain marketing approval for the diagnostic test could prevent us from commercializing either AUTO4 or AUTO5 unless another similar diagnostic test for distinguishing TRBC1-positive and TRBC2-positive T-cell lymphomas is commercially available.
In addition, changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent
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marketing approval of a product candidate. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our consolidated financial statementsability to generate revenues will be impaired.
In order to market and related notes appearing elsewheresell our products in this Transition Report. Somethe European Union and any other jurisdictions, we must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain approval from the FDA. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining approval from the FDA. In addition, in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. We may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. However, failure to obtain approval in one jurisdiction may impact our ability to obtain approval elsewhere. We may not be able to file for marketing approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical studies conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.
Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or to receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.
The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” may adversely impact our ability to obtain regulatory approvals of our product candidates in the European Union, result in restrictions or imposition of taxes and duties for importing our product candidates into the European Union, and may require us to incur additional expenses in order to develop, manufacture and commercialize our product candidates in the European Union.
Following the result of a referendum in 2016, the United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, 2020, commonly referred to as Brexit. Pursuant to the formal withdrawal arrangements agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the United Kingdom was subject to a transition period until December 31, 2020, or the Transition Period, during which European Union rules continued to apply. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which outlines the future trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, was agreed in December 2020.
Since a significant proportion of the regulatory framework in the United Kingdom applicable to our business and our product candidates is derived from EU directives and regulations, Brexit has had, and may continue to have, a material impact upon the regulatory regime with respect to the development, manufacture, importation, approval and commercialization of our product candidates in the United Kingdom or the European Union. For example, Great Britain is no longer covered by the centralized procedures for obtaining European Union-wide marketing authorization from the EMA and a separate marketing authorization will be required to market our product candidates in Great Britain. It is currently unclear whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, in the United Kingdom is sufficiently prepared to handle the increased volume of marketing authorization applications that it is likely to receive. Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, any marketing approvals, would delay or prevent us from commercializing our product candidates in the United Kingdom.
While the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for the tariff-free trade of medicinal products between the United Kingdom and the European Union there may be additional non-tariff costs to such trade which did not exist prior to the end of the
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Transition Period.Further, should the United Kingdom diverge from the European Union from a regulatory perspective in relation to medicinal products, tariffs could be put into place in the future.We could therefore, both now and in the future, face significant additional expenses (when compared to the position prior to the end of the Transition Period) to operate our business, which could significantly and materially harm or delay our ability to generate revenues or achieve profitability of our business. Any further changes in international trade, tariff and import/export regulations as a result of Brexit or otherwise may impose unexpected duty costs or other non-tariff barriers on us. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, may significantly reduce global trade and, in particular, trade between the impacted nations and the United Kingdom. It is also possible that Brexit may negatively affect our ability to attract and retain employees, particularly those from the European Union.
In the short term there is a risk of disrupted import and export processes due to a lack of administrative processing capacity by the respective United Kingdom and European Union customs agencies that may delay time-sensitive shipments and may negatively impact our product supply chain.
Even if we obtain marketing approvals for our product candidates, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of our products may limit how we manufacture and market our products and compliance with such requirements may involve substantial resources, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.
Even if marketing approval of a product candidate is granted, an approved product and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive regulatory requirements for manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, and recordkeeping, including the potential requirements to implement a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, program or to conduct costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. We must also comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved labeling. Thus, we will not be able to promote any products we develop for indications or uses for which they are not approved. In addition, manufacturers of approved products and those manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive regulatory requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP and other comparable regulations and standards, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We or our suppliers could be subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA, the EMA, or other regulatory authorities to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMP.
Accordingly, assuming we receive marketing approval for one or more of our product candidates, we and suppliers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control. If we are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we could have the marketing approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our ability to market any future products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
Thus, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or recall or withdrawal from the market, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates, when and if any of them are approved.
The FDA and other federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, closely regulate compliance with all requirements governing prescription drug products, including requirements pertaining to marketing and promotion of products in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling and manufacturing of products in accordance with cGMP requirements. The FDA and DOJ impose stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label use and if we do not market our products for their approved indications, or if other of our marketing claims are deemed false or misleading, we may be subject to enforcement action. Physicians, on the other hand, may prescribe products for off-label uses. The FDA and other regulatory agencies do not regulate a physician’s choice of drug treatment made in the physician’s independent medical judgment. However, companies may only share truthful and not misleading information that is otherwise consistent with a product’s FDA approved labeling. Violations of such requirements may lead to investigations alleging violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and other statutes, including the U.S. federal False Claims Act and other federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws as well as state consumer protection laws.
Our failure to comply with all regulatory requirements, and later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, may yield various results, including:
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•litigation involving patients taking our products;
•restrictions on such products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes;
•restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product;
•restrictions on product distribution or use;
•requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;
•warning or untitled letters;
•withdrawal of the products from the market;
•refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;
•recall of products;
•fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenues;
•suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;
•suspension of any ongoing clinical trials;
•damage to relationships with any potential collaborators;
•unfavorable press coverage and damage to our reputation;
•refusal to permit the import or export of our products;
•product seizure; or
•injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
Non-compliance by us or any future collaborator with regulatory requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with regulatory requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
Non-compliance with EU requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, also can result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with the European Union’s requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
If any of these events occurs, our ability to sell such product may be impaired, and we may incur substantial additional expense to comply with regulatory requirements, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our employees, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, commercial partners and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct or failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements. Misconduct by employees and independent contractors, such as principal investigators, consultants, commercial partners, and vendors, could include failures to comply with regulations of the FDA, the EMA and other comparable regulatory authorities, to provide accurate information to such regulators, to comply with manufacturing standards we have established, to comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws, to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and other business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of business activities, including, but not limited to, research, manufacturing, distribution, pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee and independent contractor misconduct could also involve the improper use of individually identifiable information, including, without limitation, information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation.
In addition, federal procurement laws impose substantial penalties for misconduct in connection with government contracts and require certain contractors to maintain a code of business ethics and conduct.
It is not always possible to identify and deter employee and independent contractor misconduct, and any precautions we take to detect and prevent improper activities may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws. If any such actions are instituted against us, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgement of profits, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, National Health Service in the United Kingdom, or other government supported healthcare in other jurisdictions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting or oversight obligations if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with the law and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our business operations and current and future relationships with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere may be subject, directly or indirectly, to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, physician payment transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to substantial penalties.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws, including, without limitation, the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the U.S. federal False Claims Act, that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we sell, market and distribute any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In addition, we may be subject to physician payment transparency laws and patient privacy and security regulation by the U.S. federal government and by the states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws that may affect our ability to operate include the following:
•the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons or entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, lease, order or recommendation of, any good, facility, item or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The term ‘‘remuneration’’ has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. This statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers on the other hand. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution or other regulatory sanctions, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and practices that involve remuneration that are alleged to be intended to induce prescribing, purchases or recommendations may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular applicable statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Instead, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on a cumulative review of all its facts and circumstances. Several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement
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involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute has been violated;
•U.S. federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the U.S. federal False Claims Act, which can be enforced though civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government. Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been prosecuted under these laws for, among other things, allegedly inflating drug prices they report to pricing services, which in turn were used by the government to set Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, and for allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product. In addition, certain marketing practices, including off-label promotion, may also violate false claims laws. Further, pharmaceutical manufacturers can be held liable under the U.S. federal False Claims Act even when they do not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims;
•the U.S. federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, which created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of whether the payor is public or private, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services relating to healthcare matters;
•HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH, and their respective implementing regulations, which impose obligations on “covered entities,” including certain healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, as well as their respective “business associates” that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered entity, and their covered subcontractors, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. Additionally, HITECH also created four new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in U.S. federal courts to enforce HIPAA and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions;
•the FDCA, which prohibits, among other things, the adulteration or misbranding of drugs, biologics and medical devices;
•the U.S. federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under Section 6002 of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively, the ACA, and its implementing regulations, created annual reporting requirements for certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions), to annually report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, information related to certain payments and “transfers of value” provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and “transfers of value” provided during the previous year to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist assistants, and certified nurse-midwives;
•analogous state laws and regulations and foreign laws, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers; state and foreign laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government or to adopt compliance programs as prescribed by state laws and regulations, or that otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers; state and foreign laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; and state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts; and
•similar healthcare laws and regulations in the European Union and other jurisdictions, including reporting requirements detailing interactions with and payments to healthcare providers and laws governing the privacy and security of certain
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protected information, such as GDPR, which imposes obligations and restrictions on the collection and use of personal data relating to individuals located in the European Union (including health data).
Further, the ACA, among other things, amended the intent requirement of the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute and certain criminal statutes governing healthcare fraud. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. In addition, the ACA provided that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the U.S. federal False Claims Act.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of their exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that our business activities can be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform. Federal and state enforcement bodies have continued their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of significant investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry.
Efforts to ensure that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, including, without limitation, damages, monetary fines, imprisonment, disgorgement of profits, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting or oversight obligations if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with the law and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and pursue our strategy. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business, including future collaborators, are found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from participation in government healthcare programs, which could also affect our business.
Our product candidates are subject to government price controls in certain jurisdictions that may affect our revenue.
There has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the United Kingdom, United States, European Union and other jurisdictions of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs and biologics. In the United States, such scrutiny has resulted in several recent Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. At the federal level, the Trump administration used several means to propose or implement drug pricing reform, including through federal budget proposals, executive orders and policy initiatives. For example, on July 24, 2020 and September 13, 2020, the Trump administration announced several executive orders related to prescription drug pricing that seek to implement several of the administration’s proposals. As a result, the FDA released a final rule on September 24, 2020, effective November 30, 2020, providing guidance for states to build and submit importation plans for drugs from Canada. Further, on November 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a regulation removing safe harbor protection for price reductions from pharmaceutical manufacturers to plan sponsors under Medicare Part D, either directly or through pharmacy benefit managers, unless the price reduction is required by law. The implementation of the rule has been delayed by the Biden administration from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023 in response to ongoing litigation. The rule also creates a new safe harbor for price reductions reflected at the point-of-sale, as well as a new safe harbor for certain fixed fee arrangements between pharmacy benefit managers and manufacturers, the implementation of which have also been delayed pending review by the Biden administration until March 22, 2021.On November 20, 2020, CMS issued an interim final rule implementing the Trump administration’s Most Favored Nation executive order, which would tie Medicare Part B payments for certain physician-administered drugs to the lowest price paid in other economically advanced countries, effective January 1, 2021. On December 28, 2020, the U.S. District Court in Northern California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against implementation of the interim final rule. It is unclear whether the Biden administration will work to reverse these measures or pursue similar policy initiatives.
At the state level, legislatures have increasingly enacted legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.
Outside of the United States, particularly in the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the
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receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain coverage and reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be harmed.
Recently enacted and future legislation in the United States and other countries may affect the prices we may obtain for our product candidates and increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize our product candidates.
In the United States and many other countries, rising healthcare costs have been a concern for governments, patients and the health insurance sector, which has resulted in a number of changes to laws and regulations, and may result in further legislative and regulatory action regarding the healthcare and health insurance systems that could affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. For a detailed discussion of healthcare reform initiatives of importance to the pharmaceutical industry, see the section titled “Business—Government Regulation and Product Approval—Healthcare Reform Efforts.”
For example, the ACA was enacted in the United States in March 2010 with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access to healthcare, and includes measures to change healthcare delivery, increase the number of individuals with insurance, ensure access to certain basic healthcare services, and contain the rising cost of care. There have been executive, judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. While Congress has not passed repeal legislation, several bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the ACA have been signed into law. H.R. 1: An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, or the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the ACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate”. Additionally, the 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated, effective January 1, 2020, the ACA-mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage and medical device tax and, effective January 1, 2021, also eliminated the health insurer tax. Further, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, among other things, amended the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, to increase from 50% to 70% the point-of-sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D and to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole”. On December 14, 2018, a Texas U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the “individual mandate” was repealed by Congress as part of the Tax Act. Additionally, on December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the District Court ruling that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing the case, although it is unknown when a decision will be made. Further, although the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the ACA, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to initiate a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through May 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The executive order also instructs certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to healthcare, including among others, reexamining Medicaid demonstration projects and waiver programs that include work requirements, and policies that create unnecessary barriers to obtaining access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the ACA. It is unclear how the Supreme Court ruling, other such litigation, and the healthcare reform measures of the Biden administration will impact the ACA and our business.
In addition, other federal health reform measures have been proposed and adopted in the United States. For example, as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, providers are subject to Medicare payment reductions of 2% per fiscal year through 2030 with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 unless additional Congressional action is taken. Further, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 reduced Medicare payments to several providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments from providers from three to five years. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 also introduced a quality payment program, or Quality Payment Program, under which certain individual Medicare providers will be subject to certain incentives or penalties based on new program quality standards. The Quality Payment Program provides clinicians with two ways to participate, including through the Advanced Alternative Payment Models, or APMs, and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS.In November 2019, CMS issued a final rule finalizing the changes to the Quality Payment Program. At this time, it is unclear how the introduction of the Quality Payment Program will impact overall physician reimbursement under the Medicare program. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. It is also possible that additional governmental action is taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The combination of healthcare cost containment measures, increased health insurance costs, reduction of the number of people with health insurance coverage, as well as future legislation and regulations focused on reducing healthcare costs by
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reducing the cost of or reimbursement and access to pharmaceutical products, may limit or delay our ability to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our products.
We are subject to the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or the Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, and other anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, import and customs laws, trade and economic sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations.
Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, including the Bribery Act, the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. §201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business. The Bribery Act, the FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us and our employees and intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper or prohibited payments, or anything else of value, to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage.
Under the Bribery Act, we may also be liable for failing to prevent a person associated with us from committing a bribery offense. We and those acting on our behalf operate in a number of jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential Bribery Act or FCPA violations, and we participate in collaborations and relationships with third parties whose corrupt or illegal activities could potentially subject us to liability under the Bribery Act, FCPA or local anticorruption laws, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted.
Compliance with the Bribery Act, the FCPA and these other laws is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, anti-corruption laws present particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to enforcement actions.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, and authorities in the European Union, including applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons, anti-money laundering laws, import and customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the Trade Control laws.
There is no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable anti-corruption laws, including the Bribery Act, the FCPA or other legal requirements, including Trade Control laws. If we are not in compliance with the Bribery Act, the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of the Bribery Act, the FCPA, other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws by United States, United Kingdom or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, the failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting.
If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could harm our business.
We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our operations involve the use of hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations.
Although we maintain insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this discussioninsurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological or hazardous materials.
In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and analysissafety laws and regulations. These current or set forth elsewherefuture laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in this Transition Reportsubstantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
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Risks Related to the Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
If we are unable to establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities for our product candidates, or enter into sales, marketing and distribution agreements with third parties, we may not be successful in commercializing our Annual Report, including informationproduct candidates, if and when they are approved.
We currently plan to work to build our global commercialization capabilities internally over time such that we are able to commercialize any product candidate for which we may obtain regulatory approval. However, we currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities and have no experience in marketing or distributing pharmaceutical products. To achieve commercial success for any product candidate for which we may obtain marketing approval, we will need to establish a sales and marketing organization and establish logistics and distribution processes to commercialize and deliver our product candidates to patients and healthcare providers. The development of sales, marketing and distribution capabilities will require substantial resources, will be time-consuming and could delay any product launch.
If we are unable or decide not to establish internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, we would have to pursue collaborative arrangements regarding the sales and marketing of our products. However, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell, market and distribute our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us, or if we are able to do so, that they would be effective and successful in commercializing our products. Our product revenues and our profitability, if any, would likely to be lower than if we were to sell, market and distribute any product candidates that we develop ourselves. In addition, we would have limited control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our product candidates effectively.
If we do not establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates in the United States or elsewhere.
We operate in a rapidly changing industry and face significant competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.
The development and commercialization of new biopharmaceutical products is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological advancements. We face competition from major multi-national pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and specialty pharmaceutical companies with respect to our planscurrent and strategyfuture product candidates that we may develop and commercialize in the future. There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are pursuing the development of product candidates for the treatment of cancer. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Due to their promising clinical therapeutic effect in clinical exploratory trials, engineered T cell therapies, redirected T cell therapies in general and antibody-drug conjugates are being pursued by multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis AG, or Novartis, Gilead Sciences, Inc., or Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, or BMS, Janssen Biotech Inc., bluebird bio, Inc., or bluebird bio, Roche Holding AG, Seattle Genetics, and Amgen Inc. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and products that are more effective, more effectively marketed and sold or less costly than any product candidates that we may develop, which could render our product candidates non-competitive and obsolete.
We are developing AUTO1, our CD19-targeting programmed T cell product candidate for the treatment of adult ALL, and AUTO3, our dual-targeting CD19/CD22 programmed T cell product candidate for the treatment of relapsed or refractory DLBCL. Novartis and Gilead have received marketing approval for their anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy, and BMS submitted their Biologics License Application in December 2019 to the FDA for approval of another anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy. AUTO1 is expected to compete directly with these companies and therapies. In addition, some companies, such as Cellectis, Inc., Les Laboratoires Servier SAS and Allogene Therapeutics Inc., are pursuing allogeneic T cell products that could compete with our programmed T cell product candidates.
Novartis and Gilead may be successful in establishing a strong market position for their CD19-targeted CAR T cell products, and we may not be able to compete effectively against these therapies once they have been established. In addition, our competitors with development-stage programs may obtain marketing approval from the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory authorities for their product candidates more rapidly than we do, and they could establish a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.
Many of our competitors, either alone or with their strategic collaborators, have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be more successful than we are in obtaining approval for treatments and achieving widespread market acceptance, which may render our treatments obsolete or non-competitive. Mergers
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and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical study sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.
Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive or better reimbursed than any products that we may commercialize. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position for either the product or a specific indication before we are able to enter the market.
Even if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, it may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.
Even if we obtain approvals from the FDA, the EMA or other comparable regulatory agencies and are able to initiate commercialization of our clinical-stage product candidates or any other product candidates we develop, the product candidate may not achieve market acceptance among physicians, patients, hospitals, including pharmacy directors, and third-party payors and, ultimately, may not be commercially successful. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
•the clinical indications for which our product candidates are approved;
•physicians, hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and patients considering our product candidates as a safe and effective treatment;
•hospitals and cancer treatment centers establishing the infrastructure required for the administration of redirected T cell therapies;
•the potential and perceived advantages of our product candidates over alternative treatments;
•the prevalence and severity of any side effects;
•product labeling or product insert requirements of the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities;
•limitations or warnings contained in the labeling approved by the FDA or the EMA;
•the timing of market introduction of our product candidates as well as competitive products;
•the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments;
•the amount of upfront costs or training required for physicians to administer our product candidates;
•the availability of coverage, adequate reimbursement, and pricing by third-party payors and government authorities;
•the willingness of patients to pay out-of-pocket in the absence of comprehensive coverage and adequate reimbursement by third-party payors and government authorities;
•relative convenience and ease of administration, including as compared to alternative treatments and competitive therapies; and
•the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts and distribution support.
Our efforts to educate physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community on the benefits of our products, if approved, may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts may require more resources than are typically required due to the complexity and uniqueness of our product candidates. Because we expect sales of our product candidates, if approved, to generate substantially all of our product revenue for the foreseeable future, the failure of our product candidates to find market acceptance would harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing.
In addition, although we are not utilizing embryonic stem cells or replication competent vectors, adverse publicity due to the ethical and social controversies surrounding the therapeutic use of such technologies, and reported side effects from any clinical trials using these technologies or the failure of such trials to demonstrate that these therapies are safe and effective, may limit market acceptance our product candidates. If our product candidates are approved but fail to achieve market acceptance among physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers or others in the medical community, we will not be able to generate significant revenue.
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Even if our products achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to maintain that market acceptance over time if new products or technologies are introduced that are more favorably received than our products, are more cost effective or render our products obsolete.
Coverage and adequate reimbursement may not be available for our current or any future product candidates, which could make it difficult for us to sell profitably, if approved.
Market acceptance and sales of any product candidates that we commercialize, if approved, will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for these products and related financing, includes forward-looking statementstreatments will be available from third-party payors, including government health administration authorities, managed care organizations and private health insurers. Third-party payors decide which therapies they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. Third-party payors in the United States often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own coverage and reimbursement policies. However, decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided for any product candidates that involve riskswe develop will be made on a payor-by-payor basis. One payor’s determination to provide coverage for a drug does not assure that other payors will also provide coverage for the drug. Additionally, a third-party payor’s decision to provide coverage for a therapy does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the price, examining the medical necessity and uncertainties.reviewing the cost-effectiveness of medical products, therapies and services, in addition to questioning their safety and efficacy. We may incur significant costs to conduct expensive pharmaco-economic studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of our product candidates, in addition to the costs required to obtain FDA approvals. Our product candidates may not be considered medically necessary or cost-effective.
Each payor determines whether or not it will provide coverage for a therapy, what amount it will pay the manufacturer for the therapy, and on what tier of its list of covered drugs, or formulary, it will be placed. The position on a payor’s formulary, generally determines the co-payment that a patient will need to make to obtain the therapy and can strongly influence the adoption of such therapy by patients and physicians. Patients who are prescribed treatments for their conditions and providers prescribing such services generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the associated healthcare costs. Patients are unlikely to use our products, and providers are unlikely to prescribe our products, unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our products and their administration. Therefore, coverage and adequate reimbursement is critical to new medical product acceptance.
A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any drug that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, what the level of reimbursement will be. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Inadequate coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any drug for which we obtain marketing approval. If coverage and adequate reimbursement are not available, or are available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our current and any future product candidates that we develop.
Additionally, we are developing a proprietary diagnostic test for use with certain of our product candidates. We will be required to obtain coverage and reimbursement for this test separate and apart from the coverage and reimbursement we seek for our product candidates, if approved. There is significant uncertainty regarding our ability to obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement for this proprietary diagnostic test for reasons similar to those applicable to our product candidates.
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.
We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
•reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy;
•decreased demand for any product candidates or products that we may develop;
•injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;
•withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
•initiation of investigations by regulators;
•product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions;
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•significant costs to defend the resulting litigation;
•substantial monetary awards paid to clinical trial participants or patients;
•loss of revenue; and
•the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop.
We currently hold £1.0 million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a per incident limit of £1.0 million, which may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We may need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials or if we commence commercialization of our product candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our T cell programming technologies and product candidates, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and biologics similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and product candidates may be impaired.
Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries with respect to our product candidates. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications related to our technology and product candidates in the major pharmaceutical markets, including the United States, major countries in Europe and Japan. If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property, competitors may be able to use our technologies and erode or negate any competitive advantage that we may have, which could harm our business and ability to achieve profitability.
To protect our proprietary positions, we file patent applications in the United States and other countries related to our novel technologies and product candidates that are important to our business. The patent application and prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. We may also fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development before it is too late to obtain patent protection. It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of our patents or patent applications may exist, or may arise in the future, such as with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, claim scope or patent term adjustments. If any current or future licensors or licensees are not fully cooperative or disagree with us as to the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of any patent rights, such patent rights could be compromised and we might not be able to prevent third parties from making, using and selling competing products. If there are material defects in the form or preparation of our patents or patent applications, such patents or applications may be invalid and unenforceable. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties.
Prosecution of our owned and in-licensed patent portfolio is at an early stage. We currently have nine patents which have been issued from our pending applications in the United States, and eleven patents which have been issued from our pending applications in Europe. Much of our patent portfolio consists of pending priority applications that are not examined and pending applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT. Neither priority applications nor PCT applications can themselves give rise to issued patents. Rather, protection for the inventions disclosed in these applications must be further pursued by applicable deadlines via applications that are subject to examination. As applicable deadlines for the priority and PCT applications become due, we will need to decide whether and in which countries or jurisdictions to pursue patent protection for the various inventions claimed in these applications, and we will only have the opportunity to pursue and obtain patents in those jurisdictions where we pursue protection.
It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. The patent applications that we own or in-license may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our current and future product candidates in the United States or in other foreign countries. Our patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless, and until, a patent issues from such applications, and then only to the extent the issued claims cover the technology.
If the patent applications we hold or have in-licensed with respect to our development programs and product candidates fail to issue, if their breadth or strength of protection is threatened, or if they fail to provide meaningful exclusivity for our current and
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future product candidates, it could threaten our ability to commercialize our product candidates. Any such outcome could have a negative effect on our business.
The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. In addition, the protections offered by laws of different countries vary. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents has emerged to date in the United States or in many foreign jurisdictions. In addition, the determination of patent rights with respect to pharmaceutical compounds and technologies commonly involves complex legal and factual questions, which has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of many factors, including those set forthour patent rights, whether owned or in-licensed, are highly uncertain. Furthermore, recent changes in patent laws in the Item 3.D.United States, may affect the scope, strength and enforceability of our patent rights or the nature of proceedings that may be brought by or against us related to our patent rights. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our ability to obtain patents or to enforce any patents that we might obtain in the future.
We may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our current and future our product candidates. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. Similarly, should we own or in-license any patents or patent applications in the future, we may not be certain that we or the applicable licensor were the first to file for patent protection for the inventions claimed in such patents or patent applications. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity and commercial value of our patent rights cannot be predicted with any certainty. Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review or interference proceedings, in the United States or elsewhere, challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or product candidates and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights, which could significantly harm our business and results of operations.
Our pending and future patent applications, whether owned or in-licensed, may not result in patents being issued that protect our technology or product candidates, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Even if our patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection against competing products or processes sufficient to achieve our business objectives, prevent competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Our competitors may be able to circumvent our owned or licensed patents, should they issue, by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. Our competitors may seek approval to market their own products similar to or otherwise competitive with our products. In these circumstances, we may need to defend and/or assert our patents, including by filing lawsuits alleging patent infringement. In any of these types of proceedings, a court or other agency with jurisdiction may find our patents invalid and/or unenforceable.
The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. In addition, given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized.
Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could significantly harm our business.
Our commercial success depends, in part, on our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary and modular T cell programming technology without infringing the intellectual property and other proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous third-party U.S. and non-U.S. issued patents exist in the area of biotechnology,
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including in the area of programmed T cell therapies and including patents held by our competitors. If any third-party patents cover our product candidates or technologies, we may not be free to manufacture or commercialize our product candidates as planned.
There is a substantial amount of intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and we may become party to, or threatened with, litigation or other adversarial proceedings regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our technology or product candidates, including interference proceedings before the USPTO. Intellectual property disputes arise in a number of areas including with respect to patents, use of other proprietary rights and the contractual terms of license arrangements. Third parties may assert claims against us based on existing or future intellectual property rights and claims may also come from competitors against whom our own patent portfolio may have no deterrent effect. The outcome of intellectual property litigation is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance. Other parties may allege that our product candidates or the use of our technologies infringes patent claims or other intellectual property rights held by them or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. As we continue to develop and, if approved, commercialize our current and future product candidates, competitors may claim that our technology infringes their intellectual property rights as part of business strategies designed to impede our successful commercialization. There are and may in the future be additional third-party patents or patent applications with claims to, for example, materials, compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of any one or more of our product candidates. For example, we are aware of third-party U.S. patents that claim technology related to AUTO1. These U.S. patents will expire between 2023 and 2025, and there are no counterpart patents in Europe or the rest of the world that extend beyond the earliest expected regulatory approval date of AUTO1. If regulatory approval is received for AUTO1, unless we are able to obtain a license or licenses to the third-party U.S. patent or patents on commercially reasonable terms or any applicable patent or patents are invalidated, held to be unenforceable, or deemed uninfringed by our activities, we currently intend to launch AUTO1 outside the United States first, and delay the commercial launch of AUTO1 in the United States until the expiration of any applicable third-party patent or patents covering AUTO1. As a result, the future commercial opportunity of AUTO1 in the United States could be adversely impacted. Moreover, we may fail to identify relevant third party patents or patent applications, or we may incorrectly conclude that the claims of an issued patent are invalid or are not infringed by our activities. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, third parties may have currently pending patent applications which may later result in issued patents that any of our product candidates may infringe, or which such third parties claim are infringed by our technologies.
If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing or commercializing the infringing product candidate or product. Alternatively, we may be required or may choose to obtain a license from such third party in order to use the infringing technology and continue developing, manufacturing or marketing the infringing product candidate. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative effect on our business. Even if successful, the defense of any claim of infringement or misappropriation is time-consuming, expensive and diverts the attention of our management from our ongoing business operations.
We may need to license intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
A third party may hold intellectual property rights, including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the development or manufacture of our product candidates. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our product candidates, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and we could be forced to accept unfavorable contractual terms. If we are unable to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our business could be harmed.
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents, if issued, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming and divert the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, there is a risk that a court will decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, and that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue. There is also a risk that, even if the validity of such patents is upheld, the court will construe the patent’s claims narrowly or decide that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue on the grounds that our
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patents do not cover the invention. An adverse outcome in a litigation or proceeding involving our patents could limit our ability to assert our patents against those parties or other competitors and may curtail or preclude our ability to exclude third parties from making and selling similar or competitive products. Similarly, if we assert trademark infringement claims, a court may determine that the marks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable, or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the marks in question. In this case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks.
In any infringement litigation, any award of monetary damages we receive may not be commercially valuable. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our ADSs. Moreover, there can be no assurance that we will have sufficient financial or other resources to file and pursue such infringement claims, which typically last for years before they are concluded. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Even if we ultimately prevail in such claims, the monetary cost of such litigation and the diversion of the attention of our management and scientific personnel could outweigh any benefit we receive as a result of the proceedings. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing, misappropriating or successfully challenging our intellectual property rights. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a negative impact on our ability to compete in the marketplace.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that we or our employees have misappropriated their intellectual property, or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.
Many of our employees were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, and our founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Martin Pulé, is currently employed both by us and UCL. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information or know-how of third parties in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee’s former employer. We may also in the future be subject to claims that we have caused an employee to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these potential claims.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, such employees and contractors may breach the agreement and claim the developed intellectual property as their own.
As of December 31, 2020, our patent portfolio is comprised of 96 patent families, of which 25 patent families originated from UCLB, the technology-transfer company of UCL, 3 patent families are in-licensed from Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., and 68 patent families we own and have originated from our own research. Of the 25 patent families that were originally in-licensed from UCL, 24 have now been assigned to Autolus under a Deed of Assignment dated 15 October 2020. Because we have acquired or licensed certain of our patents from UCLB and Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc, we must rely on their prior practices with regard to the assignment of such intellectual property. Our and their assignment agreements may not be self-executing or may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties or defend claims they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.
If we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A court could prohibit us from using technologies or features that are essential to our products if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and could be a distraction to management. In addition, any litigation or threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with independent service providers. Moreover, a loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our products.
We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our owned or in-licensed patent rights and other intellectual property.
We generally enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors. However, these agreements may not be honored and may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us. For example, disputes may arise from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our technology and product candidates. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. The owners of intellectual property in-licensed to us could also face such claims. If we or our licensors fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose
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valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we or our licensors are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.
Any trademarks we may obtain may be infringed or successfully challenged, resulting in harm to our business.
We expect to rely on trademarks as one means to distinguish any of our product candidates that are approved for marketing from the products of our competitors. We have not yet selected trademarks for our product candidates and have not yet begun the process of applying to register trademarks for our product candidates. Once we select trademarks and apply to register them, our trademark applications may not be approved. Third parties may oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Our competitors may infringe our trademarks and we may not have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.
In addition, any proprietary name we propose to use with our clinical-stage product candidates or any other product candidate in the United States must be approved by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of the potential for confusion with other product names. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed proprietary product names, we may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable proprietary product name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
In addition to seeking patent and trademark protection for our product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our trade secrets, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective. In addition, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets.
Moreover, our competitors may independently develop knowledge, methods and know-how equivalent to our trade secrets. Competitors could purchase our products and replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts for technologies on which we do not have patent protection. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States could be less extensive than those in the United States. In some cases, we may not be able to obtain patent protection for certain technology outside the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States, even in jurisdictions where we do pursue patent protection. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, even in jurisdictions where we do pursue patent protection or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions.
Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not pursued and obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates and preclinical programs and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents, if pursued and obtained, or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in
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substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
Periodic maintenance and annuity fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and patent agencies outside the United States in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or product candidates, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would harm our business. In addition, to the extent that we have responsibility for taking any action related to the prosecution or maintenance of patents or patent application in-licensed from a third party, any failure on our part to maintain the in-licensed rights could jeopardize our rights under the relevant license and may expose us to liability.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Securities and Our Status as a Public Company
An active trading market for our ADSs may not continue to develop or be sustained.
Prior to our IPO in June 2018, there was no public market for our ordinary shares or our ADSs. Although our ADSs are listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, we cannot assure you that an active trading market for our ADSs will continue to develop or be sustained. If an active market for our ADSs does not continue to develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for investors to sell ADSs without depressing the market price for the ADSs or to sell the ADSs at all.
The trading price of our ADSs has been and may continue to be highly volatile and may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control.
We completed our initial public offering in June 2018, and there has been a public market for the ADSs for only a short period of time. From January 1, 2020 to February 26, 2021, the closing sale price of our ADSs ranged from a high of $16.30 to a low of $4.20 per ADS. The trading price of our ADSs is likely to continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control, including limited trading volume. In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this Annual Report, these factors include:
•the commencement, enrollment or results of our planned and future clinical trials;
•positive or negative results from, or delays in, testing and clinical trials by us, collaborators or competitors;
•the loss of any of our key scientific or management personnel;
•regulatory or legal developments in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries;
•the success of competitive products or technologies;
•adverse actions taken by regulatory agencies with respect to our clinical trials or manufacturers;
•changes or developments in laws or regulations applicable to our product candidates and preclinical program;
•changes to our relationships with collaborators, manufacturers or suppliers;
•concerns regarding the safety of our product candidates or programmed T cells in general;
•announcements concerning our competitors or the pharmaceutical industry in general;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results;
•changes in financial estimates or recommendations by securities analysts;
•potential acquisitions, financing, collaborations or other corporate transactions;
•the results of our efforts to discover, develop, acquire or in-license additional product candidates;
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•the trading volume of our ADSs on The Nasdaq Global Select Market;
•sales of our ADSs or ordinary shares by us, members of our senior management and directors or our shareholders or the anticipation that such sales may occur in the future;
•general economic, political, and market conditions and overall fluctuations in the financial markets in the United States or the United Kingdom;
•price and volume fluctuations of the listed securities comparable companies and, in particular, those that operate in the biopharmaceutical industry;
•investors’ general perception of us and our business; and
•other events and factors, many of which are beyond our control.
These and other market and industry factors may cause the market price and demand for our ADSs to fluctuate substantially, regardless of our actual operating performance, which may limit or prevent investors from selling their ADSs and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our ADSs. In addition, the stock market in general, and biopharmaceutical companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies.
Broad market and industry factors, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, may negatively affect the market price of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. For example, negative publicity regarding drug pricing and price increases by pharmaceutical companies has negatively impacted, and may continue to negatively impact, the markets for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Future sales of our ADSs in the public market could cause our share price to decline
As of March 1, 2021, approximately 70.5 million of our ordinary shares (including ordinary shares in the form of ADSs) were issued and outstanding. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our ADSs and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.
We previously filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register ordinary shares (including in the form of ADSs) subject to options or other equity awards issued or reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans, and we have also filed a "shelf" registration statement on Form F-3 under the Securities Act to register securities having an aggregate offering price not to exceed $300 million. We have also entered into a sales agreement with Jefferies pursuant to which we may issue and sell ADSs with aggregate offering proceeds of up to $100 million, on an "at-the-market" basis from time to time, and as of March 1, 2021, $84.1million worth of ADSs remained available for sale under the program. In addition, in the future, we may issue ordinary shares, ADS or other securities if we need to raise additional capital. The number of new ordinary shares or ADSs, or securities convertible into our ordinary shares or ADSs, issued in connection with raising additional capital could represent a material portion of our then-outstanding ordinary shares.
Additionally, the holders of an aggregate of approximately 12.2 million of our ordinary shares, or their transferees, have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file one or more registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other shareholders. If we were to register the resale of these shares or ADSs, they could be freely sold in the public market. If these additional shares or ADSs are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of our ADSs could decline.
If we fail to implement and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations of The Nasdaq Global Market. Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, beginning with this Annual Report, we were required to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our actual results could differ materially frominternal control over financial reporting to allow our management to report on the results describedeffectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. However, while we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. We will incur substantial additional professional fees and internal costs to expand our accounting and finance functions and that we expend significant management efforts.
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Under standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or implied by these forward-looking statements. Please also see the section titled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
In 2018 and 20172019, we have hired additional finance and accounting personnel with appropriate expertise to perform specific functions and build out our financial infrastructure, implemented improved processes and internal controls and further developed and documented our accounting policies and financial reporting procedures, including ongoing senior management review and audit committee oversight. Our independent registered public accounting firm concluded that the material weakness was remediated as of December 31, 2019.
If other material weaknesses are identified in the future or we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected. If we are unable to maintain effective internal controls, we may not have adequate, accurate or timely financial information, and we may be unable to meet our reporting obligations as a public company, including the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results in future periods, or report them within the timeframes required by the requirements of the SEC, Nasdaq or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, when and as applicable, could also potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Any failure to maintain or implement required new or improved controls, or any difficulties we encounter in their implementation, could result in identification of additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements in our financial statements. Furthermore, if we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and results of operations could be harmed, and investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information.
Our senior management, directors and principal shareholders, if they choose to act together, have the ability to control or significantly influence all matters submitted to our shareholders for approval.
As of December 31, 2020, members of our senior management, directors and current beneficial owners of 5% or more of our ordinary shares and their respective affiliates beneficially owned, in the aggregate, approximately 70% of our outstanding ordinary shares (including ordinary shares in the form of ADSs). As a result, if these shareholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to control or significantly influence all matters submitted to our shareholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would control or significantly influence the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of ownership control may harm the market price of our ADSs by:
•delaying, deferring, or preventing a change in control;
•entrenching our management and/or the board of directors;
•impeding a merger, scheme of arrangement, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination involving us; or
•discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.
In addition, some of these persons or entities may have interests different than yours. For example, because many of these shareholders purchased their shares at prices substantially lower than our current trading price and have held their shares for a longer period, they may be more interested in selling our company to an acquirer than other investors, or they may want us to pursue strategies that deviate from the interests of other shareholders.
The rights of our shareholders may differ from the rights typically offered to shareholders of a U.S. corporation.
We are incorporated under English law. The rights of holders of ordinary shares and, therefore, certain of the rights of holders of our ADSs, are governed by English law, including the provisions of the U.K. Companies Act 2006, or the Companies Act, and by our Articles of Association. These rights differ in certain respects from the rights of shareholders in typical U.S. corporations. See the section titled “Differences in Corporate Law” set below for a description of the principal differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and, for example, the Delaware General Corporation Law relating to shareholders’ rights and protections.
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Holders of our ADSs may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our ordinary shares and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise their right to vote.
Holders of the ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders and in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement, will not be able to exercise voting rights attaching to the ordinary shares evidenced by the ADSs on an individual basis. The Depositary or its nominee will act as the representative for the holders of the ADSs and will exercise the voting rights attached to the ordinary shares represented by the ADSs. Holders of our ADSs may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the Depositary to vote, and it is possible that they, or persons who hold their ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a right to vote. Furthermore, the Depositary will not be liable for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, holders of our ADSs may not be able to exercise voting rights and may lack recourse if their ADSs are not voted as requested. In addition, holders of our ADSs will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.
Holders of our ADSs may not receive distributions on our ordinary shares represented by the ADSs or any value for them if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to holders of ADSs.
Although we do not have any present plans to declare or pay any dividends, in the event we declare and pay any dividend, the Depositary for the ADSs has agreed to pay to holders of our ADSs the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. Holders of our ADSs will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of our ordinary shares their ADSs represent. However, in accordance with the limitations set forth in the deposit agreement, it may be unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to holders of the ADSs. We have no obligation to take any other action to permit distribution on the ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of the ADSs. This means that holders of our ADSs may not receive the distributions we make on our ordinary shares or any value from them if it is unlawful or impractical to make them available to you. These restrictions may have an adverse effect on the value of the ADSs.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our ADSs in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be our ADS holders’ and shareholders’ sole source of gains and they may never receive a return on their investment.
Under current English law, a company’s accumulated realized profits must exceed its accumulated realized losses (on a non-consolidated basis) before dividends can be paid. Therefore, we must have distributable profits before issuing a dividend. We have never declared or paid a dividend on our ordinary shares in the past, and we currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, on our ADSs will be our ADS holders’ sole source of gains for the foreseeable future, and they will suffer a loss on their investment if they are unable to sell their ADSs at or above the price at which they purchased the ADSs.
If we are a passive foreign investment company, there could be adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders.
Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, we will be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for any taxable year in which (1) 75% or more of our gross income consists of passive income or (2) 50% or more of the average quarterly value of our assets consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income, including cash. For purposes of these tests, passive income includes dividends, interest, gains from the sale or exchange of investment property and certain rents and royalties. In addition, for purposes of the above calculations, a non-U.S. corporation that directly or indirectly owns at least 25% by value of the shares of another corporation is treated as if it held its proportionate share of the assets and received directly its proportionate share of the income of such other corporation. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder (as defined in Item 10.E. “Taxation - Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders”) holds our ADSs, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse tax consequences regardless of whether we continue to qualify as a PFIC, including ineligibility for any preferred tax rates on capital gains or on actual or deemed dividends, interest charges on certain taxes treated as deferred, and additional reporting requirements.
We do not believe we were a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2020. Based on our current estimates of expected gross assets and income, we do not believe we will be a PFIC for our taxable year ending December 31, 2021. However, no assurances regarding our PFIC status can be provided for any past, current or future taxable years. The determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis and the applicable law is subject to varying interpretation. In particular, the characterization of our assets as active or passive may depend in part on our current and intended future business plans, which are subject to change. In addition, for our current and future taxable years, the total value of our assets for PFIC testing purposes may be determined in part by reference to the market price of our ordinary shares or ADSs from time to time, which may fluctuate considerably. Under the income test, our status as a PFIC depends on the composition of our income which will depend on the transactions we enter into in the future and our corporate structure. The composition of our income and assets is also affected by how, and how quickly, we spend the cash we raise in any offering. Our U.S. counsel expresses no opinion with
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respect to our PFIC status for our taxable year ended December 31, 2020, and also expresses no opinion with regard to our expectations regarding our PFIC status in the future.
If we are a PFIC, U.S. Holders (as defined in Item 10.E. “Taxation - Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders) of our ADSs would be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences, such as ineligibility for any preferred tax rates on capital gains or on actual or deemed dividends, interest charges on certain taxes treated as deferred, and additional reporting requirements under U.S. federal income tax laws and regulations. For further discussion of the PFIC rules and the adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences in the event we are classified as a PFIC, see Item 10.E. “Taxation - Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders” in this Annual Report.
If a United States person is treated as owning at least 10% of our ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, such holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.
If a U.S. Holder is treated as owning (directly, indirectly or constructively through the application of attribution rules) at least 10% of the value or voting power of our ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, such U.S. Holder may be treated as a “United States shareholder” with respect to each “controlled foreign corporation” in our group (if any). Because our group includes at least one U.S. subsidiary (Autolus Inc.), certain of our non-U.S. subsidiaries may be treated as controlled foreign corporations (regardless of whether Autolus Therapeutics plc is treated as a controlled foreign corporation). A United States shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation may be required to annually report and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of “Subpart F income,” “global intangible low-taxed income” and investments in U.S. property by controlled foreign corporations, regardless of whether we make any distributions. An individual that is a United States shareholder with respect to a controlled foreign corporation generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a United States shareholder that is a U.S. corporation. We cannot provide any assurances that we will assist investors in determining whether any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries, if any, are treated as a controlled foreign corporation or whether such investor is treated as a United States shareholder with respect to any of such controlled foreign corporations. Further, we cannot provide any assurances that we will furnish to any U.S. shareholder information that may be necessary to comply with the reporting and tax paying obligations discussed above. Failure to comply with these reporting obligations may subject you to significant monetary penalties and may prevent the statute of limitations with respect to your U.S. federal income tax return for the year for which reporting was due from starting. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to their investment in our ADSs.
Future changes to tax laws could materially adversely affect our company and reduce net returns to our shareholders.
The tax treatment of the company is, and our ADSs and ordinary shares are, subject to changes in tax laws, regulations and treaties, or the interpretation thereof, tax policy initiatives and reforms under consideration and the practices of tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as tax policy initiatives and reforms related to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s, or OECD, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, or BEPS, Project, the European Commission’s state aid investigations and other initiatives.
Such changes may include (but are not limited to) the taxation of operating income, investment income, dividends received or (in the specific context of withholding tax) dividends paid, or the stamp duty of stamp duty reserve tax treatment of our ADSs or ordinary shares. We are unable to predict what tax reform may be proposed or enacted in the future or what effect such changes would have on our business, but such changes, to the extent they are brought into tax legislation, regulations, policies or practices, could affect our financial position and overall or effective tax rates in the future in countries where we have operations, reduce post-tax returns to our shareholders, and increase the complexity, burden and cost of tax compliance.
Tax authorities may disagree with our positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, or may apply existing rules in an unforeseen manner, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realization of expected benefits.
A tax authority may disagree with tax positions that we have taken, which could result in increased tax liabilities. For example, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or another tax authority could challenge our allocation of income by tax jurisdiction and the amounts paid between our affiliated companies pursuant to our intercompany arrangements and transfer pricing policies, including amounts paid with respect to our intellectual property development. Similarly, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable connection, often referred to as a ‘‘permanent establishment’’ under international tax treaties, and such an assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions. A tax authority may take the position that material income tax liabilities, interest and penalties are payable by us, in which case, we expect that we might contest such assessment. Contesting such an assessment may be lengthy and costly and if we were unsuccessful in disputing the assessment, the implications could increase our anticipated effective tax rate, where applicable.
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We may be unable to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments or benefits from favorable U.K. tax legislation.
As a U.K. resident trading entity, we are subject to U.K. corporate taxation. Due to the nature of our business, we have generated losses since inception. As of December 31, 2020 we had cumulative carryforward tax losses of $211.7 million. Subject to any relevant utilization criteria and restrictions (including those that limit the percentage of profits that can be reduced by carried forward losses and those that can restrict the use of carried forward losses where there is a change of ownership of more than half the ordinary shares of the company and a major change in the nature, conduct or scale of the trade), we expect these to be eligible for carry forward and utilization against future operating profits. As a company that carries out extensive research and development activities, we benefit from the U.K. research and development tax relief programs, being the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises R&D tax relief program, or SME Program, and, to the extent that our projects are grant funded or relate to work subcontracted to the company by third parties, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit program, or RDEC Program. Under the SME Program, we are able to surrender some of our trading losses that arise from our qualifying research and development activities for a cash rebate of up to 33.35% of such qualifying research and development expenditures. The majority of our pipeline research, clinical trials management and manufacturing development activities are eligible for inclusion within these tax credit cash rebate claims. We may not be able to continue to claim payable research and development tax credits in the future if we cease to qualify as a SME, based on size criteria concerning employee headcount, turnover and gross assets. The U.K. Government has published draft legislation by which it intends to introduce a cap on payable credit claims in excess of £20,000 with effect from April 2021 by reference to, broadly, three times the total PAYE and NICs liability of the company, subject to an exception. If such cap comes into force, and if such exception does not apply, this could restrict the amount of payable credit that we claim.
We may benefit in the future from the United Kingdom’s “patent box” regime, which allows certain profits attributable to revenues from patented products (and other qualifying income) to be taxed at an effective rate of 10% by giving an additional tax deduction. We are the exclusive licensee or owner of one patent and several patent applications which, if issued, would cover our product candidates, and accordingly, future upfront fees, milestone fees, product revenues and royalties could be eligible for this deduction. When taken in combination with the enhanced relief available on our research and development expenditures, we expect a long-term rate of corporation tax lower than statutory to apply to us. If, however, there are unexpected adverse changes to the U.K. research and development tax credit regime or the “patent box” regime, or for any reason we are unable to qualify for such advantageous tax legislation, or we are unable to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments then our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. This may impact our ongoing requirement for investment and the timeframes within which additional investment is required.
We will incur significantly increased costs and demands upon management as a result of being a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.
As a public company listed in the United States, we have and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur previously. These expenses will likely be even more significant after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of Nasdaq and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies in the United States, including the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our senior management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to maintain director and officer liability insurance, which in turn could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified senior management personnel or members for our board of directors.
We are an “emerging growth company” and as a result of the reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, our ADSs may be less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404, exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As an emerging growth company, we are able to report only two years of financial results and selected financial data compared to three and five years, respectively, for comparable data reported by other public companies. We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the aggregate market value of our ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of our second fiscal quarter before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31 (the last day of our fiscal year). We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive because we may rely on these
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exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and the price of our ADSs may be more volatile.
Under Section 107(b) of the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we are subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to and follow certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards. These practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards.
As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to and follow certain home country corporate governance practices as opposed to those requirements that would otherwise be required by the Nasdaq Stock Market for domestic U.S. issuers. Following our home country governance practices allows us to follow English corporate law and the Companies Act with regard to certain corporate governance matters as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to U.S. companies listed on Nasdaq may provide less protection to our shareholders than what is accorded to investors under the Nasdaq rules applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules and regulations under the Exchange Act related to the furnishing and content of proxy statements. Our officers, directors and principal shareholders are also exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we are not required under the Exchange Act to file reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. domestic companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act and we are exempt from filing quarterly reports with the SEC under the Exchange Act. We also intend to continue to follow English corporate governance practices in lieu of the following corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq: (i) disclosure requirement within four business days of any determination to grant a waiver of the code of business conduct and ethics to directors and officers and (ii) requirement to obtain shareholder approval for certain issuances of securities, including shareholder approval of option plans. Moreover, we are not required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information, although we have voluntarily adopted a corporate disclosure policy substantially similar to Regulation FD. These exemptions and leniencies will reduce the frequency and scope of information and protections to which you may otherwise have been translated from pounds sterling intoeligible in relation to a U.S. dollars atdomestic issuer.
We may lose our foreign private issuer status in the rate of £1.00future, which could result in significant additional costs and expenses.
As discussed above, we are a foreign private issuer, and therefore, we are not required to $1.3053 and £1.00 to $1.3402, which were the noon buying ratescomply with all of the Federal Reserve Bankperiodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of New Yorkthe Exchange Act. The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and, accordingly, the next determination will be made with respect to us on June 30, 2021. We would lose our foreign private issuer status if, for example, more than 50% of our ordinary shares are directly or indirectly held by residents of the United States and we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to maintain our foreign private issuer status.
If we lose our foreign private issuer status on this determination date, we will be required to file with the SEC periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms beginning on January 1, 2022, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. We will also have to mandatorily comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders will become subject to the short-swing profit disclosure and recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we will lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements under the Nasdaq listing rules. As a U.S. listed public company that is not a foreign private issuer, we would incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we do not currently incur as a foreign private issuer, as well as increased accounting, reporting and other expenses in order to maintain a listing on a U.S. securities exchange.
Provisions in the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers that may have anti-takeover effects do not currently apply to us.
The U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Code, applies to an offer for, among other things, a public company whose registered office is in the United Kingdom if the company is considered by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Panel, to have its place of central management and control in the United Kingdom (or the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man). This is known as the “residency test.” The test for central management and control under the Takeover Code is different from that used by the U.K. tax authorities. Under the Takeover Code, the Takeover Panel will determine whether we have our place of central management and control in the United Kingdom by looking at various factors, primarily where the directors are resident.
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In June 2019, the Takeover Panel Executive confirmed that, based on our current circumstances, we are not subject to the Takeover Code. As a result, our shareholders are not entitled to the benefit of certain takeover offer protections provided under the Takeover Code. We believe that this position is unlikely to change at any time in the near future but, in accordance with good practice, we will review the situation on a regular basis and consult with the Takeover Panel if there is any change in our circumstances which may have a bearing on whether the Takeover Panel would determine our place of central management and control to be in the United Kingdom.
You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, conduct most of our operations outside the United States and most of our directors and senior management reside outside the United States.
We are incorporated and have our registered office in, and are currently existing under the laws of, England and Wales. In addition, most of our tangible assets are located, and most of our senior management and directors reside, outside of the United States. As a result, it may not be possible to serve process within the United States on certain directors or us or to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against such directors or us based on civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon such persons or to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against them or us, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws.
The United States and the United Kingdom do not currently have a treaty providing for recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters. Consequently, a final judgment for payment given by a court in the United States, whether or not predicated solely upon U.S. securities laws, would not automatically be recognized or enforceable in the United Kingdom. In addition, uncertainty exists as to whether English courts would entertain original actions brought in the United Kingdom against us or our directors or senior management predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. Any final and conclusive monetary judgment for a definite sum obtained against us in U.S. courts would be treated by English courts as a cause of action in itself and sued upon as a debt at common law so that no retrial of the issues would be necessary, provided that certain requirements are met.
Whether these requirements are met in respect of a judgment based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities laws, including whether the award of monetary damages under such laws would constitute a penalty, is subject to determination by the court making such decision. If an English court gives judgment for the sum payable under a U.S. judgment, the English judgment will be enforceable by methods generally available for this purpose. These methods generally permit the English court discretion to prescribe the manner of enforcement.
As a result, U.S. investors may not be able to enforce against us or certain of our directors any judgments obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters, including judgments under the U.S. federal securities laws.
As an English public limited company, certain capital structure decisions will require shareholder approval, which may limit our flexibility to manage our capital structure.
On June 18, 2018, we altered the legal status of our company under English law from a private limited company by re-registering as a public limited company and changing our name from Autolus Therapeutics Limited to Autolus Therapeutics plc. English law provides that a board of directors may only allot shares (or rights to subscribe for or convertible into shares) with the prior authorization of shareholders, such authorization stating the aggregate nominal amount of shares that it covers and valid for a maximum period of five years, each as specified in the articles of association or relevant shareholder resolution. We have obtained authority from our shareholders to allot additional shares for a period of five years from June 2018 (being the date on which we adopted our articles of association containing the relevant authorization), up to a maximum nominal amount of $8,400, which authorization will need to be renewed upon expiration (i.e., at least every five years) but may be sought more frequently for additional five-year terms (or any shorter period).
English law also generally provides shareholders with preemptive rights when new shares are issued for cash. However, it is possible for the articles of association, or for shareholders to pass a special resolution at a general meeting, being a resolution passed by at least 75% of the votes cast, to disapply preemptive rights. Such a disapplication of preemptive rights may be for a maximum period of up to five years from the date of adoption of the articles of association, if the disapplication is contained in the articles of association, or from the date of the shareholder special resolution, if the disapplication is by shareholder special resolution. In either case, this disapplication would need to be renewed by our shareholders upon its expiration (i.e., at least every five years). We have obtained authority from our shareholders to disapply preemptive rights for a period of five years from June 2018 (being the date at which we adopted our articles of association containing the relevant disapplication) up to a maximum nominal amount of $8,400, which disapplication will need to be renewed upon expiration (i.e., at least every five years) to remain effective, but may be sought more frequently for additional five-year terms (or any shorter period).
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English law also generally prohibits a public company from repurchasing its own shares without the prior approval of shareholders by ordinary resolution, being a resolution passed by a simple majority of votes cast, and other formalities. Such approval may be for a maximum period of up to five years.
Our articles of association designates that the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.
Our articles of association provides that the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. This choice of forum provision may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits. If a court were to find either choice of forum provision contained in our articles of association to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish unfavorable research or reports, about us, our business or our market, the price and trading volume of our ADSs could decline.
The trading market for our ADSs is influenced by the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. As a newly public company, we have only limited research coverage by equity research analysts. Equity research analysts may elect not to provide research coverage of our ADSs, and such lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. Even if we have equity research analyst coverage, we will not have any control over the analysts, or the content and opinions included in their reports. The price of our ADSs could decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrade our ADSs or issue other unfavorable commentary or research about us. If one or more equity research analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our ADSs could decrease, which in turn could cause the trading price or trading volume of our ADSs to decline.
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Item 4. Information on the Company.
A.History and development of the company.
We are a public limited company, originally incorporated pursuant to the laws of England and Wales in February 2018 as a private company with limited liability called Autolus Therapeutics Limited. Autolus Limited was originally incorporated under the laws of England and Wales in July 2014. Pursuant to the terms of a corporate reorganization, the shareholders of Autolus Limited exchanged each of the shares held by them in Autolus Limited for the same number and class of newly issued shares of Autolus Therapeutics Limited and, as a result, Autolus Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of Autolus Therapeutics Limited, a holding company incorporated in February 2018 with nominal assets and liabilities, which had not conducted any operations prior to the share exchange other than actions incidental to the exchange and its incorporation. On June 18, 2018, Autolus Therapeutics Limited re-registered as a public limited company and was renamed Autolus Therapeutics plc. Following the re-registration of Autolus Therapeutics Limited as a public limited company, Autolus Limited reduced its issued share capital pursuant to Part 17 of the Companies Act by way of the cancellation of all of its issued series A preferred shares, C ordinary shares, deferred shares and all but 100 B ordinary shares. On June 22, 2018, the different classes of our issued share capital were converted into a single class of ordinary shares and various classes of deferred shares, and we completed our IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Our ADSs trade under the symbol AUTL. Our ordinary shares are not listed.
Our registered office and principal executive offices are located at Forest House, 58 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 7RZ, United Kingdom and our telephone number is +44 20 3829 6230. Our website address is www.autolus.com. Information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not a part of, and shall not be incorporated by reference into, this document. We have included our website address in this document solely as an inactive textual reference. The SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants, such as us, that file electronically with the SEC.
Our agent for service of process in the United States is Corporation Service Company, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 210, New York, New York 10036.
Our capital expenditures for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the three months ended December 31, 2018, and year ended September 30, 2018 amounted to $14.7 million, $18.3 million, $4.4 million, and 2017,$9.5 million, respectively. These translations should notcapital expenditures primarily consisted of leasehold improvements, laboratory equipment, and computer and office equipment in the United Kingdom. We expect our capital expenditures to increase in absolute terms in the near term as we continue to advance our research and development programs, to expand our internal manufacturing capabilities, and otherwise to grow our operations. We anticipate our capital expenditures in 2021 to be considered representations that any such amounts have been, could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars at that or any other exchange rate asfinanced from the proceeds from our existing cash and cash equivalents, including the net proceeds from the sale of that or any other date.ADSs under our at-the-market offering program in January 2021 and our follow-on capital raise in February 2021 .
B. Business overview.
We are a biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Using our broad suite of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, we are engineering precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and attack and kill these cells. We believe our programmed T cell therapies have the potential to be best-in-class and offer cancer patients substantial benefits over the existing standard of care, including the potential for cure in some patients.
Cancers thrive on their ability to fend off T cells by evading recognition by T cells and by establishing other defense mechanisms, such as checkpoint inhibition, and creating a hostile microenvironment. Our T cell programming technologies allow us to tailor our therapies to address the specific cancer we are targeting and introduce new programming modules into a patient’s T cells to give those T cells improved properties to better recognize cancer cells and overcome fundamental cancer defense mechanisms. We believe our leadership in T cell programming technologies will provide us with a competitive advantage as we look to develop future generations of T cell therapies targeting both hematological cancers and solid tumors, including potential products that could have a tolerability profile such to make them amenable to be used in outpatient settings.
Our current clinical-stage pipeline comprises five programs being developed in eight hematological and solid tumor indications. We have worldwide commercial rights to all of our programmed T cell therapies.
Our current clinical-stage programs are:
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| AUTO1: | A CD19-targeting programmed T cell investigational therapy with a CD19 binder designed to improve the efficacy and safety profile, as compared to other CD19 CAR T therapies. In December 2020, we announced updated data that supports AUTO1’s anti-leukemia activity in the absence of severe cytokine release syndrome, or CRS, in ALLCAR19, an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial in adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute B lymphocytic leukemia, or Adult ALL. Data presented showed AUTO1 was well tolerated, despite patients having high disease burden and being heavily pre-treated. High level of sustained complete response rate, or CR, were achieved without need for subsequent stem cell transplant and durability of remissions was highly encouraging. We initiated a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial of AUTO1 for the treatment of adult ALL in 2020. This trial may potentially be a registrational trial. In addition, we are exploring activity for AUTO1 in other B-Cell malignancies. The AUTO1 ALLCAR19 Phase 1 trial has been extended in B cell lymphomas including indolent NHL, or iNHL, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL. We presented initial data from four patients with iNHL at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, or ASH. Furthermore, AUTO1 will be investigated in primary CNS lymphoma, or PCNSL, in collaboration with our academic partner University College London, or UCL, in an exploratory Phase 1 clinical trial called CAROUSEL, expected to start in the first quarter of 2021. We expect to provide updates from these additional studies in 2021. Furthermore, we may pursue a pediatric label through an investigational program in pediatric ALL. | ||||
| AUTO1/22: | We commenced a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL with our next-generation product candidate, AUTO1/22, (previously designated AUTO1NG) in the fourth quarter of 2020. AUTO1/22 is a dual-targeting CAR-T which builds on the AUTO1 approach utilizing the same CD19 CAR, alongside a novel CD22 CAR designed to reduce antigen negative relapse of disease. We expect to report initial data from this trial in the fourth quarter of 2021. | ||||
| AUTO3: | The first dual-targeting, bicistronic, or having two chimeric antigen receptors within one vector, programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or r/r DLBCL, independently targeting B-lymphocyte antigens CD19 and CD22. DLBCL (ALEXANDER Trial): We initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO3 in DLBCL in the third quarter of 2017 and reported initial data from the dose-escalation phase of the trial in the fourth quarter of 2018. Since then, we have periodically reported updated safety and efficacy results indicating that AUTO3 was generally well tolerated. Data presented in December 2020 from the cohort of patients receiving the recommended Phase 2 dose (doses of greater than or equal to 150 x 106 CAR T cells) and pre-conditioning pembrolizumab on day minus 1, showed an objective response rate, or ORR, of 66% and CR rate, of 55%. For all patients on study, across all dose levels, that were evaluable in the trial (n = 49), the ORR was 65% and CR rate was 51%. As of the data cut-off date of October 30, 2020, 49 patients in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO3 have been treated and were evaluable for safety. Across all 49 patients, only three cases of neurotoxicity, or NT, have been reported, with two patients experiencing Grade 3 or higher NT. None of the patients achieving a CR experienced any NT and all cases of NT reported have been atypical in nature and seen in a setting with disease progression and confounding factors. A majority of patients receiving AUTO3 in the outpatient setting did not require hospital admission. Those patients admitted were managed without requiring ICU care. In January 2021, we announced our intent to seek a partner for the AUTO3 program before progressing the program into the next phase of development. | ||||
| AUTO4: | A programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma targeting TRBC1. Unique targeting of TRBC1 potentially opens a new therapeutic approach. The preclinical study package suggested selective binding and anti-tumor activity of TRBC1 and TRBC2 CARs in vitro and in vivo. We initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in the fourth quarter of 2018 and we expect to report Phase 1 interim data in 2021. | ||||
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| AUTO6: | A programmed T cell investigational therapy targeting GD2 in development for the treatment of neuroblastoma utilizing a new binder designed to minimize on-target, off-tumor toxicity, humanized to reduce immunogenicity, including RQR8 safety switch. Findings from a Phase 1 clinical trial with AUTO6 were published in November 2020 and provide evidence that AUTO6 induces clinical activity in this solid tumor setting without inducing on-target off-tumor toxicity. We are developing a next-generation product candidate, which we refer to as AUTO6NG, which builds on this approach utilizing the same GD2 CAR alongside additional programming modules to enhance the activity and persistence. In June 2020, we presented preclinical data of AUTO6NG, including data from a tumor model in small cell lung cancer indicating that GD2 is an attractive target for programmed T cell therapies in that indication. We expect to initiate a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO6NG in 2021. | ||||
Our Pipeline
Our product pipeline is built on our core principles of modular innovation with protein-based cell programming focused on advanced targeting, pharmacological control and enhancement of activity. After identifying a cancer target, we select the suite of programming modules that we believe is best suited to target that particular cancer based on the latest clinical data and the results of our cancer research. The particular modules selected may vary, and not every product candidate, including our current product candidates, contain all categories of modules. A viral vector is used to introduce combinations of these modules into the DNA of the T cells, as depicted in the graphic below. The diagram below shows how our programming modules relate to our product candidates.
Our programs have been highly tailored and specifically engineered via our proprietary modules, and have the potential to be truly differentiated assets that could address limitations of current treatments and provide innovative options for patients.
AUTO1 has an optimized engagement of the CD19 target designed to enhance the persistence of AUTO1. We believe that these properties may enable AUTO1 to be a suitable candidate for the treatment of adult patients with ALL, who tend to be less tolerant of severe toxicity than children with ALL. There are currently no CAR T cell therapies approved for the treatment of adult ALL. AUTO1/22 builds on the AUTO1 approach utilizing the same CD19 CAR alongside a novel CD22 CAR designed to reduce antigen negative relapse of disease.
AUTO3 is designed to address a key escape route used by hematological cancers in response to T cell therapies. Cancer cells often mutate and cease to express the antigen that current therapies were designed to recognize. This loss of the target antigen can lead to antigen negative relapse of disease. Consequently, we have developed AUTO3 to employ a dual-targeting mechanism because we believe it may improve response rate and durability of treatment response and reduce the frequency of cancer relapse when compared to other currently approved single-targeting T cell therapies, including other CAR T cell therapies.
AUTO4, which we are developing for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma, employs a novel and differentiated treatment approach. AUTO4 is designed to selectively kill cancerous T cells in a manner that we believe will preserve a portion of the patient’s normal, healthy T cells to maintain immunity. It targets an antigen, TRBC1 found on approximately 40% of T cell lymphomas. Since our AUTO4 approach is a novel mechanism to target T cells, we have also programmed the product candidate with a “safety switch” in order to allow physicians to manage toxicity by eliminating the programmed T cells if a patient experiences severe adverse side effects from the treatment. AUTO5 is a preclinical TRBC2 programmed T cell product candidate for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma. TRBC2 is found on approximately 60% of T cell lymphomas. We plan to progress AUTO5 into the clinic in the second half of 2021, subject to clinical data from the AUTO4 program.
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We are developing AUTO6NG, which builds upon AUTO6 data by incorporating additional programming modules intended to enhance efficacy by aiming to extend persistence, and address the layers of defense that cancer cells deploy to evade T cell killing.
AUTO7, our anti-PSMA humanized CAR T candidate, is being developed for prostate cancer indications and is expected to start clinical development in 2022. AUTO7 is designed to tackle the complex solid tumor environment, through the addition of modules, introduced in the cells via a gamma retro-viral vector, for potentially improved persistence and resistance in prostate cancer.
AUTO8 is our next-generation product candidate for multiple myeloma which targets both BCMA and a second, undisclosed target. We also plan on incorporating in this investigational CAR T cell therapy two programming modules, a dominant negative TGFßRII protein and a truncated SHP2 protein, designed to block inhibitory signals from the tumor microenvironment. We believe that the final design of AUTO8 has the potential to induce deep and durable responses and extend the durability of effect over other BCMA CARs currently in development. We expect to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in multiple myeloma in the first half of 2021.
We expect to continue in 2021 to expand our suite of cell programming technologies to include programming modules designed for allogeneic applications. A first novel allogeneic program is expected to enter the clinic in the first half of 2021.
The manufacture and delivery of programmed T cell therapies to patients involves complex, integrated processes, including harvesting T cells from patients, programming the T cells ex vivo, or outside the body, multiplying the programmed T cells to obtain the desired dose, and ultimately infusing the programmed T cells back into a patient’s body. Providing T cell therapies to patients in a commercially successful manner requires a manufacturing process that is reliable, scalable and economical. We are using a semi-automated, fully enclosed system for cell manufacturing, which is designed to provide a common platform suitable for manufacturing all of our product candidates and to allow for rapid development of our product candidates through clinical trial phases and the regulatory approval processes. In addition, this platform allows for parallel processing and the ability to scale for commercial supply in a controlled environment and at an economical cost. We intend to continue building internal manufacturing and supply capabilities as well as to utilize the expertise of collaborators on some of the aspects of product delivery, logistics and capacity expansion. We believe having established manufacturing processes suitable for commercialization early in the development of our T cell therapies will allow us to focus on expanding manufacturing capacity during our clinical trials.
We anticipate that the market for T cell therapies will be characterized by rapid cycling of product improvements. We believe our modular approach to T cell programming and the common manufacturing platform used across all our T cell therapies will position us to more quickly develop follow-on, or next- generation, product candidates with enhanced characteristics, such as pharmacological control, insensitivity to checkpoint inhibition or other desirable features.
Our Management Team
Our management team has a strong track record of accomplishments in the fields of redirected T cell therapies, gene therapy, transplantation and oncology. Their collective experience spans key areas of expertise required of a fully integrated company delivering advanced programmed T cell therapies, including fundamental innovation in therapeutic design, translational medicine and clinical development, process sciences, manufacturing and commercialization. We are led by Dr. Christian Itin, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. His prior experience includes serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Micromet, Inc., a public biotechnology company acquired by Amgen Inc. in 2012 for $1.2 billion, where he led the development of blinatumomab, which in 2014 became the first redirected T cell therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. Our proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies were invented by Dr. Martin Pulé, our scientific founder and Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Pulé has been an innovator in the field of genetic engineering of T cells for cancer treatment for almost 20 years.
Background on T Cells and Cancer Treatment Approaches
Cancers originate from individual cells that have developed mutations in essential cellular programs, driving increased cell division and growth. A key control mechanism to detect and eliminate such cells is the patient’s own T cells. T cells are a type of white blood cells used by the human immune system to defend the body against infectious pathogens and cancerous cells. Using their T cell receptor like a molecular scanner, T cells are able to discriminate between normal human cells and ones that contain a mutation that alters their function. If the T cell recognizes an altered cell, it becomes activated and kills that particular cell. For a cancer to grow to the detriment of the patient, cancer cells evolve mechanisms to evade recognition by, or establish other defenses against, T cells.
T Cell Activation- and Redirection-Based Therapies
Cancer immunotherapy treatment requires the activation and expansion of cancer-specific T cells, which kill cancer cells by recognizing antigen targets expressed on cancer cells. Studies have shown that tumors develop escape mechanisms that prevent T cell-mediated destruction through immune checkpoint proteins, which shut down anti-tumor immunity. Clinical trials have shown that treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors can restore T cell activity and results in durable clinical responses. These observations
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have led to the FDA approval of several checkpoint inhibitors including ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4), nivolumab (anti-PD-1), pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1), durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) and atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1). Treatment with checkpoint inhibitors has shown the ability to activate CD8+ T cells, shrink tumors, and improve patient survival. While these approaches collectively represented major advances in cancer treatment, they all lack active redirection of the patient’s T cells to the cancer, eventually limiting clinical activity.
More recently, redirected T cell therapies that are designed to give the patient’s T cells a new specificity to recognize cancer cells have been developed. The first approved product of this class is a bi-specific T cell engager called blinatumomab (Blincyto®) from Amgen Inc. Blinatumomab targets the CD19 antigen on the surface of B cells and cancers derived from B cells. Blinatumomab received an accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or B-ALL, in 2014, followed by a full approval for all age groups in B-ALL in 2017. In 2017, the first two genetically programmed redirected T cell therapies were approved, both also targeting CD19, CAR-T therapy Kymriah® by Novartis AG for pediatric B-ALL and Yescarta® by Kite Pharma, Inc. (acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc.) for DLBCL. All three of these therapies received breakthrough therapy designation and showed high response rates and, in a subset of patients, prolonged treatment effects. For those patients experiencing a relapse, the common causes for relapse are insufficient survival of the programmed T cells, loss of the CD19 target on the cancer cells and upregulation of checkpoint inhibitor PD-L1 on the cancer cells.
In view of the limitations of current therapies, there remains a critical unmet medical need for improved T cell therapies. We believe that improving efficacy and durability over the products currently on the market or in development for the treatment of cancers requires addressing target antigen loss, countering checkpoint inhibition and adding novel targets to expand the range of indications amenable to programmed T cell therapy. We believe our clinical-stage product candidates and our approach to T cell programming have the potential to address these limitations.
Programmed T Cell Therapies
Process of T Cell Programming
Existing programmed T cell therapies for oncology have focused on engineering CAR T cells. CARs are membrane-bound proteins, combining the tumor-recognition properties of an antibody with the naturally occurring T cell activation mechanism. CARs are designed such that a portion on the outside of the T cell binds to a structure on the surface of a cancer cell and a portion on the inside of a T cell transmits an activating signal and leads the T cell to attack the cancer cell. The actual steps to create CAR T cells start with leukapheresis, a process in which white blood cells are collected from the patient and separated from the blood. The sample is then enriched by stimulating the T cells, which causes them to replicate. During that process, a viral gene vector is used to introduce the genetic information encoding the CAR into the DNA of the T cells. T cells then read this information and produce CARs on their cell surface. The programmed T cells are then infused back into the patient intravenously following a short course of chemotherapy to condition the bone marrow to accept the programmed T cells.
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Limitations of Current T Cell Immunotherapies
Although existing T cell immunotherapies, including CAR T therapies, have shown significant efficacy in hematological malignancies, the extent and duration of the treatment effects and disease remission remain unknown. Optimizing the targeting module of a programmed T cell may enhance its effect and safety. Also, in response to targeted therapies, cancer cells often mutate and cease to express the antigen the therapy was designed to recognize. This loss of target antigen leads to patient relapse. Additionally, numerous challenges, including lack of T cell persistence and upregulation of checkpoint inhibitors, represent significant hurdles that need to be addressed by new therapies. T cell immunotherapies also have the capacity to elicit toxicities including CRS, neurologic toxicity and the elimination of normal cells via on-target off tumor recognition. Further, manufacturing T cells can be prohibitively costly if the manufacturing process is not appropriately designed to support parallel processing and automation. Finally, realization of the potential of this approach across a broad range of solid tumor types will require multiple technology solutions in order to address limitations of the current generation of therapies. Our broad array of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies are designed to address these limitations.
Our Solution: Advanced T Cell Programming Using a Modular Approach
We are applying our broad array of T cell programming technologies and capabilities to engineer precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and attack and kill these cells. The breadth of our technology platform allows us to select from a range of programming modules, and our modular approach is designed to enable us to tailor our therapies to address the specific cancer we are targeting, or to improve an already established therapy, such as by making it suitable for outpatient use. We believe this capability represents a competitive advantage in the field and will allow us to position our product candidates to have the potential to be best-in-class.
After identifying a cancer target, we select the suite of programming modules that we believe is best suited to target that particular cancer based on our latest clinical data and the results of our cancer research. The particular modules selected may vary, and not every product candidate, including our current product candidates, contain all categories of modules. A viral vector is used to introduce combinations of these modules into the DNA of the T cells, as depicted in the graphic below. With the exception of AUTO1, all of our product candidates contain two or more programming modules. The diagram in this section following the table summarizing our clinical programs shows how our programming modules relate to our product candidates.
Advanced Targeting Technologies Used in our Modular Approach
We have developed advanced antigen targeting modules to improve the ability of our programmed T cell therapies to selectively identify, target and destroy cancer cells and overcome shortcomings of the current generation of T cell therapies. These targeting technologies include innovative binders, novel targets, dual-targeting and pattern recognition.
Innovative Binders and Novel Targets
Binding domains allow for selective targeting of cancer cells, and the properties of binders are crucial to the performance of T cell therapies. The binders of each of our programs have been optimized, are novel binders, or bind to novel targets.
The T cells of other CD19 CAR T cell therapies that have been approved or that are in clinical development are engineered to express high affinity binders that can engage their targets for an extended period of time. This can lead to excessive T cell activation and toxicities caused by cytokine release, as well as exhaustion of the CAR T cell. The programmed T cells of AUTO1 express a CD19 binder with a fast off-rate, which refers to the rate at which a T cell disengages from a target antigen. This is similar to the off-rate of naturally occurring T cells. AUTO1, with this enhanced kinetic profile, appears to result in reduced CRS and in increased T cell engraftment compared to data reported for other CAR T cell product candidates in clinical development for ALL that use high affinity binders.
AUTO3 includes an optimized CD22 binder that increases the avidity for the CD22 target. It is challenging to target CD22 for immunotherapy because of its large size and extensive post-translational modifications. Our optimized CD22 binder combines five CAR binding domains to allow for suitable orientation and efficient target engagement compared to a traditional CAR.
Each of the TRBC1 binder used in AUTO4 and TRBC2 binder used in AUTO5 are highly selective for one of two highly related variants of the constant domain in T cell receptor beta chains. These binders allow AUTO4 to target TRBC1-positive T cell lymphoma cells without affecting healthy TRBC2-positive T cells and allow AUTO5 to target TRBC2-positive T cell lymphoma cells without affecting healthy TRBC1-positive T cells
AUTO6 is designed to target GD2 with an optimized anti-GD2 binder which uses a humanized targeting domain. Initial clinical data from an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial sponsored by CRUK indicates early signs of clinical activity in the absence of neurotoxicity.
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Dual-Targeting Technology
Escape from T cell recognition by losing the antigen, the very structure the programmed T cell is designed to recognize, is a fundamental defense mechanism of hematological cancers. All clinical programs targeting CD19, CD22 or BCMA in a single-target approach have reported patients relapsing with cells that no longer have detectable levels of the target antigen. A notable example of this defense mechanism of cancer cells was reported for children relapsing under CD19-targeting Kymriah treatment, with more than half the children at time of relapse showing a loss of the CD19 antigen on the recurring cancer cells.
We believe that directly targeting two antigens on a cancer cell will reduce the chances for relapse and may also improve a response in those patients with low levels of expression of a target antigen on their cancer cells. AUTO8, our programmed T cell therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma, binds to two receptors, BCMA and a second undisclosed target. AUTO3, the first dual-targeting programmed T cell therapy for the treatment of pediatric ALL and DLBCL, targets both the CD19 and CD22 antigens, both of which are B-cell antigens with similar patterns of expression.
Pattern Recognition Technology
Programmed T cells are very powerful and must be highly selective for the cancer cells in order to avoid unwanted side effects. Particularly for the treatment of solid tumors, which have greater complexity, achieving a sufficient level of selectivity based on a single target to avoid toxicity can be challenging. For such cancers, we have developed a programming module designed to make a kill decision based on the presence of two or more targets on the cancer cell. This technology is designed to allow us to program T cells to eliminate tumor cells only if two different targets are both present on the surface of the cell, thereby sparing healthy cells that express only one of these targets in isolation. We are also developing technology that we believe will allow us to program T cells to eliminate a tumor if only the tumor target, but not a target only found on healthy cells, is present on the cancer cell.
Pharmacological Control of T Cell Activity
Management of toxicity is a critical step in the successful application of programmed T cell therapies. We have developed multiple technologies designed to pharmacologically control T cell activity. These technologies fall into two distinct categories: safety switches and tunable T cells.
Safety Switches
Also referred to as “off switches” or “suicide switches,” safety switches selectively eliminate the programmed T cells and are intended to be triggered in the event a patient suffers certain serious adverse events related to the T cell therapy, such as CRS or neurotoxicity. We incorporate the RQR8 safety switch into some of our programmed T cell product candidates, which allows us to selectively eliminate the programmed T cells by the administration of the commercially available monoclonal antibody rituximab, or Rituxan®, which binds to the surface of the T cell and thereby triggers cell death. We use the RQR8 safety switch in our AUTO4 and AUTO6 programs. The next generation of our safety switches, which we plan to incorporate in our solid tumor programs, utilizes rapamycin activated Caspase 9 (rapaCasp9), a cell therapy safety switch that allows for selective elimination of programmed T cells using a single therapeutic dose of the commercially available product rapamycin, such as sirolimus or Rapamune®. Rapamycin is a small molecule drug, which we expect will have the benefit of better tissue penetration and may require less time to take effect as compared to a monoclonal antibody-activated safety switch.
Tunable T Cells
Eliminating programmed T cells with a safety switch like RQR8 has the potential to allow the patient to recover from treatment-related side effects but also to preclude the anti-tumor activity following elimination of the programmed T cells, which could lead to relapse. To avoid this undesirable consequence of the safety switch, we are developing several programming modules that are designed to allow tunable programmed T cell responses by reducing programmed T cell activity if a patient experiences severe toxicity, while also allowing for the subsequent reactivation of programmed T cells, thereby allowing for the possibility of persistence and sustained anti-tumor activity. One such system we have developed is designed to reversibly dampen the activity of the programmed T cells by temporarily dislocating the signaling domain on the inside of the T cell from the cancer cell recognition domain with two commercially available antibiotics, tetracycline and minocycline.
Enhanced T Cell Activity Technologies
We have also developed a wide range of technologies designed to inhibit the immunosuppressive effects of the tumor microenvironment and enhance T cell persistence.
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Evading Hostile Tumor Microenvironments Including Checkpoint Inhibition
Proteins expressed on tumor cells can trigger inhibitory receptors on T cells to block their ability to eliminate the tumor, such as PD-L1/PD-1 immune checkpoints. These inhibitory receptors act through a common signaling pathway inside the T cell that prevents normal T cell activation. We have developed a programming module designed to cause T cells to express a modified version of an adaptor protein, SHP2, that in preclinical studies has been shown to efficiently counteracts the inhibition of T cells resulting from the PD-L1/PD-1checkpoint interaction. Unlike methods that rely on blocking one inhibitory receptor using antibodies that are separately administered to the patient and are known to have significant side effects on their own, we have designed this programming module to be engineered into the T cells and not to require the administration of a separate pharmaceutical agent. In addition, it is designed to simultaneously disarm multiple inhibitory receptors on the cancer cell.
Enhanced T Cell Persistence
Programmed T cell therapies that target hematological malignancies are regularly stimulated by engaging tumor and normal cells in the bone marrow and lymph tissue. This continued stimulation helps the programmed T cell survive and persist, allowing them to attack the tumor for an extended period of time. One of the challenges of targeting some solid tumors is the lack of such easily accessible stimulation for programmed T cells, leading to poor persistence and a weak anti-tumor activity. Programmed T cell therapies have been co-administered with cytokines that boost T cell activity and persistence in an attempt to enhance their effect on solid tumors. However, systemic or local administration of cytokines can be toxic. Therefore, we have developed a technology that is designed to deliver a cytokine signal directly inside our programmed T cells without administration of cytokines themselves. Depending on the tumor microenvironment, the cytokine persistence signal may be further enhanced by antigens secreted by the tumor. We believe our approach will be more potent and will have the potential to be less toxic, when compared to approaches that rely on systemic or local delivery of cytokines.
Advanced T Cell Programming is Key for Solid Tumor Programs
Achieving a meaningful and durable response with programmed T cell therapies in the treatment of solid tumors is more challenging than in hematological cancers for a variety of reasons. Solid tumors have fewer suitably selective, single antigen targets that can be used as a basis for tumor recognition, and solid tumors employ multiple sophisticated lines of defense to evade T cell killing.
Consequently, in order to be able to tackle the more complex biology of solid tumors, we anticipate that programmed T cell products will need to employ multiple modules of technology to overcome these challenges. With our broad array of proprietary programming modules and our ability to incorporate multiple elements into our programmed T cell product candidates, we believe we are well positioned to design these types of product candidates and expand our pipeline into solid tumor indications, including with our development of AUTO6NG and AUTO7.
Advanced T Cell Programming for Allogeneic Programs
We expect to continue to expand our suite of cell programming technologies to include programming modules designed for allogeneic applications in 2021. There are two key challenges for allogenic T cell therapies. The first is to address Graft vs Host Disease, which is mediated by the T cell Receptor (TCR) of the donor cells used to make the product candidate attacking the patient’s tissues. This can be life threatening for the patient. The second challenge is to address immune rejection where the patient T cells recognize and reject the engineered T cell as foreign tissue, thus preventing it from persisting and potentially limiting its anti-tumor activity. We have developed novel approaches using protein-based programming that integrate with our existing T cell programming and manufacturing platform. TCR expression is disrupted by intracellular retention and degradation using a single programming module and programming modules are also in development to protect the donor cells from immune rejection. These approaches avoid technical and intellectual property complexities of gene editing. A first novel allogeneic application is expected to enter the clinic in the first half of 2021.
Our Product Candidates for the Treatment of Hematological Cancers
Our three clinical-stage product candidates targeting hematological cancers are AUTO1, AUTO3 and AUTO4. We have additional hematological product candidates AUTO1NG, AUTO3NG, AUTO5, and AUTO8 in preclinical development.
AUTO1: Our Programmed T Cell Therapy for the Treatment of ALL
Introduction to AUTO1
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AUTO1 is a gene therapy product consisting of autologous enriched T cells that are transduced with a lentiviral vector to express a novel anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CD19 (CAT) CAR). The transduced T cells express second-generation CARs in which the CD19 CAR construct uses 41BB-ζ and CD3- ζ endodomains.
CD19 is an ideal target for a CAR T cell therapy as it is a cell surface marker for lymphocytes that is present on most B cell malignancies. CD19 CAR T cell therapies have proven effective in treating leukemia and lymphoma, with efficacy dependent on engraftment and expansion of the CAR T cells. However, rapid activation and expansion of CAR T cells can result in CRS &/or ICANS, which in some cases can be life-threatening, particularly for elderly patients and patients with higher tumor burden that have a poor tolerance for toxicity. Furthermore, excessive activation of CAR T cells can lead to cell exhaustion and limit their persistence, which may impact the durability of therapeutic effect. AUTO1 is an investigational therapy in which a patient’s T cells are genetically modified to express a novel CD19-specific binder designed to reduce side effects observed with this class of therapeutics.
AUTO1, currently the subject of an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial (FELIX) in adult ALL, has been designed to recognize CD19 and interact with the target with a fast off-rate enabled by the novel CAT scFv binding domain. This property allows the AUTO1 cells to efficiently recognize cancer cells, inject cytotoxic proteins to initiate the natural self-destruction process present in all human cells and then rapidly disengage from them in order to engage the next cancer cell, a process also known as serial killing. Rapid disengagement from the target antigen is expected to minimize excessive activation of the programmed T cells, reduce toxicity and may also reduce T cell exhaustion.
Our academic partner, UCL, has conducted two separate Phase 1 clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of AUTO1. The first Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric ALL patients is named the CARPALL trial the second Phase 1 clinical trial in adult ALL patients is named the ALLCAR19 trial, latter being the foundation for a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial noted above, which we intend will be a registrational trial.
Clinical Development of AUTO1 in Adult ALL
Background of Adult ALL
AUTO1 is currently being tested in a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of adult ALL, which according to the American Cancer Society is predicted to affect approximately 5,960 adults in the United States in 2018. Combination chemotherapy enables 90% of adult patients to experience complete remission, or CR. Despite this, and in contrast to pediatric ALL, the prognosis of adult ALL is still poor and has not changed significantly during the last two to three decades, with long-term remission rates limited to 30-40%. Approximately 50% of all adult ALL patients will relapse, and data from the Medical Research Council’s UKALL12/ECOG 2993 study, published in 2007, found that five-year overall survival, or OS, rate in adults who relapse following standard multi-agent chemotherapy is 7%. The only curative option for relapsed or refractory ALL consists of achieving a second CR by salvage therapy followed by an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, or allo-HSCT. Without allo-HSCT, a subsequent relapse occurs in nearly all patients. However, less than half of patients achieve a second CR, and therefore only a subset will be eligible for this procedure. Even then, less than one-third of patients receiving the transplant are expected to sustain long-term disease-free survival. Further, allo-HSCT is associated with severe morbidity and significant mortality. Many patients with relapsed or refractory ALL will have been maximally treated with chemotherapy, and often do not achieve a second CR with standard-of-care chemotherapy in order to be eligible for allo-HSCT.
Two targeted immuno therapies have recently been approved for the treatment of adult ALL: blinatumomab and inotuzumab ozogamicin. Both of these therapies achieve high complete response rates, but durability is limited. In a randomized Phase 3 clinical trial of blinatumomab in heavily pretreated B-cell precursor ALL, the blinatumomab arm achieved a complete response rate of 44%, of which 76% also achieved MRD-negative CR, and the median duration of remission was 7.3 months. The median OS in those patients, though significantly improved compared to chemotherapy, was still only 7.7 months. Similarly, in a Phase 3 clinical trial of inotuzumab ozogamicin, a higher percentage of patients achieved MRD-negative CR when treated with inotuzumab compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy, but the median duration of remission was 4.6 months and median OS was 7.7 months.
AUTO1 Phase 1 Clinical Trial in Adult ALL (ALLCAR19 Trial)
In the first quarter of 2018, our academic partner University College London, or UCL, initiated a single-arm, open label, multi-center Phase 1 clinical trial of AUTO1, named the ALLCAR19 trial, in patients aged 16 to 65 years with high-risk, relapsed or refractory CD19 positive B-lineage ALL. The clinical trial was conducted at sites in the United Kingdom. The trial enrolled patients with a high tumor burden; 45% of treated patients had 50% or greater bone marrow blasts. As of the most recent data cut-off date of November 12, 2020, 20 patients received AUTO1; product for 14 of those patients was manufactured using a semi-automated, fully-enclosed process, which we anticipate using for commercial supply, if approved.
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As of the most recent data recent cut-off date of November 12, 2020, 20 patients in the ALLCAR19 trial had received AUTO1. Based on this preliminary data, we have observed a manageable safety profile for AUTO1, with no patients experiencing Grade 3 or higher CRS (using the Lee grading criteria, which is the standard currently adopted by the medical community for grading CRS and enables comparison of clinical trial safety data across clinical studies) and three patients (15%) experiencing Grade 3 neurotoxicity that resolved with steroids. Of those 20 patients, three patients (15%) experienced Grade 3 neurotoxicity that resolved swiftly with steroids. We also observed Grade 3 or higher neutropeniasin 7 of 20 patients reporting such neutropenias prior to treatment with AUTO1 and 8 of 17 patients reporting Grade 3 or higher neutropenias 28 days after treatment with AUTO1, with most resolving by month two or three post-dosing. Of the 20 patients, seven patients died while enrolled in the ALLCAR19 clinical trial, of which two deaths were determined to be due to progression of the leukemia, one death occurred post progression following infective complication post-transplant and the four remaining deaths were determined to be due to infectious complications (a common complication of advanced ALL). Of the 19 patients evaluable for efficacy (patients with at least four weeks follow-up as of the data cut-off date of November 12,2020), 16 patients (84%) achieved minimal residual disease, or MRD, negative complete responses following AUTO1 infusionAt 12 months post-treatment, we observed that the event free survival was 52% and overall survival was 63%. In the sub-group of patients that were dosed with AUTO1 manufactured using our semi-automated, fully enclosed system for manufacturing, 13 were evaluable for efficacy. In this sub-group, as of the data cut-off date of November 12,2020, 12 of the 13 evaluable patients (92%) had achieved MRD-negative complete response. The EFS and OS data are preliminary considering the small number of patients.
In October 2019, we announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, granted orphan drug designation for AUTO1 for the treatment of ALL. We also received IND clearance for our Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in April 2020.
The ALLCAR19 clinical trial has also been expanded to include three additional cohorts with 10 treated patients in each cohort:
•Regimen B: r/r DLBCL (including transformed follicular lymphoma, or FL, but not Richter’s transformation
•Regimen C: relapsed or refractory B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia / small lymphocytic leukemia
•Regimen D: relapsed or refractory indolent B-NHL (either FL, mantle cell lymphoma or marginal zone lymphoma)
UCL has also initiated a Phase 1 exploratory trial of AUTO1 in patients with relapsed or refractory Primary CNS Lymphoma, or PCNSL. This trial, named CAROUSEL (NCT04443829), is expected to initiate enrolment in the first quarter of 2021 and will evaluate the feasibility of generating AUTO1 and safety of administration in this patient population
Development Strategy for Adult ALL
In 2020, we initiated a multicenter, single-arm Phase 1b/2 trial of AUTO1 in adult patients with relapsed or refractory ALL, or r/r ALL. We refer to this trial as the FELIX trial. We are planning to recruit patients in the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain, and clinical trial sites are open for enrollment in the United Kingdom and the United States. Subject to confirmation by regulatory authorities, we hope that this trial may be a registrational trial in r/r adult ALL population.
The Phase 1b component of the trial is currently enrolling patients. We anticipate progressing to the Phase 2 portion of the trial in the second half of 2021. The Phase 2 cohort will include approximately 90 patients with morphological disease (>5% blasts in the bone marrow at screening), with ORR as the primary endpoint; and EFS, DOR and MRD negative CR as key secondary endpoints. An exploratory cohort is also planned in the Phase 2 part of this trial, in which patients with MRD positive disease in morphological remission as well as patients with isolated extramedullary disease will be treated with AUTO1.
Background of Pediatric ALL
Pediatric B-cell ALL is a type of blood cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes (named as lymphoid blasts), which are a type of white blood cell. According to the American Cancer Society, B-cell ALL is most common inchildhood, peaking between two and four years of age. As per the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results statistics database, there are approximately 3,400 new cases of pediatric ALL diagnosed in the United States each year.
The current standard of care for both pediatric and adult B-cell ALL patients is a standard regimen of combination chemotherapy. Pediatric patients typically respond well to the complex first-line chemotherapy treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for children with B-cell ALL is more than 85% overall. However, 10 to 20% of pediatric B-cellALL patients relapse with chemotherapy-resistant disease. These patients are re-treated with intensive chemotherapy, and those that respond may proceed to receive an allogenic stem cell transplant, or SCT. However, SCT can be associated with significant long-term morbidity due to the risk of developing graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD, and treatment-related mortality, although the risk of death have declined with better post-transplant management.
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Patients with high-risk clinical or genetic features including gene abnormalities, as well as those who have an inadequate response to initial chemotherapy, may not respond well with the current available treatments for B-cell ALL (including SCT), some of these patients will have a five-year OS rate of approximately 15%. Additionally, long-term survival rates are only approximately 10 to 20% among patients receiving a second SCT and negligible in those unable to proceed to a second transplant.
There is still a significant unmet medical need in pediatric patients with high-risk relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL. CD19 CAR T cell therapies have been developed for these patients. The approved CD19 CAR T therapy showed approximately 80% of complete molecular response rate. However, at six months after treatment, approximately 40% of the patients relapsed and the majority of the relapses were CD19 negative disease. In fact, in one study of CD19-targeting Kymriah treatment, approximately two-thirds of relapses were determined to have been due to loss of CD19 on the target cells.
CD19 CAR T cell therapies have been tested in pediatric ALL patients and have shown sustained responses without allo-HSCT. In adult ALL, however, one of the major challenges has been severe toxicity, including death due to CAR T cell-mediated toxicity observed in the clinical trials of these products. AUTO1 has been designed to reduce toxicity but still sustain durable CRs, and we believe it has the potential to become a standalone therapy for adult ALL.
AUTO1 Phase 1 Clinical Trial in Pediatric ALL (CARPALL Trial)
The CARPALL trial was initiated by UCL in the second quarter of 2016 and is a single-arm, open label, multi-center Phase 1 trial enrolling patients aged 24 years or younger with high-risk relapsed or refractory CD19 positive B-lineage ALL. The main objective of the trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AUTO1 when administered at a single dose of 1 million cells/kg. The trial has completed enrollment with AUTO-1. However, the extension arm is now open, and treating pediatric ALL patients with AUTO 1/22 (previously designated AUTO1NG).
As of the data cut-off date of November 22, 2019, the trial has enrolled a total of 25 patients, in two cohorts; one cohort utilized a manual manufacturing process (cohort 1) and one cohort utilized a semi-automated fully enclosed manufacturing process (cohort 2). Product was generated for 14 of 17 patients in cohort 1 and the median follow-up for the 14 treated patients was 23 months. Seven patients were treated in cohort 2. The aim of cohort 2 was to increase feasibility of manufacture at scale; one patient died before infusion and product was generated for 100% of patients. Median follow-up for patients in cohort 2 was seven months.
None of the patients experienced Grade 3 or higher CRS and one patient out of 21 (5%) experienced Grade 4 neurotoxicity, which was deemed more consistent with fludarabine than CAR-associated neurotoxicity. Two patients experienced Grade 5 sepsis and death, one in the context of progressive disease and the second was considered related to AUTO1. This patient was in MRD-negative CR and had ongoing Grade 4 cytopenia associated with resistant HSV encephalitis. 13 patients experienced Grade 4 cytopenias that were ongoing at day 28. Nineteen of 21 treated patients (90%) achieved molecular complete remission at post-infusion. Consistent with preclinical results, CAR T cell expansion and persistence was excellent and CARs were detectable by flow for up to 36 months in four of the patients in cohort 1 who had ongoing responses beyond 12 months. Persistence was noted in 15 of 21 patients at last follow-up, up to 36 months. All of the patients in cohort 2 achieved molecular complete remission at one month post-infusion.
For cohort 1, with a median follow-up of 23 months, the overall survival at six and 12 months was 86% and 71%, respectively, and event-free survival at six and 12 months was 71% and 54%, respectively. In cohort 2, at a median follow-up of 7 months, five patients remain in complete molecular remission and two patients relapsed. Five of eight evaluable relapses in cohort 1 and cohort 2 combined were due to CD19 negative escape.
AUTO1/22
We commenced a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL with our next-generation product candidate, AUTO1/22 (previously designated AUTO1NG) in the fourth quarter of 2020. AUTO1/22 is a dual-targeting CAR-T which builds on the AUTO1 approach utilizing the same CD19 CAR, alongside a novel CD22 CAR designed to reduce antigen negative relapse of disease. We expect to report initial data from this trial in the fourth quarter of 2021.
AUTO3: Our Programmed T Cell Therapy for the Treatment of Pediatric ALL and Adult DLBCL
Introduction to AUTO3
AUTO3, the first dual-targeting programmed T cell product candidate that targets B cell antigens CD19 and CD22, is being explored for the treatment of pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL, as well as the treatment of adult patients with DLBCL.
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By simultaneously targeting both B cell antigens, we believe the novel molecular design of AUTO3 addresses a major limitation of current CAR T cell products that target only CD19 or CD22; the loss or downregulationof the target antigen on the surface of the cancer cell, which is the main causeof disease relapse after single targeting CAR T-cell therapy.
AUTO3 Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial in Pediatric ALL (AMELIA Trial)
We initiated a single-arm, open label, multi-center Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO3 in patients up to 24 years of age with high-risk relapsed or refractory B-lineage ALL in the third quarter of 2017. We refer to this trial as the AMELIA Trial. We presented final results from this clinical trial in January 2021, with a data cut-off date of July 29, 2020.
Twenty-three patients were screened in this trial, and product was generated in 19 of 20 (95%) patients who underwent leukapheresis and a total of 15 patients received infusion of AUTO3. AUTO3 has been observed to have a manageable safety profile, with no patients experiencing Grade 3 or higher CRS. One patient treated in the low dose (0.3 x106/kg) had Grade 3 encephalopathy which was considered likely related to prior intrathecal methotrexate. The majority of Grade 3 or higher adverse events were determined to be hematological in nature. No patient deaths have been determined to be related to AUTO3. The rate of complete response/complete response with incomplete bone marrow recovery (CR/CRi) and Minimal Residual Disease (MRD)-Negative Response in the Bone Marrow (PCR)) was 87% (13/15) at month 1 after AUTO3 infusion. Two patients did not respond to the treatment.As of the data cut-off (29-Jul-2020), 9 patients ultimately had morphological relapse. The majority of the relapses (6 of 9 patients) were CD19-positive/CD22-positive disease associated with a lack of long-term CAR T cell persistence. The median morphological EFS was 4.9 months (95% CI: 1.64, 12.42). The most common cause of relapse was due to the absence of CAR T cell persistence. Three of the 9 disease relapses were CD19-negative (including 1 patient with CD22-positive disease relapse, 1 patient with low expression of CD22, and 1 patient with both antigens lost: CD19-negative/CD22-negative disease relapse). The 1 case with CD22-negative disease relapse and the 1 disease relapse with downregulation of CD22 expression confirms the activity of the CD22 CAR in the AUTO3 construct. Based on this small number of 15 patients, 1-year OS is 60%, in the pediatric and young adult relapsed/refractory B-cell ALL setting.
Development Strategy for Pediatric ALL
In September 2019, we reported that we would not be continuing development of AUTO3 in pediatric B-cell ALL but instead will continue development in a pediatric setting with AUTO1 in the form a Pediatric Investigational Program, required by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, and with AUTO1/22, a next generation version of AUTO1, which incorporates the CD19 CAR of AUTO1 and a novel CD22 CAR. We initiated clinical development of AUTO1/22 in 2020.
Background of DLBCL
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or NHL, consists of a diverse group of malignant neoplasms. According to the American Cancer Society, DLBCL is the most common subtype of NHL, accounting for approximately one-third of the approximately 72,000 adult NHL patients diagnosed in 2017 in the United States. DLBCL arises from a mature B cell that generally express CD19 and CD22 antigens on the surface. DLBCL is classified as an aggressive lymphoma, in which survival is measured in months rather than years.
First-line therapy usually consists of a chemotherapy regimen known as R-CHOP, which combines the monoclonal antibody rituximab with the drugs cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone. Approximately 50% to 60% of DLBCL patients are cured with first-line therapy and do not have recurrence of their lymphoma.
For patients who relapse or are refractory to first-line therapy, the current standard of care for second-line therapy consists of a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen with rituximab. These second-line chemotherapy regimens are either R-ICE, consisting of rituximab, ifosfamide, carboplatin and etoposide, or R-DHAP, consisting of rituximab, dexamethasone, cytarabine and cisplatin. Patients who respond to second-line therapy may go on to receive autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or HSCT. Patients who are not candidates for HSCT or those who do not respond to second-line therapy or who relapse after HSCT are typically treated with a third-line salvage chemotherapy. These patients have a poor prognosis, and treatment is generally palliative to try to prevent further cancer growth without the intent to cure.
Indolent lymphomas account for 40% of all NHL cases. The subtypes of indolent lymphoma, including follicular lymphoma and others, initially respond well to chemotherapy or antibody therapy, or a combination of both. However, in patients with progressive disease or relapse after CR, there is no defined standard of care, and such patients are generally encouraged to participate in clinical trials whenever possible. Relapsed patients who are symptomatic or need treatment are usually treated with chemotherapy, which is unfortunately not curative. Additionally, a minority of these patients are eligible to receive HSCT, which provides long-term disease free survival in some cases.
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AUTO3 Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial in Adult DLBCL (ALEXANDER Trial)
We have designed AUTO3 to address limitations of current therapies for DLBCL. Simultaneous targeting of both CD19 and CD22 antigens is designed to reduce CD19 antigen negative disease relapses observed in one-third of the patients relapsing after treatment with Yescarta. Our clinical trial design also includes the administration of three doses of an anti-checkpoint inhibitor, designed to address tumor relapse due to upregulation of checkpoints in DLBCL patients treated with CAR T cell therapy. We are initially developing AUTO3 as a third-line therapy for DLBCL.
In September 2017, we initiated a single-arm, open label, multi-center Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO3, which included a cohort of patients receiving AUTO3 followed by limited duration of consolidation with the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab in adult DLBCL patients who have chemotherapy-refractory disease or with relapsed disease after two lines of prior therapy. We refer to this trial as the ALEXANDER Trial. We have completed the Phase 1 dose escalation portion of the trial and have declared a RP2D along with feasibility of use in the outpatient setting.
As of the October 30, 2020 data cut-off date, 49 patients in the ALEXANDER trial have been treated and were evaluable for safety. Across all dose levels, 43 patients were evaluable for efficacy, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 65% and a CR rate of 51%. Of the 29 evaluable patients receiving the recommended Phase 2 dose (a dose of ≥ 150 x 106 cells) and pre-conditioning with pembrolizumab at Day -1, the ORR was 66% and the CR rate was 55%. A subsequent analysis of these data suggested a superior response rate at higher dose levels, with 15 evaluable patients treated at 450 x 106 cells achieving an ORR of 87% and a CRR of 73%. Across all cohorts in the trial, 73% (16/22) of patients achieving a CR were without disease progression at a median follow up of 4 months (1 – 24 months). AUTO3 was observed to be well tolerated, with low rates of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity (NT). Across all 49 patients, there was only one case of Grade 3 CRS with primary infusion, and only three cases of NT were reported, with two being ≥ Grade 3. None of the patients achieving a complete response (CR) experienced any NT and all cases of NT were observed in a setting of disease progression and with confounding factors and minimal or undetectable CAR T cells in peripheral blood. No prophylactic measures of any kind have been used to manage CRS or NT in this study. Two patients had death possibly related to AUTO3. One in the setting of disease progression and multiorgan failure and other due to infection in a patient with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
The majority of patients receiving AUTO3 in the outpatient setting did not require hospital admission. Those patients admitted were managed, without requiring ICU care. Combined with the overall favorable tolerability data across the Phase 1 trial, the profile of AUTO3 supports administration in an outpatient setting.
Development Strategy for Adult DLBCL
We have completed enrollment of patients in the Phase 1 part of this trial and plan to seek a partner for the before committing to further development of this program.
AUTO4: Our Programmed T-Cell Lymphoma Program
Introduction to AUTO4
We are developing a programmed T cell product candidate, AUTO4, as a potential treatment for T-cell lymphomas. We are developing this product candidate with a unique targeting approach that is designed to avoid the severe immunosuppression typically associated with the current investigational CAR T-cell therapies which uses a pan t-cell antigen. for this disease.
T cells have one of two functionally identical genes, known as TRBC1 and TRBC2. A normal/healthy T cell population contains a mix of cells expressing either TRBC1 or TRBC2. Both forms are active and provide the body with natural immunity, including antiviral immunity. Because T-cell lymphomas are clonal tumors that develop from a single T cell, they are either entirely TRBC1-positive or entirely TRBC2-positive. Currently available products for the treatment of T-cell lymphoma indiscriminately target all T cells, leading to the severe immunosuppression associated with these treatments.
We have designed AUTO4 as a programmed T cell to specifically target and deplete cells expressing TRBC1, while preserving healthy T cells that express TRBC2. A normal T cell population consists of varying amounts of TRBC1-positive and TRBC2-positive T cells. Based on the typical distribution of TRBC1-positive and TRBC2-positive T cells, we believe that patients treated with AUTO4 should be left with a population of healthy, functional polyclonal T cells, which provides the immune system of these patients the ability to respondto bacterial and viral infections and other pathogens. In addition,this product candidate will have a built-in safety switch designed to eliminate the programmed CAR T cells in the event a patient suffers certain serious adverse events related to the CAR T cell therapy, such as CRS or neurotoxicity.
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Companion Diagnostic for AUTO4
We are developing a proprietary diagnostic test to distinguish the T-cell lymphoma which express the clonal TRBC1-positive T cells versus the clonal TRBC2-positive T cells. When a patient presents with T-cell lymphoma, this diagnostic is designed to test the patient’s tumor to assess whether the tumor is TRBC1-positive or TRBC2-positive, which will determine whether the patient is potentially a candidate to receive AUTO4.
Background of T-Cell Lymphoma
Mature T cell lymphomas are aggressive, treatment resistant malignancies that are associated with poor prognosis. Clinical application of immunotherapeutic approaches has been limited by a lack of target antigens that discriminate malignant from healthy/polyclonal T cells.T-cell lymphoma is a rare and heterogeneous form of NHL, representing approximately 10 to 20% of NHL cases and 3 to 4% of all hematological malignancies. Most T-cell lymphomas are peripheral T-cell lymphomas, (PTCL), the initial indication for which we are developing AUTO4. We estimate that PTCL affects approximately 2,900 patients in the United States each year. PTCL generally involves high-grade tumors and occurs at a similar age as aggressive B cell lymphomas, with a relatively high proportion of patients becoming rapidly unwell. For the majority the PTCL subtypes, the five-year survival rate may range from 18% to 24%. The three most common subtypes of PTCL are peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified, or PTCL-NOS, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, or ALCL, and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, or AITL, together accounting for approximately 70% of all PTCLs in the United States.
The first-line treatment for PTCL consists of the combination chemotherapy (e.g CHOP, consisting of cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and prednisolone). However, CHOP chemotherapy, complete response rates are low and disease relapse is common. In many treatment centers, CHOP chemotherapy may be consolidated with autologous or allogenic stem cell transplantation in selected patients.
Little is understood in terms of treatment guidance for the other PTCL subtypes and these lymphomas lack clear treatment guidelines. A large proportion of T-cell lymphoma patients are refractory to or relapse following treatment with standard therapies and there remains a need to develop an effective therapy for this currently unmet medical need.
Unlike B cell lymphomas, T-cell lymphomas have not benefited from advances in immunotherapeutic approaches. This is mainly due to the lack of therapeutic development in T-cell lymphomas to identify suitable target antigens to distinguish malignant T cells from normal/polyclonal T cells. While a similar problem exists with B cell lymphomas, targeting a pan B cell antigen is an acceptable strategy, as the concomitant depletion of the normal B cell compartment is well tolerated, and some targeted approaches may be ameliorated by the administration of immunoglobulin. In contrast, targeting a pan T cell antigen would result in severe immunosuppression, where there is currently no available rescue medication. Some competitors that are pursuing this approach are planning to use CAR T-cells therapy as a bridging to SCT. However, this approach would only benefit the transplant eligible patients who may not be the majority of the T-cell lymphoma patients. There is currently no programmed T cell therapy that is being developed as a standalone treatment.
Clinical Development of AUTO4
Because AUTO4 represent a novel approach to treating T-cell lymphomas, our development strategy for these product candidates is based on initially commencing a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AUTO4 for the treatment of TRBC1-positive T-cell lymphoma.
Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial of AUTO4
In the fourth quarter of 2018, we began enrolling patients in a single-arm, open label, multi-center Phase 1/2 clinical trial, Libra T1, in patients with TRBC1 positive PTCL-NOS, AITL and ALCL, the three most common subtypes of PTCL, for which patients have failed, or have relapsed disease following, at least one prior therapy. We have received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (2018) and Spanish health authority (2020), to begin enrollment and we are in the process of enrolling patients. We refer to this trial as the LibrA-T1 trial, which will initially be conducted at sites in the United Kingdom and Spain. Patients are screened for TRBC status of tumor cells using a CE-marked next-generation sequencing (NGS) method prior to full enrollment in the trial. Provided that data from the initial patients in the UK and Spain in the trial is satisfactory, we intend to submit an IND and initiate additional sites for this trial in the United States.
The main objective of the Phase 1 portion of the trial is to evaluate the safety of AUTO4 and to determine a recommended dose for the Phase 2 portion of the trial. The main objective of the Phase 2 portion will be to further evaluate the safety of the treatment and evaluate efficacy endpoints, such as overall response rate and complete response rate.
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We have designed the trial to evaluate up to three dose levels of AUTO4, beginning with a low dose of 25 million AUTO4 cells in cohorts of three to six patients. Assuming that we do not observe any DLT, the dose escalation phase of the trial will continue to higher doses of 75 million AUTO4 cells and 225 million AUTO4 cells/. We expect that we will enroll a total of up to 25 patients in the Phase 1 portion of the trial. Once a recommended phase 2 dose has been identified in the Phase 1 portion of the trial, we intend to treat up to 30 patients in the Phase 2 portion of the trial. In parallel with clinical development, the companion diagnostic will be developed to enable use within a potential pivotal trial and commercialization.
Development Strategy for AUTO4
Based on our expected enrollment rates for the trial, we anticipate generating clinical proof of concept data in 2021. If the preliminary efficacy data is positive, we intend to convert the Phase 2 portion to a potential registrational trial, subject to discussions with regulatory authorities. The final number of patients to be enrolled in the trial, specific endpoints and other aspects of the design of the trial will be determined based on feedback from regulatory authorities. If the safety and efficacy data from the Phase 2 portion of the trial are positive, we plan to submit a BLA forAUTO4 as a second-line therapy for TRBC1-positive T-cell lymphoma patients.
Our Solid Tumor Programs
Solid tumors present a particular challenge to CAR T cell therapies, since solid tumors tend to fend off T cells with upregulation of checkpoint inhibition and a hostile microenvironment. In addition, contrary to hematological cancer cells that are readily accessible to programmed T cells in the circulating blood of a patient, solid tumors are more difficult for programmed T cells to track down in sufficient numbers to impact the disease. In addition, the persistence of programmed T cells tends to be limited, which also leads to a reduced effect on solid tumor cells. In addition to the programs we are currently pursuing described below, we intend to continue to evaluate other possible solid tumor indications.
AUTO6: Our Neuroblastoma Program
Introduction to AUTO6 and AUTO6NG
We have been granted an exclusive, worldwide license under our license agreement with UCLB to AUTO6 (1RG-CART), a programmed T cell product candidate targeting the glycosphingolipid GD2. CRUK has completed an exploratory Phase 1 clinical trial of AUTO6 in pediatric patients with neuroblastoma. We are developing a next-generation product candidate, which we refer to as AUTO6NG, incorporating additional programming modules designed to improve efficacy, safety and persistence of AUTO6. We expect to initiate two Phase 1/2 clinical trials of AUTO6NG, with the first clinical trial expected to commence in 2021.
Background of Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells found in several areas of the body, and most commonly arises in and around the adrenal glands, which have similar origins to nerve cells and sit atop the kidneys. However, neuroblastoma can also develop in other areas of the abdomen and in the chest, neck and near the spine, where groups of nerve cells exist. Neuroblastoma most commonly affects children age five or younger, though it may rarely occur in older children. According to the American Cancer Society, there are approximately 700 new cases of neuroblastoma each year in the United States.
Preclinical Studies of AUTO6
In preclinical in vitro studies, AUTO6 selectively, effectively and efficiently killed GD2-expressing tumor cells while sparing cells that did not express GD2. In addition, the RQR8 safety switch activation by rituximab was tested in vitro, where the addition of rituximab was shown to activate the safety switch and eliminate the programmed T cells from the culture, and residual cells did not possess any intrinsic anti-GD2 activity. This safety switch activation was also observed in vivo in a mouse model, where the murine analogue of rituximab was able to deplete the GD2-targeting programmed T cell product candidate from the bone marrow, blood, lymph node and spleen of animals that had previously been engrafted with programmed T cells.
In November 2019, we reported preclinical data of AUTO6NG. AUTO6 had previously shown clinical responses in two of our patients treated at the highest dose without inducing neurotoxicity in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma. Building on AUTO6, in AUTO6NG we introduced additional programming modules in order to help the programmed T cells persist in and withstand the hostile tumor microenvironment. AUTO6NG is a programmed T cell therapy incorporating the GD2-targeted CAR T and RQR8 safety switch from AUTO6 but also incorporating three additional programming modules: (i) an IL7 chimeric cytokine receptor designed to increase persistence, (ii) a dominant negative TGFbRII protein designed to block inhibitor signals from TGFb and (iii) a truncated SHP2 protein designed to block inhibitor signals from PD1. These modules are delivered, or transduced, into the T cells via two viral vectors. Both single- and dual-transduced CAR T cells were evaluated in vitro for anti-tumor
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activity, cytokine secretion, T cell proliferation, survival, and resistance to immunosuppressive pathways. The addition of these three modules in the AUTO6NG product candidate significantly augmented its function by extending T cell persistence and rendering modified T cells resistant to TGFb- and PD1/PDL1-driven immune inhibition when compared to AUTO6 in vitro. Additionally, intravenous delivery of AUTO6NG in mice with established tumor burden exhibited potent anti-tumor activity and extended survival, whereas AUTO6 showed no activity in that model.
We presented new preclinical data for AUTO6NG in June 2020 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting. GD2 was evaluated as a therapeutic CAR-T target antigen in Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC). AUTO6 alone has demonstrated efficacy in an in vitro SCLC model, but successful tumor targeting alone was not sufficient to drive meaningful in vivo efficacy in the same SCLC model. Autolus has presented new preclinical data demonstrating the ability to target GD2 in SCLC cell line models in vitro, and the requirement for enhancing modules, designed to overcome TME suppressive mechanisms, to drive superior in vivo efficacy in a SCLC mouse model. The data suggests that AUTO6NG can overcome the immune suppressive mechanisms in the TME
We believe these data support the continued development of AUTO6NG, and we expect to initiate the first of two planned Phase 1/2 clinical trials of AUTO6NG in the first half of 2021.
Phase 1 Dose Escalation Trial of AUTO6 by CRUK in Relapsed or Refractory Neuroblastoma
In the first quarter of 2016, CRUK initiated a single-arm Phase 1 dose escalation trial of AUTO6 in relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma at two pediatric cancer centers in the United Kingdom. The trial evaluated the safety profile of AUTO6. The Phase 1 trial is also evaluating escalating intensity of the pre-conditioning regimen along with AUTO6 dose escalation. CRUK plans to enroll 15 to 27 patients in this trial.
As presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in April 2018, twelve patients with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma with measurable disease in bone (n=11), bone marrow (n=7) or soft tissue sites (n=9) have been enrolled in the trial. Ten patients have been treated, with the first six patients receiving a dose of 10 million AUTO6 cells/m2, four without preconditioning, one with cyclophosphamide alone and one with a combination of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine, or cy/flu. A further three patients were treated with a dose of 100 million AUTO6 cells/m2 with cy/flu preconditioning. In the next cohort, a further patient was treated with a dose of one billion AUTO6 cells/m2 with cy/flu preconditioning. The trial is continuing to enroll patients at the dose of one billion AUTO6 cells/m2.
Updated findings published in Science Translational Medicine suggest that AUTO6 can induce rapid regression of bulky disease in a solid tumor setting without inducing on-target off-tumor toxicity, despite dose dependent CAR T expansion. CAR T cell expansion has been observed in all six patients treated at the higher cell dose cohorts in this Phase 1 study. Three of these six patients demonstrated evidence of transient CAR T cell activity, including cytokine release syndrome, and regression of soft tissue and bone marrow disease activity. The GD2 binder used in AUTO6 has been designed to minimize on-target off-tumor neurotoxicity associated with GD2 expression at low levels in pain fibers and the brain. Despite the presence of clear CAR T cell activity, no neurotoxicity was observed. The publication also suggests that, whilst AUTO6 is a valid and safe strategy for targeting neuroblastoma, further modifications are required to promote CAR T cell persistence and induce deeper and more durable responses for these patients.
Clinical Development Strategy of AUTO6NG
Based on preliminary data from proof-of-concept in CRUK’s ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial, we believe it is possible to safely target GD2-expressing cancers or tumors with a CAR. We are currently developing a next-generation T cell product candidate, which we refer to as AUTO6NG, which builds on AUTO6 by incorporating additional programming modules intended to enhance the efficacy, safety and persistence of AUTO6.
Because GD2 is expressed in numerous pediatric and adult tumors including neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, melanoma, astrocytoma and small cell lung cancer, or SCLC, our clinical development strategy is to develop AUTO6NG in parallel in neuroblastoma and in additional indications. To that end, we are planning to initiate two Phase 1/2 clinical trials of AUTO6NG. The first trial will be in adult patients and is expected to commence in the first half of 2021, and the second trial will be in pediatric patients and is expected to commence in the second half of 2021.
In the first planned Phase 1/2 clinical trial, we plan to enroll pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children and teens, with approximately 800 to 900 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States, the majority of which will be GD2 positive. Following evaluation of safety and selection of the recommended Phase 2 dose, we plan to initiate the three-arm Phase 2 portion of the clinical trial, which will enroll patients with neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and other GD2-positive tumors, respectively, in each individual arm of the trial. If the preliminary efficacy data from the Phase 2 portion of the trial based on appropriate criteria for individual tumor types is positive in one or more arms, we intend to discuss with the FDA the possibility of converting the Phase 2 portion into a registrational trial, with separate arms
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for each indication. The final number of patients to be enrolled in the trial and endpoints for each individual indication will be determined based on feedback from regulatory authorities.
In our second planned Phase 1/2 trial, we intend to enroll adult patients with metastatic melanoma, SCLC and other GD2-positive malignancies and who have received at least one prior therapy. The timing of this trial will be staggered with the first Phase 1/2 clinical trial in order to incorporate learnings from the early dose cohorts of pediatric patients. We anticipate that prior to initiation of this second Phase 1/2 clinical trial, a diagnostic assay for GD2 assessment may be needed. Melanoma is one of the most common types of cancer, with approximately 90,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. SCLC accounts for about 10-15% of all lung cancer cases, with 30,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. It has been reported that approximately half of the patients are positive for the GD2 antigen. Following selection of the recommended Phase 2 dose, we plan to initiate the three-arm Phase 2 portion of the clinical trial, which will enroll patients with melanoma, SCLC and other GD2-positive tumors, respectively, in each individual arm of the trial. If the preliminary efficacy data such as overall response rate from the Phase 2 portion of the trial is promising in one or more arms, we intend to discuss with the FDA the possibility of converting the Phase 2 portion into a registrational trial, with separate arms for each indication. The final number of patients to be enrolled in the trial and endpoints for each individual indication will be determined based on feedback from regulatory authorities.
AUTO7—Our Prostate Cancer Program
We are in preclinical development of AUTO7, a programmed T cell product candidate designed to target and treat prostate cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men, with approximately 165,000 new cases diagnosed each year. This program incorporates enhanced safety modules including our small molecule mediated safety switch and enhanced T cell activity modules that we are developing to overcome the immuno-suppressive effects of the tumor micro-environment and enhance T cell persistence. We have incorporated a technology in AUTO7 that is designed to deliver a cytokine signal directly inside our programmed T cells. This cytokine persistence signal is further enhanced by engagement with antigens secreted by the tumor.
We presented new preclinical data for AUTO7 in June 2020 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting. The preclinical data demonstrate that AUTO7 is highly potent in cytotoxicity assays against cells expressing PSMA, even at low levels, and demonstrate the feasibility of this multi-modular cell programming approach in overcoming the immunotherapeutic challenges presented by advanced prostate cancer, which is typically otherwise an immunologically cold tumor.
We intend to initiate our clinical development of AUTO7 in H1 2022. We anticipate starting a Phase 1/2 trial in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer to evaluate the safety and identify the optimum Phase 2 dose of AUTO7 in the Phase 1 part of the trial and preliminary efficacy in the Phase 2 portion of the trial.
Partnerable Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Project
Our research team has developed a potentially universal SARS-CoV2 decoy receptor with virus neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV2 and its variants, and also active against SARS-CoV1.
Manufacture and Delivery of Programmed T Cell Therapies to Patients
We are devoting significant resources to process development and manufacturing in order to optimize the safety and efficacy of our product candidates, as well as to reduce our per unit manufacturing costs and time to market if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our programmed T cell product candidates.
The manufacture and delivery of programmed T cell therapies to patients involves complex, integrated processes, including harvesting T cells from patients, manufacturing viral vectors with nucleic acid content encoded with our programming modules, manufacturing programmed T cells using the viral vectors ex vivo, multiplying the T cells to obtain the desired dose, and ultimately infusing the T cells back into a patient’s body.
Commercial success in T cell therapies requires a manufacturing process that is reliable, scalable and economical. We have established a manufacturing process that is scalable and serves as a manufacturing platform designed to support rapid development of our programmed T cell therapy product candidates through clinical trial phases and regulatory approval processes. We are using a semi-automated, fully enclosed system for cell manufacturing, which is designed to provide a common platform suitable for manufacturing all of our product candidates. This platform allows for parallel processing having the ability to scale for commercial supply in a controlled environment at an economical cost. We have improved our viral vector production and viral transduction process to reduce process variability.
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Our manufacturing and logistics process is designed to ensure that product integrity is maintained during shipment along with accurate tracking and tracing of shipments. We are expanding internal manufacturing and supply capabilities as well as the use of expert service providers on maturing our vein-to-vein logistics and our gradual capacity expansion.
Our manufacturing and commercialization strategy requires a fully integrated vein-to-vein product delivery cycle. We believe having established manufacturing processes suitable for commercialization early in the development of our T cell therapies will allow us to focus on expanding manufacturing capacity during our clinical trials and early commercial launch needs. Over time, we expect to establish regional manufacturing hubs to meet projected product requirements for commercialization. We believe that anticipated future commercial requirements can be met. Our plan is to establish our manufacturing infrastructure in a manner that would ameliorate logistics complexities and costs for all regions on initial commercial launch.
We believe our scalable closed-system manufacturing process, along with our proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, would be challenging and costly for potential competitors to replicate.
Manufacturing Agreements
We have manufacturing agreements with King’s College London for early phase vector manufacturing. Autolus also has an internal capability to produce vector for early and late-stage trials. Additionally, we have also established an agreement with AGC Bio for late stage clinical and commercial supply of vector. All vector manufacturing is done in accordance with Current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, in compliant manufacturing facilities. The manufacturing agreements governing the external supply arrangements also provide for access to services including quality management systems, qualified persons for product release, office space, frozen storage and warehousing services.
We have established our cell and vector manufacturing capacity at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in Stevenage, United Kingdom. We have 2 cell manufacturing suites capable of supporting clinical and early stage commercial launch. We also have a vector production suite capable of supplying clinical supplies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult provides for access to architecturally and operationally segregated manufacturing suites. This facility approach has been reviewed and approved by the MHRA. This operational approach has also been reviewed with the FDA.
In March 2018, we entered into a strategic, long-term supply agreement with Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, or Miltenyi, for the supply of Miltenyi’s CliniMACS Prodigy instruments, reagents and disposables for the manufacture of our programmed T cell therapies for preclinical and clinical use and, if approved, for commercial use, as well as support services. The supply agreement sets forth procedures to ensure continuity of supply to us of Miltenyi’s products, both during the clinical phase and any future commercial phase of our product candidates. After the initial ten-year term of the agreement, we have two separate options to renew the agreement, each for an additional five-year term. The supply agreement contains customary termination provisions, allowing for termination by a party upon the other party’s uncured material breach, upon the other party’s bankruptcy or insolvency or upon the other party being subject to an extended period of force majeure events. We may also terminate the supply agreement upon advance written notice, if we decide to suspend or discontinue the development or commercialization of our product candidates. The supply agreement is governed under the laws of Germany.
Commercialization
Given our stage of development, we have not yet established a commercial infrastructure or distribution capabilities. We are developing our clinical-stage programs for the treatment of patients with late-stage or rare hematological cancers and solid tumors, most of whom are treated in specialized treatment centers or hospitals. With our experience in gene therapy, transplantation and oncology, we aim to provide high levels of service and scientific engagement at these treatment centers, and to pilot and establish systems necessary for product delivery by the time of launch. We believe this approach will require less investment in commercial infrastructure compared to the current standard of care. By focusing on these centers, we can begin to build our commercialization capabilities with limited resources.
We have retained worldwide commercial rights for our product candidates. We currently plan to build our global commercialization capabilities internally over time such that we are able to commercialize any product candidate for which we may obtain regulatory approval. We may selectively pursue strategic collaborations with third parties in order to maximize the commercial potential of our product candidates. We generally expect to launch any of our products that receive regulatory approval in the United States first, followed by the European Union and subsequently in other major markets. For AUTO1, we may look to commercialize first in markets outside the United States, if any, where we receive regulatory approvals, with a launch following regulatory approval in the United States occurring after the earlier of either the expected expiration of any applicable third-party patents covering AUTO1 that expire between 2023 and 2025, the invalidation of such patents or the receipt of a license to such patents on commercially reasonable terms. See “Risk Factors–Risks Related to our Intellectual Property–Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could significantly harm our business.”
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Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is of vital importance in our field and in biotechnology generally. We seek to protect and enhance proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are commercially important to the development of our business by seeking, maintaining and defending patent rights, whether developed internally or licensed from third parties. We will also seek to rely on regulatory protection afforded through orphan drug designations, data exclusivity, market exclusivity and patent term extensions where available.
Our intellectual property estate, which includes in-licensed intellectual property and intellectual property that we own, is designed to provide multiple layers of protection. For example, we are pursuing patent protection for core constructs used in our product candidates, various methods of treatment for particular therapeutic indications using our approach, specific product candidates, innovative manufacturing processes, and constructs that may be used in future product candidates to improve the ability of our programmed T cells to better recognize and kill cancer cells. A portion of our patent portfolio is directed to certain current product candidates or technologies deployed in certain product candidates, and the remainder of the portfolio is directed to alternative approaches, technologies or modules that are not currently deployed in our current product candidates.
As of December 31, 2020, our patent portfolio is comprised of 96 patent families, of which 25 patent families originated from UCLB, the technology-transfer company of UCL, 3 patent families are in-licensed from Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., and 68 patent families we own and have originated from our own research. Of the 25 patent families that were originally in-licensed from UCLB, 24 have now been assigned to Autolus under a Deed of Assignment dated 15 October 2020. We believe that our current patent portfolio, together with our ongoing efforts to develop and patent new technologies, will provide us with substantial intellectual property protection for our product candidates and other technologies that are not currently deployed in our product candidates.
Commercially or strategically important non-U.S. jurisdictions in which certain patent applications that we have in-licensed are currently pending include: Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Brazil, Chile, Israel, India, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.
Our strategy is to develop and obtain additional intellectual property covering innovative manufacturing processes and methods for genetically engineering T cells expressing new constructs with properties that are designed to improve the ability of our programmed T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. To support this effort, we have established expertise and development capabilities focused in the areas of T cell programming, preclinical and clinical research and development, and manufacturing and manufacturing process scale-up, and we expect that our ongoing research and development activities will yield additional patentable inventions and patent applications that will expand our intellectual property portfolio.
The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term of the patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries in which we file, the patent term is 20 years from the date of filing of the first non-provisional application to which priority is claimed. In the United States, a patent’s term may be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in granting a patent or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over an earlier-filed patent. The term of a patent that covers an FDA-approved drug may also be eligible for a patent term restoration of up to five years under the Hatch-Waxman Act, which is designed to compensate for the patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. The length of the patent term restoration is calculated based on the length of time the drug is under regulatory review. A patent term restoration under the Hatch-Waxman Act cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval and only one patent applicable to an approved drug may be restored. Moreover, a patent can only be restored once, and thus, if a single patent is applicable to multiple products, it can only be extended based on one product. Similar provisions are available in Europe and certain other foreign jurisdictions to extend the term of a patent that covers an approved drug. If and when possible, we expect to apply for patent term extensions for patents covering our product candidates or their methods of use.
Our commercial success may depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for commercially important technology, inventions and know-how related to our business, defend and enforce our patents, preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets, and operate without infringing the valid enforceable patents and proprietary rights of third parties. Our ability to stop third parties from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing our products may depend on the extent to which we have rights under valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets that cover these activities. With respect to both licensed and company-owned intellectual property, we cannot be sure that patents will be granted with respect to any of our pending patent applications or with respect to any patent applications filed by us in the future, nor can we be sure that any patents, if granted, will be commercially useful in protecting our commercial products and methods of manufacturing the same. Development and commercialization of products can be subject to substantial delays and it is possible that, at the time of commercialization, any patent covering the product has expired or will be in force for only a short period of time following commercialization. Numerous third-party
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U.S. and non-U.S. issued patents exist in the area of programmed T cell therapies, including patents held by our competitors. We cannot predict with any certainty if any third-party U.S. or foreign patent rights, or other proprietary rights, will be deemed infringed by the use of our technology. Nor can we predict with certainty which, if any, of these rights will or may be asserted against us by third parties. Should we need to defend ourselves against any such claims, substantial costs may be incurred. Furthermore, parties making such claims may be able to obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to develop or commercialize some or all our products in the United States, European Union and other major markets.
We may rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets to protect our technology. However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect. We seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors and contractors. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and trade secrets by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our consultants, contractors or collaborators use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
Our License Agreement with UCL Business Ltd.
In September 2014, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with UCLB, the technology-transfer company of UCL, for the development and commercialization rights to certain T cell programming modules. The license agreement was amended and restated in March 2016 to also include certain development and commercialization rights to improvements and new T cell programming modules. The license agreement was further amended and restated in March 2018 to include a license to AUTO1, for which UCL is conducting Phase 1 clinical trials in pediatric and adult ALL patients. The license agreement was further amended and restated in October 2020 to reflect our election to have various patent rights assigned to us, and to include a license to new technology and further licenses to AUTO1 for which UCL is conducting Phase 1 clinical trials in primary CNS Lymphoma patients. Under the license agreement, subject to certain limitations, exceptions and retained rights of UCLB, we received an exclusive license of certain patent rights and know-how owned by UCLB covering T cell programming modules. The licensed rights cover our AUTO1, AUTO3, AUTO4/5 and AUTO6 targeting modules, as well as additional T cell programming modules and technologies, including dual-targeting technology, pattern recognition technology, safety switches (including RQR8), tunable T cells, manufacturing processes as well as certain technology for evading tumor micro-environments. We also have option rights and rights of first negotiation to obtain an exclusive license for development and commercialization rights to certain new T cell programming modules.
In exchange for the rights under the original license agreement, we granted UCLB 4,769,994 B ordinary shares of Autolus Limited, which, in connection with our corporate reorganization in June 2018, were converted to 1,497,643 ordinary shares of Autolus Therapeutics plc. We also agreed to pay a management fee, milestone payments and royalties upon future net sales of any products that use the in-licensed rights. The management fee of £120,000 was payable in equal installments on the first four anniversaries of our entry into the original license agreement. In exchange for the additional rights we received in March 2016 when the license agreement was amended, we issued UCLB an additional 1,000,000 B ordinary shares, which, in connection with our corporate reorganization in June 2018, were converted to 313,971 ordinary shares of Autolus Therapeutics plc, and made a one-time payment of £150,000. In exchange for the additional rights we received in March 2018 when the license agreement was further amended, we made an initial payment of £1.5 million and paid the additional £0.35 million in connection with UCLB's transfer of clinical data to the Company in December 2020.
Under the license agreement, as amended, we are obligated to pay UCLB milestone payments upon the initiation of certain clinical activities in an aggregate amount of £0.18 million, the receipt of specified regulatory approvals in an aggregate amount of £37.5 million, the start of commercialization in an aggregate amount of £18 million, and the achievement of net sales levels in an aggregate amount of £51 million. On a per-product basis, these milestone payments range from £1 million to £18.5 million, depending on which T cell programming modules are used in the product achieving the milestone. Under the terms of the license, we have the right to grant sub-licenses to third parties, subject to certain restrictions. If we receive any income in connection with such sublicenses, we must pay UCLB a percentage of the income allocable to the value of the sublicensed intellectual property rights ranging from low twenties to mid-single digits, decreasing based on the development expenses incurred by us and the passage of time. UCLB has retained the right to use the licensed T cell programming modules for academic research purposes at UCL and with other academic institutions, subject to certain restrictions.
Upon commercialization of any of our products that use the in-licensed patent rights, we are obligated to pay UCLB a flat royalty for each licensed product ranging from the low- to mid-single digits, depending on which technologies are deployed in the licensed product, based on worldwide annual net sales of each licensed product, subject to certain reductions, including for the market entry of competing products and for loss of patent coverage of licensed products. We may deduct from the royalties payable to UCLB half of any payments made to a third party to obtain a license to such third party’s intellectual property that is necessary to exploit any licensed products. Once net sales of a licensed product have reached a certain specified threshold, we may exercise an option to buy
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out UCLB’s rights to the remaining milestone payments, royalty payments, and sublicensing revenue payments for such licensed product, on terms to be negotiated at the time.
As mentioned above, we acquired ownership of the majority of the licensed patent rights under the license agreement (with the exception of the RQR8 patent rights) by virtue of a Deed of Assignment from UCLB which was executed on 15 October 2020. Our payment and diligence obligations remain unaffected by the assignment of the licensed patent rights to us.
Under the license agreement, we are solely responsible, at our expense, for developing the products that use the in-licensed patent rights and obtaining all regulatory approvals for such products worldwide. We are also solely responsible, at our expense, for commercializing the products worldwide after receiving regulatory approval. Further, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop certain products using the patent rights pertaining to the T cell programming modules we have licensed from UCLB. Failure to achieve diligence obligations may result in loss of exclusivity or termination of the license on a program-by-program basis.
The license agreement expires on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis upon the expiration of the royalty term with respect to each product in each country. We may unilaterally terminate the license agreement for any reason upon advance notice to UCLB. Either party may terminate the license agreement for the uncured material breach by the other party or for the insolvency of the other party. If UCLB terminates the license agreement following our insolvency or our material breach of the agreement, or if we terminate the agreement unilaterally, all rights and licenses granted to us will terminate, and all patent rights and know-how transferred, licensed or assigned to us pursuant to the agreement will revert back to UCLB. In addition, UCLB has the right to negotiate with us for the grant of an exclusive license to our improvements to the T cell programming modules we have licensed on terms to be agreed upon at the time.
Competition
Presently, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries put significant resources in developing novel and proprietary therapies for the treatment of cancer. While we believe that our differentiated product candidates and scientific expertise in the field of cellular immunotherapy provide us with competitive advantages, we face potential competition from various sources, including larger and better-funded pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as from academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions. We anticipate that we will face intense and increasing competition as new drugs and therapies enter the market and advanced technologies become available. Due to their promising clinical therapeutic effect in clinical exploratory trials, advanced T cell therapies, redirected T cell therapies in general and antibody-drug conjugates are being pursued by multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis AG, or Novartis, Gilead Sciences, Inc., or Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, or BMS, Janssen Biotech Inc., bluebird bio, Inc., or bluebird bio, Roche Holding AG, Seattle Genetics, and Amgen Inc. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and products that are more effective, more effectively marketed and sold or less costly than any product candidates that we may develop, which could render our product candidates non-competitive and obsolete.
Currently there are now four approved anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapies, including Tecartus from Kite/Gilead and Breynazi from BMS, which were approved in February 2021.These companies and products will compete directly with AUTO3, our dual-targeting CD19/CD22 programmed T cell product candidate and AUTO1, our CD19 targeting programmed T cell product candidate in some indications.
The BCMA space continues to be highly competitive with the first CAR T cell therapy in this indication anticipated to come to market in the near future. Bluebird bio, Inc., in collaboration with BMS, is developing a BCMA CAR T cell therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Nanjing Legend Biotech and Janssen Biotech, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, are collaborating on the development of a similar therapy. In addition, some companies, such as Gilead, BMS and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. are also developing BCMA CAR T cell therapies for the treatment of multiple myeloma. The BCMA landscape continues to evolve, with BMS deciding to abandon a second BCMA CAR-T candidate in February 2021. Some companies like Amgen, BMS and Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, are developing BCMA-targeting T cell engagers for the treatment of multiple myeloma, which are expected to compete directly with CAR-T approaches. All of these therapies will compete directly with our AUTO8 product candidate.
While we believe that other known types of immunotherapies may potentially be used in conjunction with CAR T cell therapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors, to enhance efficacy, we do not currently expect substantial direct competition from these other types of immunotherapies. However, we cannot predict whether other types of immunotherapies may be enhanced and show greater efficacy, and we may have direct and substantial competition from such immunotherapies in the future.
In addition, more effective small molecules, cancer vaccines and other approaches may be developed and used as first line or second line treatments, which would reduce the market opportunity for our programmed T cell therapies.
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Many of our competitors, either alone or with their strategic collaborators, have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be more successful than we are in obtaining approval for treatments and achieving widespread market acceptance and may render our treatments obsolete or non-competitive. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical study sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.
We anticipate that we will face intense and increasing competition as new products and therapies enter the market and advanced technologies become available. We expect any treatments that we develop and commercialize to compete on the basis of, among other things, efficacy, safety, delivery, price and the availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payors.
Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive or better reimbursed than any products that we may commercialize. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position for either the product or a specific indication before we are able to enter the market.
Government Regulation and Product Approval
As a biopharmaceutical company, we are subject to extensive regulation. Our programmed T cell product candidates, if approved, will be regulated as biological medicines. With this classification, commercial production of our products will need to occur in registered and licensed facilities in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMPs, for biologics.
Human immunotherapy products are a new category of therapeutics. The FDA categorizes human cell- or tissue-based products as either minimally manipulated or more than minimally manipulated and has determined that more than minimally manipulated products require clinical trials to demonstrate product safety and efficacy and the submission of a Biologics License Application, or BLA, for marketing authorization.
Government authorities in the United States (at the federal, state and local level) and in other countries and jurisdictions, including the European Union, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, preclinical and clinical testing, manufacturing, quality control, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, promotion, advertising, sale, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, marketing and export and import of biopharmaceutical products such as those we are developing. Our product candidates must be approved by the FDA before they may be legally marketed in the United States and by the appropriate foreign regulatory agency before they may be legally marketed in foreign countries. Generally, our activities in other countries will be subject to regulation that is similar in nature and scope as that imposed in the United States, although there can be important differences. Additionally, some significant aspects of regulation in Europe are addressed in a centralized way, but country-specific regulation remains essential in many respects. The process for obtaining regulatory marketing approvals and the subsequent compliance with applicable federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
U.S. Product Development Process
In the United States, the FDA regulates biological products under the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and implementing regulations. Products are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval, may subject an applicant to administrative or judicial sanctions. FDA sanctions could include, among other actions, refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, a clinical hold, warning letters and similar public notice of alleged non-compliance with laws, product recalls or withdrawals from the market, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us. The process required by the FDA before a biological product may be approved for marketing in the United States generally involves the following:
•completion of preclinical laboratory tests and animal studies according to Good Laboratory Practices, or GLPs, and applicable requirements for the humane use of laboratory animals or other applicable regulations;
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•submission to the FDA of an Investigational New Drug Application, or IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin;
•performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials according to the FDA’s regulations commonly referred to as Good Clinical Practices, or GCPs, and any additional requirements for the protection of human research subjects and their health information, to establish the safety and efficacy of the proposed biological product for its intended use;
•preparation and submission to the FDA of a Biologics License Application, or BLA, for marketing approval that includes substantive evidence of safety, purity, and potency from results of nonclinical testing and clinical trials;
•satisfactory completion of one or more FDA inspections of the manufacturing facility or facilities where the biological product is produced to assess compliance with cGMP to assure that the facilities, methods and controls used in product manufacture are adequate to preserve the biological product’s identity, strength, quality and purity and, if applicable, the FDA’s current Good Tissue Practices, or GTPs, for the use of human cellular and tissue products;
•potential FDA audit of the nonclinical study and clinical trial sites that generated the data in support of the BLA;
•payment of user fees for FDA review of the BLA; and
•FDA acceptance, review and approval, or licensure, of the BLA, which might include review by an advisory committee, a panel typically consisting of independent clinicians and other experts who provide recommendations as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions.
Before testing any biological product candidate, including our product candidates, in humans, the product candidate must undergo rigorous the preclinical testing. Preclinical tests, also referred to as nonclinical studies, include laboratory evaluations as well as in vitro and animal studies to assess the potential safety and efficacy of the product candidate. After sufficient preclinical testing has been conducted, the conduct of the preclinical tests must comply with federal regulations and requirements including GLPs. The clinical trial sponsor must submit an IND to the FDA before clinical testing can begin in the United States. An IND must contain the results of the preclinical tests, manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature, a proposed clinical protocol, an investigator’s brochure, a sample informed consent form, and other materials. Clinical trial protocols detail, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria, and the parameters to be used to monitor subject safety, including stopping rules that assure a clinical trial will be stopped if certain adverse events should occur. Each protocol and any amendments to the protocol must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Some preclinical testing, such as toxicity studies, may continue even after the IND is submitted.
The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA raises concerns or questions regarding the proposed clinical trials or places the trial on a clinical hold within that 30-day time period. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. The FDA may also impose clinical holds on a biological product candidate at any time before or during clinical trials due to safety concerns or non-compliance. If the FDA imposes a clinical hold, trials may not recommence without FDA authorization and then only under terms authorized by the FDA. Accordingly, we cannot be sure that submission of an IND will result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to begin, or that, once begun, issues will not arise that suspend or terminate such trials.
Further, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an independent institutional review board, or IRB, at or servicing each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted. An IRB is charged with protecting the welfare and rights of trial participants and considers such items as whether the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also approves the form and content of the informed consent that must be signed by each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative and must monitor the clinical trial until completed. Clinical trials involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules also must be reviewed by an institutional biosafety committee, or IBC, a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees basic and clinical research conducted at that institution. The IBC assesses the safety of the research and identifies any potential risk to public health or the environment.
Clinical trials involve the administration of the biological product candidate to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by or under the trial sponsor’s control. Clinical trials must be conducted and monitored in accordance with the FDA’s regulations comprising the GCP requirements, including the requirement that all research patients provide informed consent.
Human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap or be combined:
•Phase 1. The biological product is initially introduced into healthy human subjects and tested for safety. In the case of some products for severe or life-threatening diseases, especially when the product may be too inherently toxic to ethically administer to healthy volunteers, the initial human testing is often conducted in patients with the target disease or condition.
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•Phase 2. The biological product is evaluated in a limited patient population to identify possible adverse effects and safety risks, to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of the product for specific targeted diseases and to determine dosage tolerance, optimal dosage and dosing schedule.
•Phase 3. Clinical trials are undertaken to further evaluate dosage, clinical efficacy, potency, and safety in an expanded patient population, generally at geographically dispersed clinical trial sites. These clinical trials are intended to generate enough data to statistically evaluate the efficacy and safety of the product for approval, to establish the overall risk to benefit profile of the product and to provide an adequate basis for product labeling.
Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all.
Post-approval clinical trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted after initial marketing approval. These clinical trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication, particularly for long-term safety follow-up.
During all phases of clinical development, regulatory agencies require extensive monitoring and auditing of all clinical activities, clinical data, and clinical trial investigators. Annual progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted to the FDA. Written IND safety reports must be promptly submitted to the FDA, and the investigators for serious and unexpected adverse events, any findings from other studies, tests in laboratory animals or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk for human patients, or any clinically important increase in the rate of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure. The sponsor must submit an IND safety report within 15 calendar days after the sponsor determines that the information qualifies for reporting. The sponsor also must notify the FDA of any unexpected fatal or life-threatening suspected adverse reaction within seven calendar days after the sponsor’s initial receipt of the information. The FDA or the sponsor or its data safety monitoring board, an independent group of experts that evaluates study data for safety and makes recommendations concerning continuation, modification, or termination of clinical trials, may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk, including risks inferred from other unrelated immunotherapy trials. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the biological product has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients.
Because this is a relatively new and expanding area of novel therapeutic interventions, there can be no assurance as to the length of the trial period, the number of patients the FDA will require to be enrolled in the trials in order to establish the safety, efficacy, purity and potency of immunotherapy products, or that the data generated in these trials will be acceptable to the FDA to support marketing approval.
Concurrently with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional nonclinical studies and must also develop additional information about the physical characteristics of the biological product as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. To help reduce the risk of the introduction of adventitious agents with use of biological products, the PHSA emphasizes the importance of manufacturing control for products whose attributes cannot be precisely defined. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product candidate and, among other things, the sponsor must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality, potency and purity of the final biological product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the biological product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
U.S. Review and Approval Processes
After the completion of clinical trials of a biological product, FDA approval of a BLA must be obtained before commercial marketing of the biological product. The BLA must include results of product development, laboratory and animal studies, human trials, information on the manufacture and composition of the product, proposed labeling and other relevant information. The testing and approval processes require substantial time and effort and there can be no assurance that the FDA will accept the BLA for filing and, even if filed, that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, if at all as the FDA has significant discretion to approve or reject the BLA and to require additional preclinical or clinical studies.
Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, as amended, each BLA must be accompanied by a significant user fee. The FDA adjusts the PDUFA user fees on an annual basis. PDUFA also imposes an annual program fee for approved biological products. Fee waivers or reductions are available in certain circumstances, including a waiver of the application fee for the first application filed by a small business. Additionally, no user fees are assessed on BLAs for products designated as orphan drugs, unless the product also includes a non-orphan indication.
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Within 60 days following submission of the application, the FDA reviews a BLA submitted to determine if it is substantially complete before the agency accepts it for filing. The FDA may refuse to file any BLA that it deems incomplete or not properly reviewable at the time of submission and may request additional information. In this event, the BLA must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application also is subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth substantive review of the BLA. The FDA reviews the BLA to determine, among other things, whether the proposed product is safe, potent, and/or effective for its intended use, and has an acceptable purity profile, and whether the product is being manufactured in accordance with cGMP to assure and preserve the product’s identity, safety, strength, quality, potency and purity. The FDA may refer applications for novel biological products or biological products that present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee, typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts, for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions. During the biological product approval process, the FDA also will determine whether a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, is necessary to ensure that the benefits of the product outweigh its risks and to assure the safe use of the biological product, which could include medication guides, physician communication plans, or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. FDA determines the requirement for a REMS, as well as the specific REMS provisions, on a case-by-case basis. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the BLA must submit a proposed REMS. The FDA will not approve a BLA without a REMS, if required.
Before approving a BLA, the FDA will inspect the facilities at which the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve the product unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. For immunotherapy products, the FDA also will not approve the product if the manufacturer is not in compliance with the GTPs, to the extent applicable. These are FDA regulations and guidance documents that govern the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue based products, or HCT/Ps, which are human cells or tissue intended for implantation, transplant, infusion, or transfer into a human recipient. The primary intent of the GTP requirements is to ensure that cell and tissue based products are manufactured in a manner designed to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable disease. FDA GTP regulations also require tissue establishments to register and list their HCT/Ps with the FDA and, when applicable, to evaluate donors through screening and testing. Additionally, before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure that the clinical trials were conducted in compliance with IND trial requirements and GCP requirements.
To assure cGMP, GTP and GCP compliance, an applicant must incur significant expenditure of time, money and effort in the areas of training, recordkeeping, production, and quality control.
Notwithstanding the submission of relevant data and information, the FDA may ultimately decide that the BLA does not satisfy its regulatory criteria for approval and deny approval. If the agency decides not to approve the BLA in its present form, the FDA will issue a Complete Response Letter, which generally outlines the specific deficiencies in the BLA identified by the FDA and may require additional clinical or other data or impose other conditions that must be met in order to secure final approval of the application. The deficiencies identified may be minor, for example, requiring labeling changes, or major, for example, requiring additional clinical trials. Even with the submission of additional information, the FDA may ultimately decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval. If a Complete Response Letter is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the BLA, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application.
If a product receives regulatory approval, the approval is limited to the conditions of use (e.g., patient population, indication) described in the application.
Further, the FDA may require that certain contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling, or otherwise limit the scope of any approval. In addition, the FDA may require post marketing clinical trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, designed to further assess a biological product’s safety and effectiveness, and testing and surveillance programs to monitor the safety of approved products that have been commercialized. After approval, many types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further testing requirements and FDA review and approval.
In addition, under the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, a BLA or supplement to a BLA must contain data to assess the safety and effectiveness of the product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of data or full or partial waivers.
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Post-Approval Requirements
Any products for which we receive FDA approvals are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, record-keeping requirements, reporting of adverse experiences with the product, providing the FDA with updated safety and efficacy information, product sampling and distribution requirements, and complying with FDA promotion and advertising requirements, which include, among others, standards for direct-to-consumer advertising, restrictions on promoting products for uses or in patient populations that are not described in the product’s approved uses (known as “off-label use”), limitations on industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and requirements that important safety information and material facts related to the product be disclosed. Although physicians may prescribe legally available products for off-label uses, if the physicians deem to be appropriate in their professional medical judgment, manufacturers may not market or promote such off-label uses. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative liability.
In addition, quality control and manufacturing procedures must continue to conform to applicable manufacturing requirements after approval to ensure the long-term stability of the product. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantities of our products in accordance with cGMP regulations. cGMP regulations require among other things, quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and the obligation to investigate and correct any deviations from cGMP. Manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved products are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP and other laws. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money, and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance. Discovery of problems with a product after approval may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer, or holder of an approved BLA, including, among other things, recall or withdrawal of the product from the market.
The FDA also may require post-marketing testing, known as Phase 4 testing, and surveillance to monitor the effects of an approved product. Discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, with manufacturing processes, or the failure to comply with applicable FDA requirements can have negative consequences, including adverse publicity, judicial or administrative enforcement, complete withdrawal from the market, product recalls, warning letters from the FDA, mandated corrective advertising or communications with doctors, product seizure or detention, injunctions, and civil or criminal penalties, among others. Newly discovered or developed safety or effectiveness data may require changes to a product’s approved labeling, including the addition of new warnings and contraindications, and also may require the implementation of other risk management measures. Also, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could delay or prevent regulatory approval of our products under development.
U.S. Marketing Exclusivity
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act amended the PHSA to authorize the FDA to approve similar versions of innovative biologics, commonly known as biosimilars. Biosimilars are approved pursuant to an abbreviated pathway whereby applicants need not submit the full slate of preclinical and clinical data, and approval is based in part on the FDA’s findings of safety, purity, and potency for the original biologic (i.e., the reference product). Original BLAs are eligible to receive 12 years of exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, which prevents the FDA from approving any biosimilars to the reference product through the abbreviated pathway, but does not prevent approval of BLAs that are accompanied by a full data package and that do not rely on the reference product. A biosimilar may be approved if the product is highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and there are no clinically meaningful differences with the reference product in terms of the safety, purity, and potency.
Pediatric exclusivity is another type of regulatory market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods and patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of other exclusivity protection or patent term, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric trial in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a trial.
Coverage, Pricing and Reimbursement
Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval. In the United States and markets in other countries, sales of any products for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale will depend, in significant part, on the extent to which third-party payors provide coverage, and establish adequate reimbursement levels for such products. In the United States, third-party payers include federal and state healthcare programs, private managed care organizations, health insurers and other organizations. The process for determining whether a third-party payer will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process of establishing the reimbursement rate that such a
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payor will pay for the product. Third-party payors may limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, also known as a formulary, which might not include all of the FDA-approved products for a particular indication. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the price, examining the medical necessity of and reviewing the cost-effectiveness of medical products, therapies and services, in addition to questioning their safety and efficacy.
Reimbursement may impact the demand for, and/or the price of, any product candidate which obtains marketing approval. Even if coverage and reimbursement is obtained for a given product candidate by a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. Patients who are prescribed medications for the treatment of their conditions, and their prescribing physicians, generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with those medications. Patients are unlikely to use a product, and physicians may be less likely to prescribe a product, unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover all or a significant portion of the cost of the product. Therefore, coverage and adequate reimbursement is critical to new drug product acceptance.
Additionally, we are developing a proprietary diagnostic test for use with certain of our product candidates. The diagnostic test will require separate regulatory approval in addition to the regulatory approval of AUTO4 and AUTO5. Failure to obtain marketing approval for the diagnostic test could prevent us from commercializing either AUTO4 or AUTO5 unless another similar diagnostic test fordistinguishing TRBC1-positive and TRBC2-positive T cell lymphomas is commercially available.
Different pricing and reimbursement schemes exist in other countries. In the EU, governments influence the price of pharmaceutical products through their pricing and reimbursement rules and control of national healthcare systems that fund a large part of the cost of those products to consumers. Some jurisdictions operate positive and negative list systems under which products may only be marketed once a reimbursement price has been agreed. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval, some of these countries may require the completion of additional clinical trials that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular product candidate to currently available therapies. Other member states allow companies to fix their own prices for medicines, but monitor and control company profits. In addition, in some countries, cross-border imports from low-priced markets exert a commercial pressure on pricing within a country.
The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and biologics, has become very intense. Governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs, including price controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products. The marketability of any product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale may suffer if the government and third-party payors fail to provide coverage and adequate reimbursement. In addition, emphasis on managed care in the United States has increased and we expect will continue to increase the pressure on healthcare pricing. Coverage policies and third-party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future.
Healthcare Laws Governing Interactions with Healthcare Providers
In addition to FDA restrictions on marketing of pharmaceutical products, several other types of state and federal laws restrict our business activities, including certain marketing practices. These laws include, without limitation, anti-kickback laws, false claims laws, data privacy and security laws, as well as transparency laws regarding payments or other items of value provided to healthcare providers.
The U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits any person or entity from, among other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for the purchase, lease or order of any healthcare item, good, facility or service reimbursable, in whole or in part, under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. The term ‘‘remuneration’’ has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. This statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers on the other hand. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution or other regulatory sanctions, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and practices that involve remuneration that are alleged to be intended to induce prescribing, purchases or recommendations may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular applicable statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Instead, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on a cumulative review of all its facts and circumstances. Several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute has been violated. Additionally, the intent standard under the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute was amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, collectively the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, to a stricter standard such that a person or entity no longer
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needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. In addition, the ACA codified case law that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the U.S. federal False Claims Act.
Federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalties laws, including the U.S. federal False Claims Act, , which can be enforced through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, prohibit any person or entity from, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim for payment to the federal government, or knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false statement to have a false claim paid. Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been prosecuted under these laws for, among other things, allegedly inflating drug prices they report to pricing services, which in turn were used by the government to set Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, and for allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product. In addition, certain marketing practices, including off-label promotion, may also violate false claims laws. Further, pharmaceutical manufacturers can be held liable under the U.S. federal False Claims Act even when they do not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims.
The U.S. federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit among other actions, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including private third- party payors, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense, and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Like the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the ACA amended the intent standard for certain healthcare fraud under HIPAA such that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, and their implementing regulations, impose certain requirements on “covered entities,” including certain healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, as well as their respective “business associates” that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered entity, and their covered subcontractors, relating to the privacy, security, transmission and breach of individually identifiable health information. Further, HITECH also created four new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in U.S. federal courts to enforce HIPAA and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions.
Additionally, the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under the ACA, and its implementing regulations, require certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to annually report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, information related to certain payments or other transfers of value provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, or to entities or individuals at the request of, or designated on behalf of, the physicians and teaching hospitals as well as certain ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and transfers of value provided to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist assistants, and certified nurse-midwives.
Additionally, similar healthcare laws and regulations in the European Union and other jurisdictions, including reporting requirements detailing interactions with and payments to healthcare providers and laws governing the privacy and security of certain protected information, such as GDPR, which imposes obligations and restrictions on the collection and use of personal data relating to individuals located in the European Union (including health data).
Finally, the majority of states also have statutes or regulations similar to the aforementioned federal laws, some of which are broader in scope and apply to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or, in several states, apply regardless of the payor. Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government in addition to requiring drug manufacturers to report information related to payments to clinicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures. Some states and local jurisdictions require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of their exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that business activities can be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and
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regulations. Federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry.
Ensuring that business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations is costly and time consuming. If business operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other applicable governmental regulations a pharmaceutical manufacturer may be subject to penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, exclusion from governmental funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting obligations and oversight if subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and curtailment or restructuring of operations, any of which could adversely affect a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s ability to operate its business and the results of its operations.
Healthcare Reform Efforts
A primary trend in the United States healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Over the last several years, there have been federal and state proposals and legislation enacted regarding the pricing of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products, limiting coverage and reimbursement for drugs and other medical products, and making changes to healthcare financing and the delivery of care in the United States. We do not expect this trend to dissipate with the advent of a new administration; but may take an initial back seat to its work on COVID 19 vaccination and prevention efforts.
During his 2020 campaign, President Biden stressed his desire to expand and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, in which he played a large role to help pass through Congress in 2010. Specifically, this includes lowering the age of Medicare eligibility to 60, expanding coverage to those who are caught in the gap between Medicaid eligibility and qualifying for ACA subsidies, and potentially creating a “public option” to cover those who have systemically been uninsured. We also expect the Biden administration will overturn several of the last minute regulations and waivers approved by the Trump administration including Medicaid work requirements. In fact, the administration on Day 1 issued a regulatory freeze to all federal agencies and requested agencies delay the effective date of new regulations until the new appointed agency head has reviewed those regulations.
We expect the Biden Administration may ramp up its efforts on drug pricing as it explores ways to pay for its various efforts to combat COVID 19, health equity, insurance coverage, and other priorities. One area we anticipate increased interest is direct Medicare price negotiation with drug manufacturers, however, it will remain challenging for Democrats to pass partisan legislation despite having control of the White House and Congress. The current 50-50 split in the Senate (with the Vice President breaking any tie votes) means that Democrats will need to either pursue legislation that will get some Republican votes or use the budget reconciliation mechanism to pass a more limited set of proposals with only 51 votes. We also anticipate the new administration will continue to use executive orders and Medicare demonstration authority to control drug costs. While the courts have essentially deemed the Trump administration’s Most Favored Nations model—which would have benchmarked Medicare payment rates on international reference prices for drugs—dead in the water, some of the proposals within the model may resurface under a new name. Other areas of reform like copay accumulators and Part D reform may also have impact on drug pricing.
Further, there remains heightened Congressional scrutiny in the United States of pharmaceutical pricing practices designed to, among other things, bring more transparency in product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. We expect both the Biden Administration’s first budget proposal and Congressional actors to begin hearings in earnest once relief measures for COVID 19 and other “first 100 day” issues like immigration, rejoining various International accords, and staffing at federal agencies, has taken place. US states are also not immune to such discussions. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly enacted legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. It is also possible that additional governmental action is taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, other federal health reform measures have been proposed and adopted in the United States that could impact cell therapy. Most notably, the previous administration supported and promulgated a rule related to value based payment alternatives in the Medicaid program. Medicaid is a jointly run federal and state program that provides health benefits coverage for low-income residents and children. In exchange for broad coverage in Medicaid, drug manufacturers are required to sign a Medicare Drug Rebate agreement which requires them to offer Medicaid programs the “best price” available for a particular product. This “best price” takes into consideration any rebates or concessions manufacturers offer, with some exceptions. The final rule would exempt value-based or outcomes-based payment arrangements from the definition of “best price” which provides manufacturers more flexibility to work with
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commercial payers and states on innovate payment mechanisms for high-cost cell and gene therapies. While Medicaid is not a significant driver of cell therapy sales it is a bellwether program and one we watch closely.
FCPA, the Bribery Act and Other Laws
The FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, or authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations. Activities that violate the FCPA, even if they occur wholly outside the United States, can result in criminal and civil fines, imprisonment, disgorgement, oversight, and debarment from government contracts.
Our operations are also subject to non-U.S. anti-corruption laws such as the Bribery Act. As with the FCPA, these laws generally prohibit us and our employees and intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper or prohibited payments, or anything else of value, to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. Under the Bribery Act, we may also be liable for failing to prevent a person associated with us from committing a bribery offense.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States and authorities in the European Union, including applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons, anti-money laundering laws, import and customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as trade control laws.
Failure to comply with the Bribery Act, the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws and trade control laws could subject us to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses.
Review and Approval of New Drug Products in the European Union
In the European Union, medicinal products, including advanced therapy medicinal products, or ATMPs, are subject to extensive pre- and post-market regulation by regulatory authorities at both the European Union and national levels. ATMPs comprise gene therapy products, somatic-cell therapy products and tissue engineered products, which are cells or tissues that have undergone substantial manipulation and that are administered to human beings in order to regenerate, repair or replace a human tissue. We anticipate that our T cell therapy products will be regulated as ATMPs in the European Union. There is legislation at a European Union level relating to the standards of quality and safety for the collection and testing of human blood and blood components for use in cell-based therapies, which could apply to our products. Additionally, there may be local legislation in various European Union Member States, which may be more restrictive than the European Union legislation, and we would need to comply with such legislation to the extent it applies.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials of medicinal products in the European Union must be conducted in accordance with European Union and national regulations and the International Conference on Harmonization, or ICH, guidelines on Good Clinical Practices, or GCP. Additional GCP guidelines from the European Commission, focusing in particular on traceability, apply to clinical trials of ATMPs. The sponsor must take out a clinical trial insurance policy, and in most European Union countries, the sponsor is liable to provide “no fault” compensation to any study subject injured in the clinical trial.
Prior to commencing a clinical trial, the sponsor must obtain a clinical trial authorization from the competent authority, and a positive opinion from an independent ethics committee. The application for a clinical trial authorization must include, among other things, a copy of the trial protocol and an investigational medicinal product dossier containing information about the manufacture and quality of the medicinal product under investigation. Currently, clinical trial authorization applications must be submitted to the competent authority in each EU Member State in which the trial will be conducted. Under the new Regulation on Clinical Trials, which is expected to take effect in December 2021, there will be a centralized application procedure where one national authority takes the lead in reviewing the application and the other national authorities have only a limited involvement. Any substantial changes to the trial protocol or other information submitted with the clinical trial applications must be notified to or approved by the relevant competent authorities and ethics committees. Medicines used in clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP. Other national and European Union-wide regulatory requirements also apply.
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During the development of a medicinal product, the EMA and national medicines regulators within the European Union provide the opportunity for dialogue and guidance on the development program. At the EMA level, this is usually done in the form of scientific advice, which is given by the Scientific Advice Working Party of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP. A fee is incurred with each scientific advice procedure. Advice from the EMA is typically provided based on questions concerning, for example, quality (chemistry, manufacturing and controls testing), nonclinical testing and clinical studies, and pharmacovigilance plans and risk-management programs. In accordance with the EMA’s policy, scientific advice will not be legally binding with regard to any future marketing authorization application of the product concerned.
Marketing Authorizations
In order to market a new medicinal product in the European Union, a company must submit and obtain approval from regulators of a marketing authorization application, or MAA. The process for doing this depends, among other things, on the nature of the medicinal product.
The centralized procedure results in a single marketing authorization, or MA, granted by the European Commission that is valid across the EEA (i.e., the European Union as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The centralized procedure is compulsory for human drugs that are: (i) derived from biotechnology processes, such as genetic engineering, (ii) contain a new active substance indicated for the treatment of certain diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune and other immune dysfunctions and viral diseases, (iii) officially designated orphan medicines and (iv) advanced-therapy medicines, such as gene therapy, somatic cell therapy or tissue-engineered medicines. The centralized procedure may at the request of the applicant also be used in certain other cases. Therefore, the centralized procedure would be mandatory for the products we are developing.
The Committee for Advanced Therapies, or CAT, is responsible in conjunction with the CHMP for the evaluation of ATMPs. The CAT is primarily responsible for the scientific evaluation of ATMPs and prepares a draft opinion on the quality, safety and efficacy of each ATMP for which a marketing authorization application is submitted. The CAT’s opinion is then taken into account by the CHMP when giving its final recommendation regarding the authorization of a product in view of the balance of benefits and risks identified. Although the CAT’s draft opinion is submitted to the CHMP for final approval, the CHMP may depart from the draft opinion, if it provides detailed scientific justification. The CHMP and CAT are also responsible for providing guidelines on ATMPs and have published numerous guidelines, including specific guidelines on gene therapies and cell therapies. These guidelines provide additional guidance on the factors that the EMA will consider in relation to the development and evaluation of ATMPs and include, among other things, the preclinical studies required to characterize ATMPs; the manufacturing and control information that should be submitted in a marketing authorization application; and post-approval measures required to monitor patients and evaluate the long term efficacy and potential adverse reactions of ATMPs. Although these guidelines are not legally binding, we believe that our compliance with them is likely necessary to gain and maintain approval for any of our product candidates.
Under the centralized procedure in the European Union, the maximum timeframe for the evaluation of an MAA by the EMA is 210 days. This excludes so-called clock stops, during which additional written or oral information is to be provided by the applicant in response to questions asked by the CHMP. At the end of the review period, the CHMP provides an opinion to the European Commission. If this is opinion favorable, the Commission may then adopt a decision to grant an MA. In exceptional cases, the CHMP might perform an accelerated review of an MAA in no more than 150 days. This is usually when the product is of major interest from the point of view of public health and, in particular, from the viewpoint of therapeutic innovation.
The European Commission may grant a so-called “marketing authorization under exceptional circumstances”. Such authorization is intended for products for which the applicant can demonstrate that it is unable to provide comprehensive data on the efficacy and safety under normal conditions of use, because the indications for which the product in question is intended are encountered so rarely that the applicant cannot reasonably be expected to provide comprehensive evidence, or in the present state of scientific knowledge, comprehensive information cannot be provided, or it would be contrary to generally accepted principles of medical ethics to collect such information. Consequently, marketing authorization under exceptional circumstances may be granted subject to certain specific obligations, which may include the following:
•the applicant must complete an identified program of studies within a time period specified by the competent authority, the results of which form the basis of a reassessment of the benefit/risk profile;
•the medicinal product in question may be supplied on medical prescription only and may in certain cases be administered only under strict medical supervision, possibly in a hospital and in the case of a radiopharmaceutical, by an authorized person; and
•the package leaflet and any medical information must draw the attention of the medical practitioner to the fact that the particulars available concerning the medicinal product in question are as yet inadequate in certain specified respects.
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A marketing authorization under exceptional circumstances is subject to annual review to reassess the risk-benefit balance in an annual reassessment procedure. Continuation of the authorization is linked to the annual reassessment and a negative assessment could potentially result in the marketing authorization being suspended or revoked. The renewal of a marketing authorization of a medicinal product under exceptional circumstances, however, follows the same rules as a “normal” marketing authorization. Thus, a marketing authorization under exceptional circumstances is granted for an initial five years, after which the authorization will become valid indefinitely, unless the EMA decides that safety grounds merit one additional five-year renewal.
The European Commission may also grant a so-called “conditional marketing authorization” prior to obtaining the comprehensive clinical data required for an application for a full marketing authorization. Such conditional marketing authorizations may be granted for product candidates (including medicines designated as orphan medicinal products), if (i) the risk-benefit balance of the product candidate is positive, (ii) it is likely that the applicant will be in a position to provide the required comprehensive clinical trial data, (iii) the product fulfills an unmet medical need and (iv) the benefit to public health of the immediate availability on the market of the medicinal product concerned outweighs the risk inherent in the fact that additional data are still required. A conditional marketing authorization may contain specific obligations to be fulfilled by the marketing authorization holder, including obligations with respect to the completion of ongoing or new studies, and with respect to the collection of pharmacovigilance data. Conditional marketing authorizations are valid for one year, and may be renewed annually, if the risk-benefit balance remains positive, and after an assessment of the need for additional or modified conditions and/or specific obligations. The timelines for the centralized procedure described above also apply with respect to the review by the CHMP of applications for a conditional marketing authorization.
The European Union medicines rules expressly permit the EU Member States to adopt national legislation prohibiting or restricting the sale, supply or use of any medicinal product containing, consisting of or derived from a specific type of human or animal cell, such as embryonic stem cells. While the products we have in development do not make use of embryonic stem cells, it is possible that the national laws in certain EU Member States may prohibit or restrict us from commercializing our products, even if they have been granted an EU marketing authorization.
Data Exclusivity
Marketing authorization applications for generic medicinal products do not need to include the results of preclinical and clinical trials, but instead can refer to the data included in the marketing authorization of a reference product for which regulatory data exclusivity has expired. If a marketing authorization is granted for a medicinal product containing a new active substance, that product benefits from eight years of data exclusivity, during which generic marketing authorization applications referring to the data of that product may not be accepted by the regulatory authorities, and a further two years of market exclusivity, during which such generic products may not be placed on the market. The two-year period may be extended to three years if during the first eight years a new therapeutic indication with significant clinical benefit over existing therapies is approved.
There is a special regime for biosimilars, or biological medicinal products that are similar to a reference medicinal product but that do not meet the definition of a generic medicinal product, for example, because of differences in raw materials or manufacturing processes. For such products, the results of appropriate preclinical or clinical trials must be provided, and guidelines from the EMA detail the type of quantity of supplementary data to be provided for different types of biological product. There are no such guidelines for complex biological products, such as gene or cell therapy medicinal products, and so it is unlikely that biosimilars of those products will currently be approved in the European Union. However, guidance from the EMA states that they will be considered in the future in light of the scientific knowledge and regulatory experience gained at the time.
Pediatric Development
In the European Union, companies developing a new medicinal product must agree to a Pediatric Investigation Plan, or PIP, with the EMA and must conduct pediatric clinical trials in accordance with that PIP, unless a deferral or waiver applies, (e.g., because the relevant disease or condition occurs only in adults). The marketing authorization application for the product must include the results of pediatric clinical trials conducted in accordance with the PIP, unless a waiver applies, or a deferral has been granted, in which case the pediatric clinical trials must be completed at a later date. Products that are granted a marketing authorization on the basis of the pediatric clinical trials conducted in accordance with the PIP are eligible for a six month extension of the protection under a supplementary protection certificate (if any is in effect at the time of approval) or, in the case of orphan medicinal products, a two year extension of the orphan market exclusivity. This pediatric reward is subject to specific conditions and is not automatically available when data in compliance with the PIP are developed and submitted.
Post-Approval Controls
The holder of a marketing authorization must establish and maintain a pharmacovigilance system and appoint an individual qualified person for pharmacovigilance, or QPPV, who is responsible for oversight of that system. Key obligations include expedited reporting of suspected serious adverse reactions and submission of periodic safety update reports, or PSURs.
All new marketing authorization applications must include a risk management plan, or RMP, describing the risk management system that the company will put in place and documenting measures to prevent or minimize the risks associated with the product. The
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regulatory authorities may also impose specific obligations as a condition of the marketing authorization. Such risk-minimization measures or post-authorization obligations may include additional safety monitoring, more frequent submission of PSURs, or the conduct of additional clinical trials or post-authorization safety studies. RMPs and PSURs are routinely available to third parties requesting access, subject to limited redactions. All advertising and promotional activities for the product must be consistent with the approved summary of product characteristics, and therefore all off-label promotion is prohibited. Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines is also prohibited in the European Union. Although general requirements for advertising and promotion of medicinal products are established under EU directives, the details are governed by regulations in each EU Member State and can differ from one country to another.
Pricing and Reimbursement in the European Union
Governments influence the price of medicinal products in the European Union through their pricing and reimbursement rules and control of national healthcare systems that fund a large part of the cost of those products to consumers. Some jurisdictions operate positive and negative list systems under which products may only be marketed once a reimbursement price has been agreed. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval, some of these countries may require the completion of clinical trials that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular product candidate to currently available therapies. Other EU Member States allow companies to fix their own prices for medicines, but monitor and control company profits. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription medicines, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products.
Brexit and the Regulatory Framework in the United Kingdom
On June 23, 2016, the electorate in the United Kingdom voted in favor of leaving the European Union (commonly referred to as ‘‘Brexit’’) and the United Kingdom officially withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020. Pursuant to the formal withdrawal arrangements agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the United Kingdom was subject to a transition period until December 31, 2020, or the Transition Period, during which European Union rules continued to apply. A trade and cooperation agreement, or the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, that outlines the future trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union was agreed in December 2020.
Brexit may influence the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a place to conduct clinical trials. The European Union’s regulatory environment for clinical trials is being harmonized as part of the Clinical Trial Regulations, which are due to enter into full effect at the end of 2021, but it is currently unclear as to what extent the United Kingdom will seek to align its regulations with the European Union. Failure of the United Kingdom to closely align its regulations with the EU may have an effect on the cost of conducting clinical trials in the United Kingdom as opposed to other countries and/or make it harder to seek a marketing authorization for our product candidates on the basis of clinical trials conducted in the United Kingdom.
In the short term there will be few changes to clinical trials that only have sites in the United Kingdom. The MHRA have confirmed that the sponsor of a clinical trial can be based in the EEA for an initial period following Brexit. Further investigational medicinal products can be supplied directly from the EU/EEA to a trial site in Great Britain without further oversight until 1 January 2022, and to Northern Ireland beyond such date. The United Kingdom is now a “third country” for the purpose of clinical trials that have sites in the EEA. For such trials the sponsor/legal representative must be based in the EEA, and the trial must be registered on the EU Clinical Trials Register (including data on sites outside of the EEA).
The data exclusivity periods in the United Kingdom are currently in line with those in the European Union, but the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides that the periods for both data and market exclusivity are to be determined by domestic law, and so there could be divergence in the future. It is currently unclear whether the MHRA in the United Kingdom is sufficiently prepared to handle the increased volume of marketing authorization applications that it is likely to receive.
Orphan designation in Great Britain following Brexit is based on the prevalence of the condition in Great Britain as opposed to the current position where prevalence in the European Union is the determinant. It is therefore possible that conditions that are currently designated as orphan conditions in Great Britain will no longer be and that conditions that are not currently designated as orphan conditions in the European Union will be designated as such in Great Britain.
Business Update: COVID-19 Response, Program Prioritization and Corporate Adjustments
With the global spread of the ongoing coronavirus 2019, or COVID-19, pandemic, we established a cross-functional task force and have implemented business continuity plans designed to address and mitigate its impact on our employees and business.While we have not experienced any significant financial impact to date, the overall disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on global healthcare systems, and the other risks and uncertainties associated with the pandemic, could cause our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects to be materially adversely affected.
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In March 2020, our global workforce transitioned to working remotely with the exception of clinical trial related activities that required laboratory-based activity or manufacturing. We implemented protocols and procedures to ensure the safety of our employees working on site, including requirement to wear personal protective equipment, temperature checks at entry and offered COVID-19 testing for any employee with symptoms or at suspected risk of exposure to virus. In June 2020, we began the implementation of our workplace re-entry plan, based on a phased approach that is principles-based and local in design, with a focus on continuity of patient treatment and working to bring its workforce back on-site safely. We have also implemented policies to control and limit office and lab access in line with social distancing guidelines and for contact tracing if needed.
We continue to track COVID-19 developments in Europe and the United States closely for their potential impact on our clinical trial sites, logistics and supply chain to ensure we can continue to maintain clinical trial conduct and data integrity. As the patients in our clinical trials are severely immune suppressed as a consequence of their underlying disease and the treatment they receive in the trials, we are also monitoring other transmissible infectious diseases, including influenza.
In January 2021, we announced the prioritization of the AUTO1 program and our intention to seek a partner for the AUTO3 program before progressing AUTO3 into its next phase of development. We also announced an adjustment of our workforce and infrastructure footprint during the first quarter of 2021, which will involve an overall reduction in headcount of approximately 20%.
C. Organizational structure.
The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure:
In December 2020, Autolus Limited transferred, by way of an interim distribution in kind to its immediate parent, Autolus Holdings (UK) Limited, the entire issued share capital of its wholly owned subsidiary, Autolus Inc., our U.S. subsidiary which was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in October 2017. In anticipation of Brexit, Autolus Limited transferred all of its German assets to Autolus GmbH in December 2020.
D. Property, plant and equipment.
Our corporate headquarters are located at 58 Wood Lane, White City, London W12 7RZ, United Kingdom, where we lease approximately 14,908 square feet of office space. The lease is non-cancellable and is scheduled to terminate in September 2025. We have a one-time right, upon six months' notice, to terminate the lease effective in September 2020. In addition, from September 2020 onward, the landlord has the option to terminate the lease on 12 months' notice. The landlord exercised its option to give notice in September 2020 to terminate the Forest House lease and pay the Company a break-lease payment fee in September 2021.
We also sublease a manufacturing suite, consisting of approximately 8,750 square feet of manufacturing space, at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing center in Stevenage, United Kingdom. The lease is non-cancellable and is scheduled to terminate in September 2023, with the option to renew or terminate the lease in May 2021.
In September 2018, we entered into a binding arrangement for a lease for a manufacturing facility, consisting of approximately 39,558 square feet, in Enfield, United Kingdom. The lease term is 15 years, commenced in February 2019, with an
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option to terminate the lease in February 2029. We initially planned on initiating manufacturing activities at this facility in 2020; however, following a strategic review of our manufacturing plan, we chose to discontinue the fit-out of manufacturing capability at the Enfield facility in December 2019.
In October 2018, we entered into a sublease for 27,502 square feet of office space in Rockville, Maryland. On February 27, 2020, we terminated the sublease of this office space and concurrently entered into a direct lease with the building owner for the same premises. The lease is non-cancellable and is scheduled to terminate in March 2025.
In November 2018, we entered into a lease for approximately 32,673 square feet of office space in White City Place, London, due to our increased headcount. This new space will serve as our new corporate headquarters; we took occupancy in January 2019. The lease term expires in 2026.
In January 2019 we entered into a lease for 84,264 square feet of office and manufacturing space in Rockville, Maryland, under which the lease term commenced in August 2020 and expires in June 2036.The lease agreement required us to enter into a lease provided that the landlord completed the required leasehold improvements described in the agreement; the improvements were completed in August 2020.
In May 2020, we executed an arrangement with Catapult Limited to lease a manufacturing suite at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing center in Stevenage, United Kingdom for a term through April 2024.
We anticipate leasing additional office and manufacturing space as we add employees, and we believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any such expansion of our operations.
Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those set forth in the Item 3.D. “Risk Factors” section of this Annual Report, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in or implied by these forward-looking statements. Please also see the section titled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
We maintain our books and records in pounds sterling, our results are subsequently converted to U.S. dollars and we prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. All references in this Annual Report to “$” are to U.S. dollars and all references to “£” are to pounds sterling. Our consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 have been translated from pounds sterling into U.S. dollars at the rate of £1.00 to $1.3663 and £1.00 to $1.3268. Our consolidated statements of operations and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the three months ended December 31, 2018, and the year ended September 30, 2018 have been translated from pounds sterling to U.S. dollars at the rate of £1.00 to $1.2862, £1.00 to $1.2738, £1.00 to $1.2870, and £1.00 to $1.3459. These translations should not be considered representations that any such amounts have been, could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars at that or any other exchange rate as of that or any other date.
We have historically conducted our business through Autolus Limited, and therefore our historical consolidated financial statements previously presented the consolidated results of operations of Autolus Limited. Following the completion of our IPO in June 2018, our consolidated financial statements present the consolidated results of operations of Autolus Therapeutics plc.
We have adopted the amendments to Item 5.A, effective as of February 10, 2021 for the year ended December 31, 2020.
A. Operating results.
Overview
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We are a biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Using our broad suite of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, we are engineering precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and attack and kill these cells. We believe our programmed T cell therapies have the potential to be best-in-class and offer cancer patients substantial benefits over the existing standard of care, including the potential for cure in some patients.
Since our inception in July 2014, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital and establishing our intellectual property portfolio. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales. We have funded our operations to date primarily with sales of our equity securities, including the net proceeds from our recently completed IPO in June 2018. ThroughAmerican Depositary Shares, or ADSs. As of December 31, 2018, 2020, we havehad received net proceeds of $333.3$516.1 million from sales of our equity securities. In September 2020, we entered into an Open Market Sale AgreementSM, or the Sales Agreement, with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, where we may offer and sell ADSs having an aggregate offering price of up to $100 million from time to time through Jefferies, acting as sales agent. As of the date of this Annual Report, we have sold an aggregate of 1.7 million of our ADSs resulting in net proceeds of $15.3 million. Further, in February 2021, we closed an underwritten public offering of 16,428,572 ADSs, including the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase an additional 2,142,857 ADSs, at a public offering price of $7.00 per ADS. We received net proceeds of $108.1 million after underwriting discounts. We do not expect to generate significant revenue unless and until we obtain marketing approval for and commercialize one of our product candidates.
Since our inception, we have incurredsignificant operating losses. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the three months ended December 31, 2018, we incurred a net loss of $20.6 million. Forand the years year ended September 30, 2018, 2017, and 2016,we incurred net losses of $44.8142.1 million, $123.8 million, $19.7$20.6 million, and $12.6$44.8 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2018,2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $113.3$379.2 million.
We expect to continue to incur significant expenses for the foreseeable future as we advance our product candidates through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval and pursue commercialization of any approved product candidates. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution. In addition, we may incur expenses in connection with the in-license or acquisition of additional product candidates. Furthermore, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur, additional costs associated with operating as a public company, including significant legal, accounting, investor relations and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company.
As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings or other capital sources, including potential collaborations with other companies or other strategic transactions.
We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development and commercialization of one or more of our drug candidates or delay our pursuit of potential in-licenses or acquisitions.
We announced an adjustment of our workforce and infrastructure footprint during the first quarter of 2021, which will involve an overall reduction in headcount of approximately 20%. We expect to realize cash savings, on an annualized basis, of approximately $15 million per annum once the operational changes are fully implemented. In the short-term, we expect there to be an increase in the first half of 2021 to both research and development expenses and selling, general, and administrative expenses due to restructuring charges of approximately $2.5 million, combined.
Components of Our Results of Operations
Grant Income
Grant income consists of proceeds from government research grants used to perform specific research and development activities. We recognize grant income over the period in which we recognize the related costs covered under the terms and conditions
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of the grant. We have received grants from the U.K. government, which are repayable under certain circumstances, including breach or noncompliance with the terms of the grant. For grants with refund provisions, we review the grant to determine the likelihood of repayment. If the likelihood of repayment of the grant is determined to be remote, then the grant is recognized as grant income.
License Revenue
We account for our revenue pursuant to the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, or ASC Topic 606.
We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from commercial product sales to date. The total revenue to date has been generated from a license agreement with an investee company of Syncona, our principal shareholder. The terms of the agreement includes a non-refundable license fee, payments based upon achievement of clinical development and regulatory objectives, and royalties on product sales.
In determining the appropriate amount of revenue to be recognized as we fulfill our obligations under our agreements, we perform the following steps: (i) identification of the promised goods or services in the contract; (ii) determination of whether the promised goods or services are performance obligations, including whether they are distinct in the context of the contract; (iii) measurement of the transaction price, including the constraint on variable consideration; (iv) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations based on estimated selling prices; and (v) recognition of revenue when (or as) the we satisfy each performance obligation.
License Fees and Multiple Element Arrangements
If a license to our intellectual property is determined to be distinct from the other performance obligations identified in the arrangement, we recognize revenues from non-refundable, upfront fees allocated to the license at such time as the license is transferred to the licensee and the licensee is able to use, and benefit from, the license. For licenses that are bundled with other promises, we utilize judgment to assess the nature of the combined performance obligations to determine whether the combined performance obligations are satisfied over time or at a point in time and, if over time, the appropriate method of measuring progress for purposes of recognizing revenue from non-refundable, upfront fees. We evaluate the measure of progress each reporting period and, if necessary, adjusts the measure of performance and related revenue recognition.
Appropriate methods of measuring progress include output methods and input methods. In determining the appropriate method for measuring progress, we consider the nature of service that we promise to transfer to the customer. When we decide on a method of measurement, we will apply that single method of measuring progress for each performance obligation satisfied over time and will apply that method consistently to similar performance obligations and in similar circumstances.
Contingent Research Milestone Payments
ASC Topic 606 constrains the amount of variable consideration included in the transaction price in that either all, or a portion, of an amount of variable consideration should be included in the transaction price. The variable consideration amount should be included only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved. The assessment of whether variable consideration should be constrained is largely a qualitative one that has two elements: the likelihood of a change in estimate, and the magnitude thereof. Variable consideration is not constrained if the potential reversal of cumulative revenue recognized is not significant, for example.
If the consideration in a contract includes a variable amount, we will estimate the amount of consideration in exchange for transfer of promised goods or services. The consideration also can vary if our entitlement to the consideration is contingent on the occurrence or non-occurrence of a future event. We consider contingent research milestone payments to fall under the scope of variable consideration, which should be estimated for revenue recognition purposes at the inception of the contract and reassessed ongoing at the end of each reporting period.
We assess whether contingent research milestones should be considered variable consideration that should be constrained and thus not part of the transaction price. This includes an assessment of the probability that all or some of the milestone revenue could be reversed when the uncertainty around whether or not the achievement of each milestone is resolved, and the amount of reversal could be significant.
GAAP provides factors to consider when assessing whether variable consideration should be constrained. All of the factors should be considered, and no factor is determinate. We consider all relevant factors.
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Royalty Revenue
For arrangements that include sales-based royalties, including milestone payments based on the level of sales, and the license is deemed to be the predominant item to which the royalties relate, we recognize revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur, or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied).
Operating Expenses
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred in connection with the research and development of our product candidates, which are partially offset by research and development expenditure tax credits provided by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or HMRC. We expense research and development costs as incurred. These expenses include:
•expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, as well as investigative sites and consultants that conduct our clinical trials, preclinical studies and other scientific development services;
•manufacturing scale-up expenses and the cost of acquiring and manufacturing preclinical and clinical trial materials;
•employee-related expenses, including salaries, related benefits, travel and share-based compensation expense for employees engaged in research and development functions;
•expenses incurred for outsourced professional scientific development services;
•costs for laboratory materials and supplies used to support our research activities;
•allocated facilities costs, depreciation and other expenses, which include rent and utilities; and
•upfront, milestone and management fees for maintaining licenses under our third-party licensing agreements.
We recognize external development costs based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using information provided to us by our service providers.
Our direct research and development expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis for our product candidates and consist primarily of external costs, such as fees paid to outside consultants and CROs in connection with our preclinical development, manufacturing and clinical development activities. Our direct research and development expenses by program also include fees incurred under license agreements. We do not allocate employee costs or facility expenses, including depreciation or other indirect costs, to specific programs because these costs are deployed across multiple programs and, as such, are not separately classified. We use internal resources primarily to oversee research and development as well as for managing our preclinical development, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities.
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses incurred by program (in thousands):program:
| Year Ended December 31, | 2020-2019 | 2019-2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (unaudited) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | Change | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Direct research and development expenses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B cell malignancies (AUTO1 & AUTO3) | $ | 29,335 | $ | 15,346 | $ | 5,436 | $ | 13,989 | $ | 9,910 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other projects (AUTO 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8) | 3,366 | 4,368 | 3,998 | (1,002) | 370 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total direct research and development expense | 32,701 | 19,714 | 9,434 | 12,987 | 10,280 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and discovery expense and unallocated costs: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personnel related (including share-based compensation) | 58,171 | 54,187 | 21,453 | 3,984 | 32,734 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indirect research and development expense | 44,016 | 31,517 | 17,412 | 12,499 | 14,105 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 134,888 | $ | 105,418 | $ | 48,299 | $ | 29,470 | $ | 57,119 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||
| December 31, | 2018 - 2017 | |||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | Change | ||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||
| Direct research and development expenses by program: | ||||||||||||
| B cell malignancies (AUTO1 & AUTO3) | $ | 3,344 | $ | 990 | $ | 2,354 | ||||||
| T cell lymphoma (AUTO4 & AUTO 5) | 499 | 369 | 130 | |||||||||
| Multiple myeloma (AUTO2) | 531 | 488 | 43 | |||||||||
| Solid tumors (AUTO6 & AUTO7) | — | — | — | |||||||||
| Total direct research and development expense | 4,374 | 1,847 | 2,527 | |||||||||
| Research and discovery expense and unallocated costs: | ||||||||||||
| Personnel related (including share-based compensation) | 8,162 | 2,691 | 5,471 | |||||||||
| License fees | — | — | ||||||||||
| Indirect research and development expense | 5,177 | 1,026 | 4,151 | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 17,713 | $ | 5,564 | $ | 12,149 | ||||||
Year Ended September 30, | 2018 - 2017 | 2017 - 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | Change | Change | ||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Direct research and development expenses by program: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| B cell malignancies (AUTO1 & AUTO3) | $ | 4,274 | $ | 1,733 | $ | 446 | $ | 2,541 | $ | 1,287 | ||||||||||
| T cell lymphoma (AUTO4 & AUTO 5) | 1,123 | 1,470 | 102 | (347 | ) | 1,368 | ||||||||||||||
| Multiple myeloma (AUTO2) | 2,335 | 1,782 | 1,379 | 553 | 403 | |||||||||||||||
| Solid tumors (AUTO6 & AUTO7) | 179 | — | — | 179 | — | |||||||||||||||
| Total direct research and development expense | 7,911 | 4,985 | 1,927 | 2,926 | 3,058 | |||||||||||||||
| Research and discovery expense and unallocated costs: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personnel related (including share-based compensation) | 15,944 | 6,984 | 4,638 | 8,960 | 2,346 | |||||||||||||||
| License fees | 2,018 | 38 | 1,481 | 1,980 | (1,443 | ) | ||||||||||||||
| Indirect research and development expense | 10,277 | 4,005 | 2,390 | 6,272 | 1,615 | |||||||||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 36,150 | $ | 16,012 | $ | 10,436 | $ | 20,138 | $ | 5,576 | ||||||||||
Research and development activities are central to our business model. Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. As a result, we expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially over the next few years as we increase personnel costs, initiate and conduct additional clinical trials and prepare regulatory filings related to our product candidates. We also expect to incur additional expenses related to milestone, royalty payments and maintenance fees payable to third parties with whom we have entered into license agreements to acquire the rights related to our product candidates.
The successful development and commercialization of our product candidates is highly uncertain. At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the clinical development of any of our product candidates or when, if ever, material net cash inflows may commence from sales of any of our product candidates. This uncertainty is due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with development and commercialization activities, including the uncertainty of:
•the scope, progress, outcome and costs of our clinical trials and other research and development activities, including establishing an appropriate safety profile with IND-directed studies;
•successful patient enrollment in, and the initiation and completion of, clinical trials;
•the timing, receipt and terms of any marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;
•establishing commercial manufacturing capabilities or making arrangements with third-party manufacturers;
•development and timely delivery of commercial-grade drug formulations that can be used in our clinical trials and for commercial manufacturing;
•obtaining, maintaining, defending and enforcing patent claims and other intellectual property rights;
•significant and changing government regulation;
•launching commercial sales of our product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others;
•maintaining a continued acceptable safety profile of the product candidates following approval; and
•significant competition and rapidly changing technologies within the biopharmaceutical industry.
We may never succeed in achieving regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. We may obtain unexpected results from our clinical trials. We may elect to discontinue, delay or modify clinical trials of some product candidates or focus on others. Any changes in the outcome of any of these variables with respect to the development of our product candidates in clinical development could mean a significant change in the costs and timing associated with the development of these product candidates.For example, if the EMA, the FDA,or another regulatory authority were to delay our planned start of clinical trials or require us to conduct clinical trials or other testing beyond those that we currently expect or if we experience significant delays in enrollment in any of our planned clinical trials, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time on the completion of clinical development of that product candidate. Commercialization of our product candidates will take several years and millions of dollars in development costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, related benefits, travel and share-based compensation expense for personnel in executive, finance, legal and administrative functions. General and administrative expenses also include allocated facility-related costs, patent filing and prosecution costs and professional fees for marketing, insurance, legal, consulting, accounting and audit services.
We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future as we increase our headcount to support the planned development of our product candidates. Additionally, if we believe a regulatory approval of one of our product candidates appears likely, we would anticipate an increase in payroll and expense as a result of our preparation for commercial operations, especially as it relates to the sales and marketing of our product candidate.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, increased expense with being a public company, including increased accounting, audit, legal, regulatory and compliance costs associated with maintaining compliance with Nasdaq listing rules and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, as well as higher investor and public relations costs.
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Other Income (Expense)
Other income consists primarily of interest income earned on our cash balances held at a commercial bank.bank and foreign currency transaction gains. Other expense consists primarily of foreign currency transaction losses.
Income Tax Benefit
We are subject to corporate taxation in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Due to the nature of our business, we have generated losses since inception. Our income tax credit recognized represents the sum of the research and development tax credits recoverable in the United Kingdom and income tax payable in the United States.
As a company that carries out extensive research and development activities, we benefit from the U.K. research and development tax credit regime under the scheme for small or medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, and also claim a Research and Development Expenditure Credit, or RDEC, to the extent that our projects are grant funded. Under the SME regime, we are able to surrender some of our trading losses that arise from our qualifying researchresearch and development activities for a cash rebate of upranging from 21.67% to 33.35% of such qualifying
research and development expenditure. The net tax benefit of the RDEC is expected to be 9.7%10.5% in the year ending December 31, 2019.2021 and future periods. We meet the conditions of the SME regime, but also can make claims under the RDEC regime to the extent that our projects are grant funded. Qualifying expenditures largely comprise employment costs for research staff, consumables, outsourced CRO costs and utilities costs incurred as part of research projects. Certain subcontracted qualifying research and development expenditures are eligible for a cash rebate of up to 21.67%. A large portion of costs relating to our research and development, clinical trials and manufacturing activities are eligible for inclusion within these tax credit cash rebate claims.
We may not be able to continue to claim research and development tax credits under theSME regime in the future because we may no longer qualify as a small or medium-sized company. However, we should continue to be able to make claims under the RDEC regime.
Un-surrendered U.K. losses may be carried forward indefinitely to be offset against future taxable profits, subject to numerous utilization criteria and restrictions. The amount that can be offset each year is limited to £5.0 million plus an incremental 50% of U.K. taxable profits. After accounting for tax credits receivable, there were accumulated tax losses for carry forward in the United Kingdom of $46.2of $211.7 million as of December 31, 2018.2020. We currently do not recognize a deferred tax asset from our accumulated losses and record a full valuation allowance against the net deferred tax asset as the recoverability due to future taxable profits is unknown.
In the event we generate revenues in the future, we may benefit from the new U.K. “patent box” regime that allows profits attributable to revenues from patents or patented products to be taxed at an effective rate of 10%.
Value Added Tax, or VAT, is broadly charged on all taxable supplies of goods and services by VAT-registered businesses. Under current rates, an amount of 20% of the value, as determined for VAT purposes, of the goods or services supplied is added to all sales invoices and is payable to HMRC. Similarly, VAT paid on purchase invoices is generally reclaimable from HMRC.
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Results of Operations
| Three Months Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | Change | |||||||||
| Grant income | $ | 296 | $ | 231 | $ | 65 | |||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||
| Research and development | (17,713 | ) | (5,564 | ) | (12,149 | ) | |||||
| General and administrative | (7,593 | ) | (3,084 | ) | (4,509 | ) | |||||
| Total operating expenses, net | (25,010 | ) | (8,417 | ) | (16,593 | ) | |||||
| Other income (expense): | |||||||||||
| Interest income | 660 | 181 | 479 | ||||||||
| Other income (expense) | 1,097 | (685 | ) | 1,782 | |||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | 1,757 | (504 | ) | 2,261 | |||||||
Net loss before income tax | (23,253 | ) | (8,921 | ) | (14,332 | ) | |||||
| Income tax benefit | 2,605 | 1,397 | 1,208 | ||||||||
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders | $ | (20,648 | ) | $ | (7,524 | ) | $ | (13,124 | ) | ||
Comparison of Years Ended September 30, 2018 December 31, 2020and 20172019
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended September 30, 2018December 31, 2020 and 2017 (in thousands):2019.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2019 | Change | |||||||||||||||
| Grant income | $ | 1,473 | $ | 2,908 | $ | (1,435) | |||||||||||
| License revenue | 242 | — | 242 | ||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | (134,888) | (105,418) | (29,470) | ||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | (34,972) | (39,452) | 4,480 | ||||||||||||||
| Loss on impairment of leasehold improvements | — | (4,102) | 4,102 | ||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses, net | (168,145) | (146,064) | (22,081) | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 536 | 2,542 | (2,006) | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense) | 1,352 | 4,514 | (3,162) | ||||||||||||||
| Total other income, net | 1,888 | 7,056 | (5,168) | ||||||||||||||
| Net loss before income tax | (166,257) | (139,008) | (27,249) | ||||||||||||||
| Income tax benefit | 24,163 | 15,159 | 9,004 | ||||||||||||||
| Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders | $ | (142,094) | $ | (123,849) | $ | (18,245) | |||||||||||
| Year Ended September 30, | |||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | Change | |||||||||
| Grant income | $ | 1,407 | $ | 1,693 | $ | (286 | ) | ||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||
| Research and development | (36,150 | ) | (16,012 | ) | (20,138 | ) | |||||
| General and administrative | (22,790 | ) | (9,099 | ) | (13,691 | ) | |||||
| Total operating expenses, net | (57,533 | ) | (23,418 | ) | (34,115 | ) | |||||
| Other income (expense): | |||||||||||
| Interest income | 1,532 | 84 | 1,448 | ||||||||
| Other income (expense) | 3,970 | (46 | ) | 4,016 | |||||||
| Total other income, net | 5,502 | 38 | 5,464 | ||||||||
| Net loss before income tax | (52,031 | ) | (23,380 | ) | (28,651 | ) | |||||
| Income tax benefit | 7,280 | 3,653 | 3,627 | ||||||||
| Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders | $ | (44,751 | ) | $ | (19,727 | ) | $ | (25,024 | ) | ||
Grant Income
Grant income decreased to $1.4$1.5 million for the year ended September 30, 2018 December 31, 2020from $1.7$2.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2017.December 31, 2019. The decrease in grant income of $0.3$1.4 million was related to a decreaseone-time grant completed in reimbursable expendituresthe year ended December 31, 2019 submitted in 2018 to the U.K. government.government as part of the reimbursement terms of government research grants used to perform specific research and development activities.
License Revenue
The $0.2 million of license revenue relates to the grant of a license to an investee company of Syncona, our principal shareholder, in the year ended December 31, 2020.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses increased to $36.2$134.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2018 December 31, 2020from $16.0$105.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2017.December 31, 2019. Cash costs, which exclude depreciation and amortization as well as share-based compensation, increased to $116.9 million from $83.4 million. The increase in research and development cash costs of $33.5 million consisted primarily of (i) an increase of $8.8 million in compensation and employment related costs, net of lower travel costs, due to an increase in employee headcount to support the advancement of our product candidates in clinical development, (ii) an increase of $14.4 million in project expenses as a consequence of the advancement of our clinical portfolio which includes research and process development and manufacturing activities necessary to prepare, activate, and monitor clinical trial programs, (iii) an increase of $6.0 million in facilities costs related to the commencement of a lease for an additional manufacturing suite and the continued scaling of manufacturing operations, (iv) an increase of $4.0 million in IT infrastructure and support for information systems related to the conduct of clinical trials and manufacturing operations, (v) an increase of $0.5 million related to legal fees, and (vi) an increase of $1.7 million related to cell logistics, which is offset by a reduction in materials purchases of $0.7 million and license fees of $1.1 million.
Non-cash costs decreased to $18.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $22.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The $3.9 million decrease is related to a decrease of $4.8 million share-based compensation expense as a result of a lower fair value of options recognized in the period, offset by a $0.9 million increase in depreciation.
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General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses decreased to $35.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $39.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Cash costs, which exclude depreciation as well as share-based compensation increased to $31.8$27.4 million from $14.1$26.6 million. The increase in researchThere were increases of $1.3 million of costs related to D&O insurance and development cashintellectual property costs and $0.1 million of $17.6facilities cost, offset by decreases of $0.5 million consisted primarily of an increase in compensation-relatedcompensation and other employment related costs of $6.0 million primarily due to an increase in headcount to support the advancement of our product candidates in clinical development, the expansion of our research and translational science capability and investment in manufacturing facilities and equipment, an increase of $4.4$0.1 million in project expenses related to the activities necessary to prepare, activate and monitor clinical trial programs, an increase of $3.3 million in materials, an increase of $2.0 million in license fees to UCL Business plc, or UCLB, the technology-transfer company of University College London, and $0.7 million in a milestone payment to UCLB.general office expense.
Non-cash costs increased decreased to $4.4$7.6 million for the year ended September 30, 2018December 31, 2020 from $1.8$12.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2017. December 31, 2019. The increasedecrease of $5.3 million is relatedmainly attributed to an increase of $2.0 millionlower share-based compensation expenseexpenses as a result of an increase in headcount and an increasethe lower fair value of $0.6 million related to stock options recognized during the purchaseperiod.
Loss on Impairment of equipment to support our clinical trials and research activities.Leasehold Improvements
Interest Income
Interest income decreased to software services and hardware maintenance contracts.
Other Income (Expense)
Other income decreased to $1.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2017. The increase is primarily due to an increase of $1.6 million share-based compensation expense as a result of an increase in headcount and the increase in the market value of our ordinary shares and price of our ADSs during the year ended September 30, 2018.
Income Tax Benefits
Income (Expense)
Comparison of Years Ended September 30, 2017December 31, 2019 and 20162018
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018. The unaudited information for the year ended December 31, 2018 has been calculated by adding (i) our results for the nine months ended September 30, 20172018, derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 included in our Annual Report on Form 20-F with the SEC on November 23, 2018 and 2016 (in thousands):
(ii) our results for the three month transition period ended December 31, 2018, derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included in our Transition Report on Form 20-F with the SEC on February 25, 2019.
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year Ended September 30, | (unaudited) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | 2016 | Change | 2019 | 2018 | Change | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grant income | $ | 1,693 | $ | 1,212 | $ | 481 | Grant income | $ | 2,908 | $ | 1,472 | $ | 1,436 | |||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | (16,012 | ) | (10,436 | ) | (5,576 | ) | Research and development | (105,418) | (48,299) | (57,119) | ||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | (9,099 | ) | (5,152 | ) | (3,947 | ) | General and administrative | (39,452) | (27,299) | (12,153) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Loss on impairment of leasehold improvements | Loss on impairment of leasehold improvements | (4,102) | — | (4,102) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses, net | (23,418 | ) | (14,376 | ) | (9,042 | ) | Total operating expenses, net | (146,064) | (74,126) | (71,938) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other income, net | 38 | 49 | (11 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense): | Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | Interest income | 2,542 | 2,011 | 531 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense) | Other income (expense) | 4,514 | 5,752 | (1,238) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total other income, net | Total other income, net | 7,056 | 7,763 | (707) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss before income tax | (23,380 | ) | (14,327 | ) | (9,053 | ) | Net loss before income tax | (139,008) | (66,363) | (72,645) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Income tax benefit | 3,653 | 1,777 | 1,876 | Income tax benefit | 15,159 | 8,488 | 6,671 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders | $ | (19,727 | ) | $ | (12,550 | ) | $ | (7,177 | ) | Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders | $ | (123,849) | $ | (57,875) | $ | (65,974) | ||||||||||||
Grant Income
Grant income increased to $1.7$2.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 from $1.5 million for the year ended September 30, 2017 from $1.2December 31, 2018. The increase in grant income of $1.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2016. The increase of $0.5 million was related to an increase in research grant income as we received an additional research grant fromreimbursable expenditures submitted in 2019 to the U.K. government to fund additional projects in 2017.UK government.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses increased to $16.0$105.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2017December 31, 2019 from $10.4$48.3 million for the year ended September 30, 2016.December 31, 2018. Cash costs, which exclude depreciation as well as share-based compensation, increased to $83.4 million from $41.5 million. The increase in research and development cash costs of $5.6$41.9 million consisted primarily of an increase in salaries, bonusescompensation-related costs of $20.0 million primarily due to an increase in headcount to support the advancement of our product candidates in clinical development and benefitsinvestment in manufacturing facilities and equipment, an increase of $4.1 million in research and manufacturing consumables, in part due to the migration and expansion of our research and process development laboratories from Forest House to our new location in the Media Works facility, preparations in advance of any potential disruption to supply arrangements that may occur due to Brexit, as well as validation and training costs as part of the start-up at the Catapult facility, an increase of $10.2 million in facility costs primarily related to the increased leased facilities, an increase of $3.8 million in project expenses related to the activities necessary to prepare, activate, and monitor clinical trial programs, an increase of $1.5 million in legal and professional fees that includes a decrease in milestone payments of $0.5 million consisting of a milestone payment payable to UCL Business plc in 2018 and a milestone payment payable to Noile-Immune Biotech Inc. in 2019, and an increase in IT and general office expenses of $2.3 million.
Non-cash costs increased to $22.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 from $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The $15.3 million increase is related to an increase of $12.7 million share-based compensation expense as a result of an increase in headcount, and consequent increase in the number of options granted, and an increase in the fair value of stock for options expensed during the year ended December 31, 2019, and an increase of $2.6 million of depreciation related to the purchase of equipment to support our clinical trials and research activities and leasehold improvements.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased to $39.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 from $27.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. Cash costs, which exclude depreciation as well as share-based compensation increased to $26.6 million from $21.4 million. The increase of $5.2 million consisted primarily of an increase in compensation-related costs of $2.6 million due to an overall increase in headcount, as we advanced toward the commencement of clinical trials and manufacturing of our product candidates and additional share-based compensation expense, an increase of $3.1 million primarily related to direct costs associated with the additional activities necessary to prepare and activate clinical trial sites and with our viral vector and cell manufacturing processes for patients enrolled in the clinical trials for each of our research programs AUTO2, AUTO3, AUTO4 and AUTO5. In addition, our indirect costs increased by $1.6 million to support the functions of our research programs due to an increase in laboratory use of $0.5 million, an increase in overhead costs of $0.3 million, an increase of $0.3$1.9 million in rent fees related to our laboratory facilities, an increase of $0.3 million in lab equipment depreciation and an increase of $0.2 million related to other research and development costs. The overall increases were partially offset by higher license fees of $1.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2016 resulting from the issuance of 1,000,000 B ordinary shares to UCLB in March 2016; there were no such expenses recognized in 2017.
Non-cash costs increased to preparations$12.9 million for becomingthe year ended December 31, 2019 from $5.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase is primarily due to an increase of $7.3 million share-based compensation expense as a public company,result of an
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increase in headcount, and consequent increase in the number of options granted, and an increase in the fair value of stock for options expensed during the period, an increase of $0.1 million of depreciation, offset in part by impairment expense of $0.4 million related to other administrative expenses, an increasediscontinued software that occurred in corporate costs2018.
Loss on Impairment of $0.3 million related to the overall growthLeasehold Improvements
Loss on impairment of the business and an increase in depreciationleasehold improvements of $0.2 million.
Interest Income
Interest income increased to $2.5 million for the year ended September 30, 2016December 31, 2019 from $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 primarily due to a higher cash balance related to our capital raise activity in 2018 and 2019.
Other Income (Expense)
Other income decreased to $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 from $5.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 primarily due to foreign currency gains related to the U.S dollar strength relative to the British pound during 2019 as compared to 2018.
Income Tax Benefits
Income tax benefits increased to $15.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 from $8.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 due to additional U.K. research and development tax credits receivable from HMRC. Research and development credits are obtained at a maximum rate of 33.35% of our qualifying research and development expenses, and the increase in the net credit was primarily attributable to an increase in our eligible research and development expenses.
B. Liquidity and capital resources.
Since our inception, we have not generated any product revenue and have incurred operating losses and negative cash flows from our operations. We expect to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we advance our product candidates through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval and pursue commercialization of any approved product candidates. We expect that our research and development and general and administrative costs will increase in connection with our planned research activities. As a result, we will need additional capital to fund our operations until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales.
We do not currently have any approved products and have never generated any revenue from product sales or otherwise.sales. We have funded our operations to date primarily with proceeds from government grants and sales of our securities. preferred and ordinary shares. ThroughDecember 31, 20182020, we have received aggregate net cash proceeds of $333.3$516.1 million from sales of our equity securities. As of December 31, 20182020, we had cash of $217.5$153.3 million. We raised additional net proceeds of $123.4 million from the sale of ADSs under our at-the-market facility in January 2021 and our follow-on capital raise in February 2021.
We currently have no ongoing material financing commitments, such as lines of credit or guarantees, that are expected to affect our liquidity over the next five years, other than our lease obligations and supplier purchase commitments described below. We also do not currently have any off-balance sheet arrangements.
ATM Facility
In September 2020, we entered into an Open Market Sale AgreementSM, or the Sales Agreement, with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, under which we may, at our option, offer and sell ADSs having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million from time to time through Jefferies, acting as sales agent. Any such sales, made through our sales agent can be made by any method that is deemed an “at-the-market offering” as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act, or in other transactions pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form F-3. We agreed to pay Jefferies a commission of 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any sales of ADSs sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we did not sell any ADSs under the Sales Agreement.
As of the date of this Annual Report, we have sold an aggregate of 1,718,506 ADSs under the Sales Agreement, for net proceeds of $15.3 million.
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Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for each of the periods presented:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Three Months Ended December 31, | (unaudited) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (19,785 | ) | $ | (8,797 | ) | Net cash used in operating activities | $(117,758) | $(101,484) | $(42,525) | ||||||||||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (4,422 | ) | (764 | ) | Net cash used in investing activities | (14,681) | (18,668) | (13,189) | ||||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | — | 433 | Net cash provided by financing activities | 74,415 | 108,863 | 156,487 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and restricted cash | (5,327 | ) | 1,042 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Net decrease in cash and restricted cash | $ | (29,534 | ) | $ | (8,086 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | 679 | 5,164 | (12,202) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash | Net (decrease) increase in cash | $(57,345) | $(6,125) | $88,571 | ||||||||||||||||||||