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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-210777
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
(TO PROSPECTUS DATED APRIL 28, 2016)
6,500,000 Shares
Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. |
Common Stock
$5.00 per share
We are an emerging growth company as that term is used in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and, as such, have elected to rely on certain reduced public company disclosure requirements. See "Prospectus Supplement SummaryImplications of Being an Emerging Growth Company."
This investment involves risk. See "Risk Factors" beginning on page S-9.
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Per Share |
Total |
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Public offering price |
$ | 5.00 | $ | 32,500,000 | |||
Underwriting discount |
$ | 0.30 | $ | 1,950,000 | |||
Proceeds, before expenses, to Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. |
$ | 4.70 | $ | 30,550,000 | |||
The underwriter has a 30-day option to purchase up to 975,000 additional shares of common stock from us.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The underwriter expects to deliver the shares of common stock to purchasers on or about January 29, 2018.
Piper Jaffray
The date of this prospectus supplement is January 25, 2018.
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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the specific terms of this offering and also adds to and updates information contained in the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein. The second part, the accompanying prospectus, provides more general information. Generally, when we refer to this prospectus, we are referring to both parts of this document combined. To the extent there is a conflict between the information contained in this prospectus supplement and the information contained in the accompanying prospectus or any document incorporated by reference therein filed prior to the date of this prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement; provided that if any statement in one of these documents is inconsistent with a statement in another document having a later datefor example, a document incorporated by reference in the accompanying prospectusthe statement in the document having the later date modifies or supersedes the earlier statement.
We further note that the representations, warranties and covenants made by us in any agreement that is filed as an exhibit to any document that is incorporated by reference herein were made solely for the benefit of the parties to such agreement, including, in some cases, for the purpose of allocating risk among the parties to such agreements, and should not be deemed to be a representation, warranty or covenant to you. Moreover, such representations, warranties or covenants were accurate only as of the date when made. Accordingly, such representations, warranties and covenants should not be relied on as accurately representing the current state of our affairs.
We have not and Piper Jaffray & Co. has not authorized anyone to provide any information other than that contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, in the accompanying prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We and Piper Jaffray & Co. take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you.
This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, the securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in any jurisdiction to or from any person to whom or from whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation of an offer in such jurisdiction. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and in any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering is accurate only as of the date of those respective documents. It is important for you to read and consider all information contained in this prospectus supplement and in the accompanying prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, in making your investment decision. You should also read and consider the information in the documents to which we have referred you in the sections entitled "Where You Can Find More Information" and "Incorporation by Reference" in this prospectus supplement and in the accompanying prospectus.
Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or Piper Jaffray & Co. that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The securities offered by this prospectus may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.
Unless the context otherwise indicates, references in this prospectus to "we," "our" and "us" refer, collectively, to Ocular Therapeutix, Inc., a Delaware corporation.
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "predict," "project," "target," "potential," "goals," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
The forward-looking statements in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein include, among other things, statements about:
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We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein, particularly in the "Risk Factors" sections of these documents, that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.
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This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and in the documents we incorporate by reference herein and therein. This summary does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our common stock. You should read this entire prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus carefully, especially the risks of investing in our common stock discussed under "Risk Factors" beginning on page S-9 of this prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference herein, along with our financial statements and notes to those financial statements and the other information incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.
Overview of Ocular Therapeutix
We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for diseases and conditions of the eye using our proprietary, bioresorbable hydrogel platform technology. We use this technology to tailor duration and amount of delivery of a range of therapeutic agents of varying duration in our product candidates.
We incorporate U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved therapeutic agents, including small molecules and proteins, into our hydrogel technology with the goal of providing extended delivery of drug to the eye. We believe that our extended delivery technology allows us to treat conditions and diseases of both the front and the back of the eye and can be administered through a range of different modalities including intracanalicular inserts, intracameral injections and intravitreal injections. We have product candidates in clinical and preclinical development applying this technology to treat post-surgical pain and inflammation, allergic conjunctivitis, dry eye disease, glaucoma and ocular hypertension, and wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD, among other conditions.
Our lead product candidates are DEXTENZA (dexamethasone insert), for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain, allergic conjunctivitis and inflammatory dry eye disease, and OTX-TP (travoprost insert), for the reduction of intraocular pressure, or IOP, in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Both product candidates are extended-delivery, drug-eluting, preservative-free intracanalicular inserts that are placed into the canaliculus through a natural opening called the punctum located in the inner portion of the eyelid near the nose. We also have a product candidate in Phase 1 clinical development that is injected into the intracameral space for the reduction of IOP in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension where greater IOP reduction is needed.
We also have in development a preclinical stage intravitreal injection technology that combines various formulations of our hydrogel with different anti-angiogenic drugs for the treatment of diseases and conditions of the back of the eye, including wet AMD. Our initial development efforts in the back of the eye utilize our hydrogel with both protein-based anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) drugs and small molecule drugs, such as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, or TKI. Our intravitreal injection technology is designed to deliver a hydrogel-based formulation via injection by fine gauge needle to release therapeutic agents, such as antibodies to VEGF, over a sustained period of several months. We have entered into a collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Regeneron, for the development and potential commercialization of products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF targeting compounds, initially using the VEGF trap aflibercept, currently marketed under the brand name Eylea.
In addition to our ongoing drug product development, we currently market our first commercial product ReSure Sealant, a hydrogel-based ophthalmic wound sealant approved by the FDA to seal corneal incisions following cataract surgery. ReSure Sealant is the first and only surgical sealant to be approved by the FDA for ophthalmic use.
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Poor patient compliance with eye drop regimens and the need for frequent administration of eye drops at high drug concentrations due to rapid washout by the tears can create challenges in the successful management of ocular diseases and conditions. For example, poor patient compliance can lead to diminished efficacy and disease progression and high drug concentrations can create side effects. We are developing therapies to replace standard of care eye drop regimens with our innovative extended-delivery, drug-eluting intracanalicular inserts. The goal for our intracanalicular insert product candidates is to change the management of many front-of-the-eye diseases and conditions from frequent, pulsed eye drop therapy, characterized by significant variations in drug concentration over time, to longer term, extended delivery of therapeutic agents to improve patient outcomes.
DEXTENZATM (dexamethasone insert)
Our most advanced product candidate, DEXTENZA, incorporates the FDA-approved corticosteroid dexamethasone as an active pharmaceutical ingredient into a hydrogel-based, drug-eluting intracanalicular insert. In September 2015, we submitted to the FDA a New Drug Application, or NDA, for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. In July 2016, we received a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA. This CRL pertained to deficiencies in manufacturing process and controls identified during a pre-NDA approval inspection of our manufacturing facility. In January 2017, we resubmitted our NDA. Following a re-inspection of manufacturing operations by the FDA, which was completed in May 2017, we received an FDA Form 483 containing inspectional observations focused on manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to the manufacture of drug product for commercial production. In July 2017, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. FDA concerns included deficiencies in manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to manufacturing of drug product identified during the pre-NDA approval inspection and states that the FDA has determined that it cannot approve the NDA in its present form. We have corresponded with the FDA regarding these inspectional observations and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified. In May 2017 we submitted our initial response to the Form 483 and in November 2017 we submitted our responses to the FDA's remaining inspectional observations in an effort to close out the items identified in the Form 483.
The remediation efforts we have undertaken in response to the FDA's inspectional observations and as a result of further internal review include upgrades to our manufacturing equipment and updates to our manufacturing processes and quality oversight. These changes are intended to resolve the FDA's outstanding concerns, including regarding the presence of particulate matter in certain manufactured lots of DEXTENZA, and enable us to consistently produce commercial lots and establish manufacturing processes sufficient for purposes of resubmission of our NDA. Based on written correspondence we received from the FDA in preparation for a meeting scheduled with the FDA in January 2018 to discuss our remediation efforts and NDA resubmission plans, we determined that no further discussion was necessary at this time and chose not to proceed with the meeting. As a result, the correspondence with the FDA will represent the official record of that previously scheduled meeting. Subject to satisfactorily addressing the FDA inspectional observations and demonstrating consistency in our commercial stage manufacturing process, we plan to resubmit our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain in the first half of 2018. Adequate resolution of the outstanding Form 483 inspectional observations and the final decision as to the adequacy of our manufacturing processes are determined by the FDA with input from FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, or CDER's, Office of Process and Facilities, as part of the NDA review process, and are necessary prior to NDA approval.
We have completed three Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain. The data from two of these three completed Phase 3 clinical trials and
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a prior Phase 2 clinical trial are being used to support our NDA for post-surgical ocular pain. Subject to receiving approval for the pain indication, we plan to submit an NDA supplement, or sNDA, for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation. We have also completed two Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis. In October 2015, we announced topline results of our first Phase 3 clinical trial for allergic conjunctivitis, and in June 2016 we announced topline results of our second Phase 3 clinical trial for this indication. Finally, DEXTENZA completed a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of dry eye disease, with topline results announced in December 2015. We are assessing our plans for our dry eye program going forward.
OTX-TP (travoprost insert)
Our second product candidate, OTX-TP, incorporates travoprost, an FDA-approved prostaglandin analog that reduces elevated IOP as its active pharmaceutical ingredient, into a hydrogel-based drug-eluting intracanalicular insert. OTX-TP is being developed as a treatment for glaucoma and ocular hypertension. We reported topline results from a Phase 2b clinical trial for this indication in October 2015. We completed an End-of-Phase 2 review with the FDA in April 2016 and initiated the first of two Phase 3 clinical trials of OTX-TP in September 2016. We have enrolled approximately 60% of the target patient enrollment for this trial as of January 15, 2018. We expect topline efficacy data from the first Phase 3 clinical trial in the second half of 2018. We may determine to discuss the results of this first Phase 3 clinical trial with the FDA prior to initiating a second Phase 3 clinical trial.
OTX-TIC (travoprost injection)
OTX-TIC (travoprost injection) is our product candidate for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe glaucoma and ocular hypertension. OTX-TIC is a bioresorbable hydrogel implant incorporating travoprost that is designed to be administered by a physician as an intracameral injection with an initial target duration of drug release of four to six months. Preclinical studies to date have demonstrated reduction of intraocular pressure and pharmacokinetics in the aqueous humor that suggest a pharmacodynamic response of IOP lowering. We initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial outside the United States in the third quarter of 2017 to assess safety and obtain initial efficacy data. The trial is a prospective, single-center, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled study designed to evaluate the safety, efficacy and tolerability of OTX-TIC compared to topical travoprost (eye drops) in up to 20 patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. We also expect to file an investigational new drug application, or IND, in the first quarter of 2018 and initiate a second Phase 1 trial in the United States in the first half of 2018.
Back-of-the-eye Program
We are engaged in the preclinical development of our hydrogel administered via intravitreal injection to address the large and growing markets for diseases and conditions of the back of the eye. Our initial development efforts are focused on the use of our extended-delivery hydrogel depot in combination with anti-angiogenic drugs, such as protein-based anti-VEGF drugs or small molecule anti-angiogenic drugs, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, or TKIs, for the treatment of retinal diseases such as wet AMD, retinal vein occlusion and diabetic macular edema. Our initial goal for this program is to provide extended delivery of a protein-based large molecule or small molecule TKI drug targeting VEGF over a four to six month period following administration of a bioresorbable hydrogel incorporating the drug by an injection into the vitreous humor, thereby reducing the frequency of the current monthly or bi-monthly intravitreal injection regimen for wet AMD and other retinal diseases.
OTX-TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor injection)
OTX-TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor injection) is a preformed, bioresorbable hydrogel fiber incorporating a small molecule TKI with anti-angiogenic properties delivered by intravitreal injection.
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TKIs have shown promise in the treatment of wet AMD. In May 2017, we reported data from preclinical studies evaluating the efficacy, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of OTX-TKI. In this study, OTX-TKI was well-tolerated, and high levels of drug were maintained in the tissue for up to six months in Dutch belted rabbits. We plan to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in the first half of 2018 to assess our OTX-TKI in the posterior segment of the human eye for the treatment of VEGF induced retinal leakage for an extended duration.
Regeneron Collaboration
In October 2016, we entered into a strategic collaboration, option and license agreement, or Collaboration Agreement, with Regeneron, for the development and potential commercialization of products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel depot in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds for the treatment of retinal diseases, with the initial focus on the VEGF trap aflibercept, currently marketed under the brand name Eylea. The Collaboration Agreement does not cover the development of any products that deliver small molecule drugs, including TKIs, or deliver large molecule drugs other than those that target VEGF proteins. Under the terms of the Collaboration Agreement, we and Regeneron have agreed to conduct a joint research program with the aim of developing an extended delivery formulation of aflibercept that is suitable for advancement into clinical development. A joint research committee comprised of an equal number of representatives from each of Regeneron and us is responsible for reviewing, approving and overseeing the parties' research and development activities with respect to licensed product candidates and making any modifications to those activities. In general, Regeneron has final decision making authority over matters on which the joint research committee deadlocks, following escalation to designated executive officer representatives of the parties, except for matters that would impose a material increase in costs or obligations on us beyond those costs and obligations included in the mutually agreed collaboration plan. We granted Regeneron an option, or the Option, to enter into an exclusive, worldwide license under our intellectual property to develop and commercialize products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel depot in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds, or Licensed Products.
If the Option is exercised, Regeneron will conduct further preclinical development and an initial clinical trial under a collaboration plan. We are obligated to reimburse Regeneron for certain development costs during the period through the completion of the initial clinical trial, subject to a cap of $25 million, which cap may be increased by up to $5 million under certain circumstances. Regeneron will be responsible for funding an initial preclinical tolerability study. In December 2017, we delivered to Regeneron the final formulation for Regeneron's initial preclinical tolerability study. We do not expect our funding requirements to be material over the next twelve months. If Regeneron elects to proceed with further development beyond the initial clinical trial, it will be solely responsible for conducting and funding further development and commercialization of product candidates. If the Option is exercised, Regeneron is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to research, develop and commercialize at least one Licensed Product. Such efforts shall include initiating the dosing phase of a subsequent clinical trial within specified time periods following the completion of the first-in-human clinical trial or the initiation of preclinical toxicology studies, subject to certain extensions.
Under the terms of the Collaboration Agreement, Regeneron has agreed to pay us $10 million upon exercise of the Option. We are also eligible to receive up to $145 million per Licensed Product upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, $100 million per Licensed Product upon first commercial sale of such Licensed Product and up to $50 million based on the achievement of specified sales milestones for all Licensed Products. In addition, we are entitled to tiered, escalating
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royalties, in a range from a high-single digit to a low-to-mid teen percentage of net sales of Licensed Products.
ReSure
Following our receipt of FDA approval for ReSure Sealant, we commercially launched this product in the United States in 2014. ReSure Sealant is approved to seal corneal incisions following cataract surgery and is the first and only surgical sealant to be approved by the FDA for ophthalmic use. In the pivotal clinical trials that formed the basis for FDA approval, ReSure Sealant provided superior wound closure and a better safety profile than sutured closure. While ReSure Sealant remains commercially available in the United States, there is no sales support provided to the product at this time.
Additional Potential Areas for Growth
In addition to our focus on formulating, developing and commercializing innovative therapies for diseases and conditions of the eye, we are also assessing the potential use of our hydrogel platform technology in new areas of the body. If we are to utilize our intellectual property, all of which we currently license from Incept, LLC, or Incept, for applications outside the field of ophthalmology, we will need to negotiate and enter into an amendment to our existing license agreement with Incept or a new license agreement with Incept covering one or more additional such fields of use.
Product Pipeline
The following table summarizes the status of our key product development programs and our marketed product. We hold worldwide exclusive commercial rights to the core technology underlying all of our products in development and have not granted commercial rights to any marketing partners other than the Option on commercial rights we granted to Regeneron for the delivery of protein-based anti-VEGF drugs in our hydrogel depot for the treatment of retinal diseases.
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Our Corporate Information
We were incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 12, 2006 under the name I-Therapeutics, Inc. We subsequently changed our name to I-Therapeutix, Inc. in October 2006 and to Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. in September 2009. Our principal executive offices are located at 15 Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA 01730, and our telephone number is (781) 357-4000. Our website address is www.ocutx.com. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not a part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. We have included our website address in this prospectus supplement and the accompany prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference.
In this prospectus supplement and the accompany prospectus, unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires, references to "Ocular," "we," "us," "our" and similar references refer to Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. Ocular Therapeutix and ReSure are our trademarks. The other trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners. We have omitted the ® and designations, as applicable, for the trademarks named in this prospectus.
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
As a company with less than $1.07 billion of revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an "emerging growth company" as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, and we may remain an emerging growth company until December 31, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure and other requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. In particular, in this prospectus supplement and the accompany prospectus, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. Accordingly, the information contained or incorporated by reference herein may be different than the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold stock.
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Common stock offered by us |
6,500,000 shares | |
Common stock to be outstanding immediately following this offering |
36,158,202 shares |
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Underwriter's option to purchase additional shares |
We have granted the underwriter an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 975,000 additional shares of our common stock. |
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Use of proceeds |
We estimate that the net proceeds to us from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, will be approximately $30.1 million, or $34.6 million if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full. |
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We currently estimate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, to fund the planned resubmission of our NDA for DEXTENZA, to fund the clinical development of OTX-TP, OTX-TIC and OTX-TKI, to fund additional preclinical and regulatory activities for our other product candidates, including through our collaboration with Regeneron, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes and pursuit of our other research and development efforts. |
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See the "Use of Proceeds" section in this prospectus supplement for more information. |
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Risk Factors |
You should read the "Risk Factors" section of this prospectus supplement, as well as those risk factors that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, for a discussion of factors to consider carefully before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock. |
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NASDAQ Global Market symbol |
"OCUL" |
The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on 29,658,202 shares of our common stock outstanding as of January 1, 2018.
The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering excludes:
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Unless otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus supplement assumes:
In addition, the disclosure above does not reflect the $32.8 million of shares of our common stock that remained available for sale at January 1, 2018 under our "at-the-market" facility, pursuant to which we may sell shares of our common stock from time to time pursuant to an equity sales agreement, subject to the lockup restrictions described under "Underwriting."
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Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and in our filings with the SEC that we have incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially. In such event, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you might lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have incurred significant losses since our inception. We expect to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
Since inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our net losses were $39.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2015, $44.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 and $50.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017. As of September 30, 2017, we had an accumulated deficit of $224.2 million. Through September 30, 2017, we have financed our operations primarily through private placements of our preferred stock, public offerings of our common stock and borrowings under credit facilities. We have devoted substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to research and development, including preclinical studies and clinical trials, commercialization of ReSure Sealant and in preparation for a potential commercial launch of DEXTENZA. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses over the next several years. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year.
We anticipate we will incur substantial expenses if and as we:
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Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Our expenses will increase if:
ReSure Sealant is currently our only source of revenue from product sales. We do not expect sales of ReSure Sealant to generate revenue that is sufficient for us to achieve profitability. Instead, for us to become and remain profitable, we will need to succeed in developing and commercializing products with greater market potential. This will require us or our current or future collaborators to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including:
We may never succeed in these activities and may never generate revenue that is sufficient or great enough to achieve profitability. In July 2016, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. This 2016 CRL pertained to deficiencies in manufacturing process and controls identified during a pre-NDA approval inspection of our manufacturing facility performed by the FDA New England District Office, or the District Office, in February 2016 that were documented on FDA Form 483. In November 2016, we received notice
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from the District Office accepting that our responses satisfactorily addressed the remaining corrective actions in the Form 483. Since receiving the CRL, we have also had ongoing communications with the FDA, including the New England District Office and offices within CDER including the Office of Process and Facilities, with regard to the manufacturing issues and our plan for a resubmission of our NDA. In January 2017, we resubmitted our NDA. Following a re-inspection of manufacturing operations by the FDA which was completed in May 2017, we received an FDA Form 483 containing inspectional observations focused on manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to the manufacture of drug product for commercial production. In July 2017, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. FDA concerns included deficiencies in manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to manufacturing of drug product identified during the pre-NDA approval inspection and states that the FDA has determined that it cannot approve the NDA in its present form. We have corresponded with the FDA regarding these inspectional observations and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified. In May 2017 we submitted our initial response to the Form 483 and in November 2017 we submitted our responses to the FDA's remaining inspectional observations in an effort to close out the items identified in the Form 483.
The remediation efforts we have undertaken in response to the FDA's inspectional observations and as a result of further internal review include upgrades to our manufacturing equipment and updates to our manufacturing processes and quality oversight. These changes are intended to resolve the FDA's outstanding concerns, including regarding the presence of particulate matter in certain manufactured lots of DEXTENZA, and enable us to consistently produce commercial lots and establish manufacturing processes sufficient for purposes of resubmission of our NDA. Based on written correspondence we received from the FDA in preparation for a meeting scheduled with the FDA in January 2018 to discuss our remediation efforts and NDA resubmission plans, we determined that no further discussion was necessary at this time and chose not to proceed with the meeting. As a result, the correspondence with the FDA will represent the official record of that previously scheduled meeting. Subject to satisfactorily addressing the FDA inspectional observations and demonstrating consistency in our commercial stage manufacturing process, we plan to resubmit our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain in the first half of 2018. Adequate resolution of the outstanding Form 483 inspectional observations and the final decision as to the adequacy of our manufacturing processes are determined by the FDA, with input from CDER's Office of Process and Facilities, as part of the NDA review process, and are necessary prior to NDA approval. If we are unable to resolve these inspectional observations in a timely manner, our resubmission of our NDA and its potential approval would be delayed or prevented.
Even if we do 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 company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our product offerings or even continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause our stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.
We have included a paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern in the footnotes of our unaudited financial statements included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2017.
Our unaudited financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2017 include a paragraph stating that our losses from operations and need for additional funding to finance our operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected and we may be unable to continue as a going concern. If we are
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unable to continue as a going concern, we may have to liquidate our assets and may receive less than the value at which those assets are carried on our financial statements, and it is likely that investors will lose all or a part of their investment. If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, investors or other financing sources may be unwilling to provide additional funding to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
We will need substantial additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
We expect to devote substantial financial resources to our ongoing and planned activities, particularly as we conduct late stage clinical trials for our extended-delivery drug delivery product candidates, in particular DEXTENZA and OTX-TP, and seek marketing approval for any such product candidate for which we obtain favorable pivotal clinical results. We also expect to devote significant financial resources to conducting research and development and potentially seeking regulatory approval for our other product candidates. In addition, we may devote substantial financial resources to our commercialization efforts, including product manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution for any of our product candidates including DEXTENZA, for which we may obtain marketing approval in the future. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs or any future commercialization efforts.
As of September 30, 2017, we had cash and cash equivalents of $51.2 million and outstanding debt of $18.0 million. Based on our current plans and forecasted expenses, we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, along with the net proceeds from this offering, and assuming receipt of a $10 million payment from Regeneron upon exercise of its option under our Collaboration Agreement, neither of which are assured of occurring, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, debt service obligations and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2019. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
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Conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. We may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval of products with the market potential sufficient to enable us to achieve profitability. We may not generate significant revenue from sales of any product for several years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial 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.
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate product revenues sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements and marketing and distribution arrangements. We do not have any committed external source of funds other than the amounts we are entitled to receive from Regeneron for potential option exercise, development, regulatory and sales milestones and royalty payments under our collaboration. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders' ownership interests will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect our existing stockholders'
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rights as holders of our common stock. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Our pledge of our assets as collateral to secure our obligations under our credit facility may limit our ability to obtain additional debt financing.
If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements or marketing and distribution arrangements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market products or product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
Our substantial indebtedness may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business.
We have a significant amount of indebtedness. Under our current credit facility, as amended, we had $18.0 million of outstanding principal amount of indebtedness as of September 30, 2017. The interest-only payment period under this credit facility lasts through February 1, 2018. Our obligations under this facility are secured by all of our assets other than our intellectual property. Our intellectual property rights are subject to a negative pledge arrangement under the facility. We could in the future incur additional indebtedness beyond such amounts, including by potentially amending our credit facility.
Our substantial debt combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments could have significant adverse consequences, including:
We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our existing cash and cash equivalents and potential payments under our collaboration with Regeneron and funds from external sources. However, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to pay the amounts due under our existing debt. Funds from external sources may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, a failure to comply with the conditions of our credit facility could result in an event of default under those instruments. In the event of an acceleration of amounts due under our credit facility as a result of an event of default, including upon
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the occurrence of an event that would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, properties, assets or condition or a failure to pay any amount due, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to repay our indebtedness or to make any accelerated payments, and the lenders could seek to enforce security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness. In addition, the covenants under our existing credit facility, the pledge of our assets as collateral and the negative pledge of our intellectual property limit our ability to obtain additional debt financing.
Our limited operating history may make it difficult for our stockholders to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are an early-stage company. Our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, acquiring rights to intellectual property, business planning, raising capital, developing our technology, identifying potential product candidates, undertaking preclinical studies and clinical trials, manufacturing initial quantities of our products and product candidates and, beginning in the first quarter of 2014, commercializing ReSure Sealant. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history.
In addition, as a new business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We will need to transition from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.
We expect our financial condition and operating results to continue to fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, our stockholders should not rely upon the results of any quarterly or annual periods as indications of future operating performance.
Risks Related to Product Development
We depend heavily on the success of our intracanalicular insert and other product candidates, in particular DEXTENZA and OTX-TP. Clinical trials of our product candidates may not be successful. If we are unable to successfully complete clinical development of and obtain marketing approvals for our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, or if after obtaining marketing approvals, we fail to commercialize these product candidates, our business will be materially harmed.
We have devoted a significant portion of our financial resources and business efforts to the development of our drug-eluting intracanalicular insert product candidates for diseases and conditions of the front of the eye. In particular, we are investing substantial resources to complete the development of DEXTENZA for post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain and allergic conjunctivitis and OTX-TP for glaucoma and ocular hypertension. We cannot accurately predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans or whether these product candidates will receive marketing approval. Our ability to generate product revenues sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on our obtaining marketing approval for and commercializing one or both of DEXTENZA and OTX-TP.
The commercial success of our intracanalicular insert and other product candidates will depend on many factors, including the following:
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In certain cases, such as in our collaboration with Regeneron, many of these factors may be beyond our control, including clinical development and sales, marketing and distribution efforts. If we or our collaborators do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business.
If clinical trials of our intracanalicular insert product candidates or any other product candidate that we develop fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities or do not otherwise produce favorable results, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be delayed or unable to complete, the development and commercialization of such product candidate.
Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, including our intracanalicular insert product candidates, we must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, insert is 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. The outcome of preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later stage clinical trials, interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results and results from one completed clinical trial may not be replicated in a subsequent clinical trial with a similar study design. Some of our completed studies, including our pilot studies for OTX-TP,
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were conducted with small patient populations, making it difficult to predict whether the favorable results that we observed in such studies will be repeated in larger and more advanced clinical trials. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products.
In general, the FDA requires two adequate and well controlled clinical trials to support the effectiveness of a new drug for marketing approval. In a Phase 2 clinical trial of DEXTENZA that we completed in 2013 in which we were evaluating DEXTENZA for post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery, DEXTENZA did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint for inflammation with statistical significance at the pre-specified time point at day 8. However, we did achieve statistical significance for this inflammation endpoint at days 14 and 30. Accordingly, we measured the primary efficacy endpoint for inflammation in our completed Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA at day 14. In the first and third Phase 3 clinical trials, DEXTENZA met both primary endpoints for post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery with statistical significance. However, in the second Phase 3 clinical trial, DEXTENZA met only one of the two primary efficacy endpoints with statistical significance. In this second trial, DEXTENZA did not meet the primary endpoint relating to absence of inflammatory cells in the study eye at day 14.
According to the trial protocols, the two primary efficacy endpoints in our completed Phase 2 and the first two Phase 3 clinical trials are fixed sequence endpoints. As such, a statistical analysis of the trial results required that we first assess the primary endpoint regarding absence of inflammatory cells in the study eye. The protocol and statistical analysis plan for the trial did not contemplate assessing the primary endpoint regarding absence of pain in the study eye in the event the clinical trial of DEXTENZA did not meet the first primary endpoint with statistical significance. The FDA has informed us that the hierarchy of the two primary endpoints for post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain is applicable in connection with their review of our NDA seeking approval for DEXTENZA for an ocular pain indication. However, the FDA has also informed us that pain endpoints from the Phase 2 and first two Phase 3 trials, with respect to which we received favorable data, would support the NDA submission. Therefore, in September 2015, we submitted to the FDA an NDA for DEXTENZA for an ocular pain indication using the existing data from our completed Phase 2 and first two Phase 3 clinical trials notwithstanding the FDA's comment regarding the applicability of the hierarchy of the two primary endpoints in our completed Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials. In July 2017, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our resubmitted NDA for DEXTENZA stating that the FDA has determined that it cannot approve the NDA in its present form. FDA concerns included deficiencies in manufacturing process and controls identified during a pre-NDA approval inspection of our manufacturing facility. In our response to the FDA regarding these deficiencies, we also had to furnish a safety update regarding all completed trials of DEXTENZA, regardless of indication, dosage form or dose level.
We announced topline results from a third Phase 3 clinical trial of DEXTENZA for post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain in November 2016, which we plan to use to support the potential labeling expansion of DEXTENZA's indications for use to include inflammation. We modified the design of this third Phase 3 clinical trial compared to our two previous Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA based on our learnings from these trials. In this trial, DEXTENZA successfully met its two primary efficacy endpoints for inflammation and pain, achieving statistically significant differences between the treatment group and the placebo group for the absence of inflammatory cells on day 14 and the absence of pain on day 8, respectively. Secondary analyses on the primary efficacy measures have also been completed. DEXTENZA achieved each of the secondary endpoints related to absence of inflammatory cells, absence of pain, and absence of anterior chamber flare with statistical significance compared to placebo at each of the pre-specified timepoints, with the exception of the endpoint for the
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absence of inflammatory cells at day 2 (which is the day following surgery). Based on the results of our third Phase 3 clinical trial of DEXTENZA, and subject to receiving approval for the pain indication pursuant to the initial NDA, we plan to submit an NDA supplement, or sNDA, for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation. Although we believe our planned approach for seeking marketing approval of DEXTENZA is supported by our discussions with the FDA and by the absence of any efficacy or safety concerns identified by the FDA in the CRL with respect to the clinical data provided in the NDA, the FDA could nonetheless not grant marketing approval of DEXTENZA for the pain indication until we obtain complete results from the third Phase 3 clinical trial, or at all.
In our first Phase 3 clinical trial of DEXTENZA for allergic conjunctivitis, for which we announced topline results in October 2015, DEXTENZA met one of the two primary endpoints. DEXTENZA achieved the primary endpoint for ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis but not the primary endpoint for conjunctival redness, in each case measured on day 7 after insertion of the insert. The difference in the mean scores for ocular itching between the DEXTENZA group and the placebo group was greater than 0.5 units on a five point scale at all time points on day 7 post-insertion and was greater than 1.0 unit at a majority of the time points on day 7 post-insertion. The DEXTENZA group did not achieve these pre-specified endpoints on day 7 post-insertion with respect to conjunctival redness. In our second Phase 3 clinical trial of DEXTENZA for allergic conjunctivitis, for which we announced topline results in June 2016, DEXTENZA did not meet the sole primary endpoint for ocular itching. The single primary endpoint of the second Phase 3 clinical trial was the difference in the mean scores in ocular itching between the treatment group and the placebo comparator group at three time points on day 7 following insertion of the inserts. While mean ocular itching was seen to be numerically lower (more favorable) in the DEXTENZA treatment group compared to the placebo group measured at each of the three specified times on day 7 following insertion of the inserts, at 3, 5, and 7 minutes by 0.18, 0.29, and 0.29 units, respectively, on a five point scale, this difference did not reach statistical significance. In addition, the trial did not achieve the requirement of at least a 0.5 unit difference at all three time points on day 7 following insertion of the inserts and at least a 1.0 unit difference at the majority of the three time points between the treatment group and the placebo group on day 7 following insertion of the inserts. Further, in our prior Phase 2 clinical trial of DEXTENZA in which we were evaluating DEXTENZA for allergic conjunctivitis, DEXTENZA met one of the two primary efficacy measures. The DEXTENZA treatment group achieved a mean difference compared to the vehicle control group of more than 0.5 units on a five point scale on day 14 for all three time points measured in a day for both ocular itching and conjunctival redness. The DEXTENZA group did not achieve a mean difference compared to the vehicle control group of 1.0 unit for the majority of the three time points measured on day 14 for either ocular itching or conjunctival redness. Even if we obtain favorable clinical trial results in any additional Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA for allergic conjunctivitis, including meeting all primary efficacy measures, we may not obtain approval for DEXTENZA to treat allergic conjunctivitis or ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis, or the FDA may require that we conduct additional clinical trials. Post-hoc analyses that we performed on the results of our completed Phase 3 clinical trials for allergic conjunctivitis may not be predictive of success in any future Phase 3 clinical trial. Although we believe that these analyses provide important information regarding DEXTENZA and are helpful in understanding the results of this trial and determining the appropriate criteria for future clinical trials, post-hoc analyses performed using an unlocked clinical trial database can result in the introduction of bias and are given less weight by regulatory authorities than pre-specified analyses.
We designed our Phase 2 clinical trials of OTX-TP for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension to assess clinically meaningful response to treatment, and did not power these trials to measure any efficacy endpoints with statistical significance. We reported topline efficacy results from our Phase 2b clinical trial of OTX-TP for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension in
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October 2015. In this trial, on day 60 at the 8:00 a.m. time point, the OTX-TP group experienced a mean intraocular pressure lowering effect of 4.7 mmHg, compared with intraocular pressure lowering of 6.4 mmHg for the timolol arm. On day 90 at the 8:00 a.m. time point, the OTX-TP group experienced an intraocular pressure lowering effect of 5.1 mmHg, compared with an intraocular pressure lowering effect of 7.2 mmHg in the timolol arm. Also in this trial, on day 60, the OTX-TP group experienced a mean diurnal intraocular pressure lowering effect of 3.3 mmHg compared to baseline 5.9 mmHg compared for the timolol group. On day 90, the OTX-TP group experienced a mean diurnal intraocular pressure, or IOP, lowering effect of 3.6 mmHg compared to baseline, versus 6.3 mmHg for the timolol group. We expect that our planned Phase 3 clinical trials for OTX-TP, one of which we initiated during the third quarter of 2016, will be powered with an appropriate number of patients to measure with statistical significance the superiority of OTX-TP as compared to a placebo vehicle intracanalicular insert in the reduction of mean IOP from baseline at all of the nine diurnal time points at week 2, week 6 and week 12 visits. We completed an End-of-Phase 2 review with the FDA in April 2016 and initiated the first of two planned Phase 3 clinical trials of OTX-TP in September 2016. Based on discussions with the FDA, the Phase 3 clinical trial design has significant differences as compared to our completed Phase 2 clinical trials. In particular, the most notable changes from our first Phase 2 clinical trial to our first Phase 3 clinical trial are that our first Phase 3 clinical trial enrolls more subjects at a greater number of sites, has a different randomization, measures the primary efficacy endpoints on different days and at different timepoints, has a longer washout period, will not include a timolol active comparator and will not have eye drops, placebo or active, administered in either the treatment or the placebo-controlled arm. We may determine to discuss the results of this first Phase 3 clinical trial with the FDA prior to initiating a second Phase 3 clinical trial. Results from our Phase 2 clinical trials may not necessarily predict a likelihood of achieving our primary endpoint in the Phase 3 clinical trials with statistical significance, including as a result of differences in trial design. If we do not achieve our primary endpoint in the Phase 3 clinical trials with statistical significance or do not achieve a clinically meaningful reduction in intraocular pressure, we may not obtain marketing approval for OTX-TP.
In addition, post-hoc analyses that we performed on the results of our completed Phase 2b clinical trial may not be predictive of success in our planned Phase 3 clinical trials. Post-hoc analyses performed using an unlocked clinical trial database can result in the introduction of bias and are given less weight by regulatory authorities than pre-specified analyses.
The success of our intracanalicular insert product candidates is dependent upon retention during the course of intended therapy. As such, we continue to conduct non-significant risk investigational device exemption, or IDE, medical device, or NSR, studies in the United States for our extended-delivery intracanalicular insert in an effort to increase the rate of retention. All NSR studies that we have performed to date have involved placebo vehicle control intracanalicular inserts without active drug. If we determine to make any future changes to the design or composition of our inserts, such changes could affect the outcome of any subsequent clinical trials using these updated inserts. For example, in our Phase 2b clinical trial of OTX-TP, we used a different version of intracanalicular insert than either of the inserts that we used in our Phase 2a clinical trial of OTX-TP. Based on the results of our completed Phase 2a clinical trial, we designed the OTX-TP insert that was used in our Phase 2b clinical trial to deliver drug over a 90 day period at the same daily rate as the two-month version of the insert used in the Phase 2a clinical trial. To achieve this, we modified the design of the OTX-TP insert to enlarge it in order to enable the insert to carry a greater amount of drug. In addition, we incorporated minor structural changes to improve retention rates. In our Phase 2b clinical trials, OTX-TP inserts could be visualized in approximately 88% of eyes by the day 60 visit. By the day 90 visit, the ability to visualize OTX-TP had declined to approximately 42% of eyes as the hydrogel softened, liquefied and had either advanced further down in the canaliculus or had cleared through the nasolacrimal duct. We are conducting additional NSR studies on additional modified insert designs,
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including a polyethylene glycol, or PEG, tip on the proximal end of the insert that have been incorporated into the design of the first Phase 3 trial of OTX-TP. If in our Phase 3 clinical trials the retention rates for our inserts are inadequate to ensure that the patient is receiving appropriate therapy, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approvals or, even if approved, achieve market acceptance of our extended-delivery drug delivery products.
The protocols for our clinical trials and other supporting information are subject to review by the FDA and regulatory authorities outside the United States. For our intracanalicular insert product candidates, we have typically conducted our initial and earlier stage clinical trials outside the United States. We generally plan to conduct our later stage and pivotal clinical trials of our intracanalicular insert product candidates in the United States. The FDA, however, could require us to conduct additional studies or require us to modify our planned pivotal clinical trials to receive clearance to initiate such trials in the United States or to continue such trials once initiated. The FDA is not obligated to comment on our trial protocols within any specified time period or at all or to affirmatively clear or approve our planned pivotal clinical trials. Subject to a waiting period of 30 days, we could choose to initiate our pivotal clinical trials in the United States without waiting for any additional period for comments from the FDA.
We have conducted, and may in the future conduct, clinical trials for product candidates at sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in such locations.
We have conducted, and may in the future choose to conduct, one or more of our clinical trials outside the United States. We have typically conducted our initial and earlier stage clinical trials for our product candidates, including our intracanalicular insert product candidates, outside the United States. We generally plan to conduct our later stage and pivotal clinical trials of our intracanalicular insert product candidates in the United States.
Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to conditions imposed by the FDA. For example, the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and performed by qualified investigators in accordance with ethical principles. The trial population must also adequately represent the U.S. population, and the data must be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice in ways that the FDA deems clinically meaningful. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, FDA acceptance of the data will depend on its determination that the trials also complied with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. If the FDA does not accept the data from any trial that we conduct outside the United States, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and would delay or permanently halt our development of the applicable product candidates.
Other risks inherent in conducting international clinical trials include:
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If we experience any of a number of possible unforeseen events in connection with our clinical trials, potential marketing approval or commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed or prevented.
We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our extended-delivery drug delivery product candidates or any other product candidates that we may develop, including:
For example, we applied for a deferral from the FDA for the requirement to conduct pediatric studies for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery until after approval of such product in adult populations for that indication. While the FDA ultimately approved our request, if the FDA had required us to conduct pediatric studies in advance of FDA approval in adult populations, we would have experienced significant delays in our ability to obtain marketing approval for DEXTENZA for this indication. We will face a similar risk if we seek a comparable deferral for other product candidates or indications.
If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of
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our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not favorable or are only modestly favorable or if there are safety concerns, we may:
Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant preclinical or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates.
If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our extended-delivery drug delivery product candidates or our other product candidates that we may develop if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA, the EMA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Although there is a significant prevalence of disease in the areas of ophthalmology in which we are focused, we may nonetheless experience unanticipated difficulty with patient enrollment.
A variety of factors affect patient enrollment, including:
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Our first Phase 3 clinical trial of OTX-TP is expected to enroll approximately 550 patients at approximately 50 sites in the United States and will be the largest clinical trial we will have conducted to date. Patients randomized into the placebo control arm will not receive any glaucoma medications during the course of this trial. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients in our first Phase 3 clinical trial or any of our other clinical trials would result in significant delays, could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether and could delay or prevent our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.
If serious adverse or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our extended-delivery drug delivery product candidates or any other product candidates that we may develop, we may need to abandon or limit our development of such product candidates.
If our extended-delivery drug delivery product candidates or any of our other product candidates are associated with serious adverse events or undesirable side effects in clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. In each of our first two Phase 3 clinical trials of DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery, there were two subjects that experienced serious adverse events in the DEXTENZA group in each trial, none of which were ocular in nature or considered by the investigator to be related to the study treatment. In our third Phase 3 clinical trial of DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain, there were three subjects that experienced serious adverse events in the DEXTENZA group, one of which was ocular in nature and none of which were considered by the investigator to be related to the study treatment. There was one ocular serious adverse event in the vehicle control group in the three completed Phase 3 clinical trials, which was hypopyon, or inflammatory cells in the anterior chamber. In our earlier Phase 2 clinical trial of DEXTENZA for the same indication, there were three serious adverse events, none of which was considered by the investigator to be related to the study treatment. In the DEXTENZA group of this Phase 2 clinical trial of DEXTENZA, the only adverse event that occurred more than once for the same subject was reduced visual acuity, which occurred twice but was not considered by the investigator to be related to the study treatment.
In our two pilot studies of OTX-TP for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension and our Phase 2a clinical trial of OTX-TP for the same indication, the most common adverse event was inflammatory reaction of the eyelids and ocular surface, which was noted in three patients in our pilot studies and in five patients in our Phase 2a clinical trial. No hyperemia-related adverse events were noted in any of the patients treated with OTX-TP in our Phase 2b clinical trial. There were no serious adverse events reported in our Phase 2b clinical trial; however, two OTX-TP subjects and two timolol subjects discontinued study participation due to ocular adverse events. Ocular adverse events were reported for 39.4% and 37.5% of subjects in the OTX-TP and timolol groups, respectively. The most frequently reported ocular adverse events were dacryocanaliculitis, or inflammation of the lacrimal ducts, acquired dacryostenosis, or closing of the tear ducts, and eyelid edema. In the Phase 2b clinical trial, inflammatory reaction at the administration site (punctal area) and lacrimal structure injury were each noted in one OTX-TP subject as compared to higher percentages in prior trials. In the Phase 2b trial, the majority of ocular adverse events, including the most frequently reported adverse events, were assessed by the investigators as treatment related. However, many compounds that initially showed promise in clinical or early stage testing for treating ophthalmic disease have later been found to cause
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side effects that prevented further development of the compound. In addition, adverse events which had initially been considered unrelated to the study treatment may later be found to be caused by the study treatment.
We may not be successful in our efforts to develop product candidates based on our bioresorbable hydrogel technology platform other than ReSure Sealant or expand the use of our bioresorbable hydrogel technology for treating additional diseases and conditions.
We are currently directing all of our development efforts towards applying our proprietary bioresorbable hydrogel technology platform to product candidates that are designed to provide extended delivery of therapeutic agents to the eye using active pharmaceutical ingredients that are currently used in FDA-approved ophthalmic drugs. We have a number of product candidates at various stages of development based on our bioresorbable hydrogel technology platform and are exploring the potential use of our platform for other front-of-the-eye diseases and conditions. We are also developing a hydrogel-based drug delivery depot designed to release therapeutic antibodies and small molecules such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, or TKIs, to modulate the biologic activity of VEGF over a sustained period following administration by an intravitreal injection for the treatment of diseases and conditions of the back of the eye, including wet age related macular degeneration, or wet AMD. In October 2016, we entered into a collaboration with Regeneron for the development and potential commercialization of products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel-based formulation in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds for the treatment of retinal diseases. Our existing product candidates and any other potential product candidates that we or our collaborators identify may not be suitable for continued preclinical or clinical development, including as a result of being shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. We are also considering the future growth potential of the hydrogel platform technology in new areas of the body. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize our product candidates that we or our current or future collaborators develop based upon our technological approach, we will not be able to obtain substantial product revenues or revenue from collaboration agreements, including our collaboration with Regeneron, in future periods.
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and managerial 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.
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Risks Related to Manufacturing
We will need to upgrade and expand our manufacturing facility or relocate to another facility and to augment our manufacturing personnel and processes in order to meet our business plans. If we fail to do so, we may not have sufficient quantities of our products or product candidates to meet our commercial and clinical trial requirements.
We manufacture ReSure Sealant and our product candidates for use in clinical trials, research and development and commercial efforts at our multi-product facility located in Bedford, Massachusetts. In order to meet our business plan, which contemplates our scaling up manufacturing processes to support our product candidate development programs and the potential commercialization of these product candidates, we will need to upgrade and expand our existing manufacturing facility, or relocate to another manufacturing facility, add manufacturing personnel and ensure that validated processes are consistently implemented in our facility or facilities. The upgrade and expansion of our facility, or the relocation to an additional facility, will require additional regulatory approvals. In addition, it will be costly and time-consuming to expand our facility or relocate to another facility and recruit necessary additional personnel. If we are unable to expand our manufacturing facility or relocate to another facility in compliance with regulatory requirements or to hire additional necessary manufacturing personnel, we may encounter delays or additional costs in achieving our research, development and commercialization objectives, including in obtaining regulatory approvals of our product candidates and meeting customer demand for ReSure Sealant, which could materially damage our business and financial position.
We must comply with federal, state and foreign regulations, including quality assurance standards applicable to medical device and drug manufacturers, such as cGMP, which is enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program and by similar regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions where we do business. These requirements include, among other things, quality control, quality assurance and the maintenance of records and documentation. Following an inspection by the FDA in March 2015, for example, we received an FDA Form 483 containing an inspectional observation relating to inadequate procedures for documenting follow-up information pertinent to the investigation of complaints and for evaluation of complaints for adverse event reporting. We submitted our response, which was accepted by the FDA, and updated our procedures. In addition, in February 2016, as part of the review of our NDA for DEXTENZA, the FDA conducted a pre-NDA approval inspection of our manufacturing operations. As a result of this inspection, we received an FDA Form 483 containing inspectional observations focused on process controls, analytical testing and physical security procedures related to manufacture of our drug product for stability and commercial production purposes. We addressed some observations before the inspection was closed and responded to the FDA with a corrective action plan to complete the inspection process. In July 2016, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA. This CRL pertained to the deficiencies in manufacturing process and controls identified during the pre-NDA approval inspection of our manufacturing facility performed by the FDA New England District Office in February 2016 that were documented on the February Form 483. In January 2017, we resubmitted our NDA. Following a re-inspection of manufacturing operations by the FDA which was completed in May 2017, we received an FDA Form 483 containing inspectional observations focused on procedures for manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to the manufacture of drug product for commercial production. In July 2017, we received a CRL from the FDA regarding our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. FDA concerns included deficiencies in manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to manufacturing of drug product identified during the pre-NDA approval inspection and states that the FDA has determined that it cannot approve the NDA in its present form. We have corresponded with the FDA regarding these inspectional deficiencies and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified. We have corresponded with the FDA regarding these inspectional observations and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified. In May 2017
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we submitted our initial response to the Form 483 and in November 2017 we submitted our responses to the FDA's remaining inspectional observations in an effort to close out the items identified in the Form 483.
The remediation efforts we have undertaken in response to the FDA's inspectional observations and as a result of further internal review include upgrades to our manufacturing equipment and updates to our manufacturing processes and quality oversight. These changes are intended to resolve the FDA's outstanding concerns, including regarding the presence of particulate matter in certain manufactured lots of DEXTENZA, and enable us to consistently produce commercial lots and establish manufacturing processes sufficient for purposes of resubmission of our NDA. Based on written correspondence we received from the FDA in preparation for a meeting scheduled with the FDA in January 2018 to discuss our remediation efforts and NDA resubmission plans, we determined that no further discussion was necessary at this time and chose not to proceed with the meeting. As a result, the correspondence with the FDA will represent the official record of that previously scheduled meeting. Subject to satisfactorily addressing the FDA inspectional observations and demonstrating consistency in our commercial stage manufacturing process, we plan to resubmit our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain in the first half of 2018. Adequate resolution of the outstanding Form 483 inspectional observations and the final decision as to the adequacy of our manufacturing processes are determined by the FDA with input from CDER's Office of Process and Facilities, as part of the NDA review process, and are necessary prior to NDA approval. If we are unable to resolve these inspectional observations in a timely manner, our resubmission of our NDA and its potential approval would be delayed or prevented.
The FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities at any time also may implement new standards, or change their interpretation and enforcement of existing standards, for the manufacture, packaging or testing of our products. Any failure to comply with applicable regulations may result in fines and civil penalties, suspension of production, product seizure or recall, imposition of a consent decree, or withdrawal of product approval, and would limit the availability of ReSure Sealant and our product candidates that we manufacture.
Any manufacturing defect or error discovered after products have been produced and distributed also could result in significant consequences, including costly recall procedures, re-stocking costs, damage to our reputation and potential for product liability claims.
If our sole clinical manufacturing facility is damaged or destroyed or production at this facility is otherwise interrupted, our business and prospects would be negatively affected.
If our manufacturing facility or the equipment in it is damaged or destroyed, we may not be able to quickly or inexpensively replace our manufacturing capacity or replace it at all. In the event of a temporary or protracted loss of this facility or equipment, we might not be able to transfer manufacturing to another facility or to a third party. Even if we could transfer our manufacturing to another facility or a third party, the shift would likely be expensive and time-consuming, particularly since any new facility would need to comply with the necessary regulatory requirements and to be inspected and qualified. We would also need FDA approval before any products manufactured at that facility could be used for clinical or commercial supply. Such an event could delay our clinical trials or reduce our product sales.
Currently, we maintain insurance coverage against damage to our property and equipment in the amount of up to $15.3 million and to cover business interruption and research and development restoration expenses in the amount of up to $2.8 million. However, our insurance coverage may not reimburse us, or may not be sufficient to reimburse us, for any expenses or losses we may suffer. We may be unable to meet our requirements for ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates if there were a catastrophic event or failure of our current manufacturing facility or processes.
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We expect to continue to contract with third parties for at least some aspects of the production of our products and product candidates. This increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our products or product candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We currently rely on third parties for some aspects of the production of ReSure Sealant and our product candidates for commercialization and preclinical testing and clinical trials, including supply of active pharmaceutical ingredient drug substance, PEG, the molecule that forms the basis of our hydrogels, and other raw materials and for sterilization of the finished product. In addition, while we believe that our existing manufacturing facility, or additional facilities that we will be able to build, will be sufficient to meet our requirements for manufacturing ReSure Sealant and any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval, we may in the future need to rely on third-party manufacturers for some aspects of the manufacture of our products or product candidates.
We do not have any long-term supply agreements in place for the clinical or commercial supply of any drug substances or raw materials for ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates. We purchase drug substance and raw materials, including the chemical constituents for our hydrogel, from independent suppliers on a purchase order basis. Any performance failure or refusal to supply drug substance or raw materials on the part of our existing or future suppliers could delay clinical development, marketing approval or commercialization of our products. If our current suppliers do not perform as we expect, we may be required to replace one or more of these suppliers. In particular, we depend on a sole source supplier for the supply of our PEG. This sole source supplier may be unwilling or unable to supply PEG to us reliably, continuously and at the levels we anticipate or are required by the market. Although we believe that there are a number of potential long-term replacements to our suppliers, including our PEG supplier, we may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacements.
Reliance on third parties for aspects of the supply of our products and product candidates entails additional risks, including:
Third-party suppliers or manufacturers may not be able to comply with quality assurance standards, cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third parties, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products and product candidates.
Our potential future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive regulatory approval on a timely and competitive basis.
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Risks Related to Commercialization
Even though ReSure Sealant has received marketing approval from the FDA and even if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, any of these products 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, and the market opportunity for these products may be smaller than we estimate.
ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates that receives marketing approval may fail to gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. We commercially launched ReSure Sealant in the first quarter of 2014 and cannot yet accurately predict whether it will it will gain market acceptance and become commercially successful. For example, we previously commenced commercialization in Europe of an earlier version of ReSure Sealant that was approved and marketed as an ocular bandage. We recognized $0.1 million of revenue from the commercialization of this product through 2012. However, we ceased our commercialization of the product in 2012 to focus on the ongoing clinical development of ReSure Sealant pursuant to FDA requirements. If our products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue and we may not become profitable.
The degree of market acceptance of ReSure Sealant or any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval will depend on a number of factors, including:
For example, because we have not conducted any clinical trials to date comparing the effectiveness of DEXTENZA directly to currently approved alternative treatments for either post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery or allergic conjunctivitis, it is possible that the market acceptance of DEXTENZA, if it is approved for marketing, could be less than if we had conducted such trials. Although market research we have commissioned indicates that a majority of
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ophthalmologists believe DEXTENZA could become a new standard of care due to its potential ability to improve compliance with limited toxicity concerns, market acceptance for DEXTENZA could be substantially less than such research indicates, and we may not be able to achieve the market share we anticipate.
Our assessment of the potential market opportunity for ReSure Sealant and our product candidates is based on industry and market data that we obtained from industry publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. While we believe these industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies are reliable, we have not independently verified such data. If the actual market for ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates is smaller than we expect, our product revenue may be limited and it may be more difficult for us to achieve or maintain profitability.
If we are unable to establish and maintain adequate sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, we may not be successful in commercializing ReSure Sealant or any product candidates if and when they are approved.
We have limited experience in the sale, marketing and distribution of drug and device products. To achieve commercial success for ReSure Sealant and any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval, we will need to establish and maintain adequate sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, either ourselves or through collaborations or other arrangements with third parties. We commercially launched ReSure Sealant in February 2014 on a region by region basis in the United States through a network of independent distributors. In early 2017, we terminated these distributors and hired a contract sales force of four representatives to sell ReSure Sealant. We have subsequently terminated the agreement with the contract sales force to sell ReSure Sealant.
We may determine to build a direct sales force to sell DEXTENZA, if approved for marketing, and may initially use a contract sales organization to staff a dedicated team of sales representatives. We may also consider co-promotional arrangements with larger ophthalmology companies. If DEXTENZA is approved for marketing, we expect to be able to market and sell ReSure Sealant alongside DEZTENZA with the same sales force. We expect that a direct sales force will be required to effectively market and sell OTX-TP, if approved for marketing. We will also rely on Regeneron to commercialize our extended-delivery hydrogel-based formulation in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds. Because we have not historically evaluated whether to seek regulatory approval for any of our product candidates outside of the United States, pending potential receipt of regulatory approval for the applicable product candidate in the United States, at this time we cannot be certain when, if ever, we will recognize revenue from commercialization of our product candidates in any international markets. If we decide to commercialize our products outside of the United States, we expect to utilize a variety of types of collaboration, distribution and other marketing arrangements with one or more third parties to commercialize any product of ours that receives marketing approval. These may include independent distributors, pharmaceutical companies or our own direct sales organization.
There are risks involved with both establishing our own sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and with entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. We may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell, market and distribute our products or may be unable to do so on terms that are most beneficial to us. We likely will have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to market, sell and distribute our products effectively. If a substantial number of independent distributors
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on whom we rely, or any significant independent distributor, were to cease to do business with us within a short period of time, our sales of products sold by such distributor or distributors could be adversely affected. In such a situation, we may need to seek alternative independent distributors. Because of the competition for their services, we may be unable to recruit additional qualified independent distributors to work with us. Our product revenues and our profitability, if any, under third-party collaboration including our collaboration with Regeneron, distribution or other marketing arrangements may also be lower than if we were to sell, market and distribute a product ourselves. On the other hand, recruiting and training a sales force is expensive and time-consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of any product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel.
Other factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize products on our own include:
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 ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates.
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.
The development and commercialization of new drug and device products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to our product candidates and ReSure Sealant, and will face competition with respect to any other product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.
Our product candidates target markets that are already served by a variety of competing products based on a number of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Many of these existing products have achieved widespread acceptance among physicians, patients and payors for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases and conditions. In addition, many of these products are available on a generic basis, and our product candidates may not demonstrate sufficient additional clinical benefits to physicians, patients or payors to justify a higher price compared to generic products. In many cases, insurers or other third-party payors, particularly Medicare, seek to encourage the use of generic products. Given that we are developing products based on FDA-approved therapeutic agents, our product candidates, if approved, will face competition from generic and branded versions of existing drugs based on the same active
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pharmaceutical ingredients that are administered in a different manner, typically through eye drops or intravitreal injections.
Because the active pharmaceutical ingredients in our product candidates, other than those developed under the Regeneron collaboration, are available on a generic basis, or are soon to be available on a generic basis, competitors will be able to offer and sell products with the same active pharmaceutical ingredient as our products so long as these competitors do not infringe the patents that we license. For example, our licensed patents related to our intracanalicular insert product candidates largely relate to the hydrogel composition of the intracanalicular inserts and certain drug-release features of the inserts. As such, if a third party were able to design around the formulation and process patents that we license and create a different formulation using a different production process not covered by our licensed patents or patent applications, we would likely be unable to prevent that third party from manufacturing and marketing its product.
Other companies have advanced into Phase 3 clinical development biodegradable, extended-delivery product candidates that could compete with our intracanalicular insert product candidates. ReSure Sealant is the first and only surgical sealant approved for ophthalmic use in the United States, but will compete with sutures as an alternative method for closing ophthalmic wounds. Multiple companies, including our collaborator Regeneron, are exploring in early stage development alternative means to deliver anti-VEGF and TKI products in an extended-delivery fashion to the back of the eye.
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 than our products. Our competitors also may obtain FDA 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 before we are able to enter the market.
Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and other early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.
ReSure Sealant and any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party coverage or reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives, which could harm our business.
Our ability to commercialize ReSure Sealant or any product candidates that we may develop successfully will depend, in part, on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government healthcare programs, private health insurers, managed care plans and other organizations. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications.
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Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug and device companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. Coverage and reimbursement may not be available for ReSure Sealant or any other product that we commercialize and, even if they are available, the level of reimbursement may not be satisfactory.
Inadequate reimbursement may adversely affect the demand for, or the price of, ReSure Sealant or any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. Obtaining and maintaining adequate reimbursement for our products may be difficult. We may be required to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies to justify coverage and reimbursement or the level of reimbursement relative to other therapies. If coverage and adequate reimbursement are not available or reimbursement is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize ReSure Sealant or any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.
There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs and devices, and coverage may be more limited than the indications for which the drug is approved by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Moreover, eligibility for coverage and reimbursement does not imply that a drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution expenses. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may not be made permanent. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement policies. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement rates from both government-funded and private payors for any FDA-approved products that we develop would compromise our ability to generate revenues and become profitable.
The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing, coverage and reimbursement for new drug and device products vary widely from country to country. Current and future legislation may significantly change the approval requirements in ways that could involve additional costs and cause delays in obtaining approvals. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. To obtain 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. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval.
ReSure Sealant or any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval in the United States or in other countries may not be considered medically reasonable and necessary for a specific indication, may not be considered cost-effective by third-party payors, coverage and an adequate level of reimbursement may not be available, and reimbursement policies of third-party payors may adversely affect our ability to sell our product candidates profitably. ReSure Sealant is not separately reimbursed when used as part of a cataract surgery procedure, which could limit the degree of market
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acceptance of this product by surgeons. In addition, while DEXTENZA may be considered a post-surgical product in the same fashion as eye drops, if it receives marketing approval, it may instead be categorized as an inter-operative product. If DEXTENZA is categorized as an inter-operative product, it will not be subject to separate reimbursement, which could likewise limit its market acceptance.
Subject to the approval of the NDA resubmission we expect to file with the FDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain, we will apply for a transitional pass-through reimbursement status, or C code, for DEXTENZA from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and expect pricing for DEXTENZA while in pass-through status to be approximately $450 to $500 per surgery. We expect pass-through status would remain in effect for up to three years depending on when we apply for and receive this reimbursement code. We have submitted an application to the CMS for a J code for DEXTENZA and expect to submit to the CMS for a standard J code for our OTX-TP product candidate, if our clinical trials are successful and if our NDA filings and sNDA are approved by the FDA. There are no assurances that we will be successful in obtaining and retaining reimbursement for our product candidate.
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we develop.
We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the use of our product candidates that we develop in human clinical trials. We face an even greater risk for any products we develop and commercially sell, including ReSure Sealant. 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:
We currently hold $10.0 million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a per incident limit of $10.0 million, which may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We will need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials and our sales of ReSure Sealant and any other product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.
We will need to further increase our insurance coverage if we commence commercialization of any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. 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.
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Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties
We will depend heavily on our collaboration with Regeneron for the success of our extended-delivery hydrogel-based formulation in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds. If Regeneron does not exercise its option, terminates our collaboration agreement or is unable to meet its contractual obligations, it could negatively impact our business.
In October 2016, we entered into a strategic collaboration, option and license agreement, or Collaboration Agreement, with Regeneron for the development and potential commercialization of products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel-based formulation in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds. Our ability to generate revenues from the Collaboration Agreement will depend on our and Regeneron's abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to each of us under the Collaboration Agreement. We did not receive any upfront payment under the Collaboration Agreement, although Regeneron has an option to enter into an exclusive, worldwide license, with the right to sublicense, under our intellectual property to develop and commercialize products containing our extended-delivery hydrogel-based formulation in combination with Regeneron's large molecule VEGF-targeting compounds. Regeneron has agreed to pay us $10 million upon exercise of the option. The option is exclusive until 12 months after Regeneron has received a product candidate in accordance with a collaboration plan and non-exclusive for an additional six months following the end of the exclusive period. In December 2017, we delivered to Regeneron the final formulation for Regeneron's initial preclinical tolerability study. Under the Collaboration Agreement, we are obligated to reimburse Regeneron for certain development costs incurred by Regeneron under the collaboration plan during the period through the completion of the initial clinical trial, subject to a cap of $25 million, which cap may be increased by up to $5 million under certain circumstances. We are also entitled to receive under the terms of the Collaboration Agreement specified development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, as well as royalty payments.
If Regeneron has not exercised the option during the designated option period, the Collaboration Agreement will expire. If Regeneron exercises the option, the Collaboration Agreement will expire on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis upon the expiration of the later of 10 years from the date of first commercial sale in such country or the expiration of all patent rights covering the licensed product in such country. Regeneron may terminate the Collaboration Agreement at any time after exercise of the option upon 60 days' prior written notice. Either party may, subject to a cure period, terminate the Collaboration Agreement in the event of the other party's uncured material breach, in addition to other specified termination rights.
If we are unable to achieve the preclinical milestones set forth in the collaboration plan, Regeneron may not exercise the option, in which case we would not receive the $10 million payment in connection with such option and would have incurred significant development expenses. Even if Regeneron does exercise its option, we or Regeneron may not be successful in achieving the necessary preclinical, clinical, regulatory and sales milestones in connection with the collaboration. Further, if Regeneron were to breach or terminate the Collaboration Agreement or if Regeneron elects not to exercise the option we granted it and not to proceed in the collaboration, we may not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our intravitreal depot product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our intravitreal depot product candidates. We may not be able to seek and obtain a viable, alternative collaborator to partner with for the development and commercialization of the licensed products on similar terms or at all.
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We have entered into collaborations with third parties to develop certain product candidates, and in the future may enter into collaborations with third parties for the commercialization of ReSure Sealant or the development or commercialization of our product candidates. If our collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of these product candidates.
We have in the past entered into collaboration agreements with third parties, including our collaboration with Regeneron, and expect to utilize a variety of types of collaboration, distribution and other marketing arrangements with third parties to commercialize ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval in markets outside the United States. We also may enter into arrangements with third parties to perform these services in the United States if we do not establish our own sales, marketing and distribution capabilities in the United States for our product candidates or if we determine that such third-party arrangements are otherwise beneficial. We also may seek additional third-party collaborators for development and commercialization of other product candidates. Our likely collaborators for any sales, marketing, distribution, development, licensing or broader collaboration arrangements include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies. Other than our collaboration with Regeneron, we are not currently party to any such arrangement. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on our collaborators' abilities and efforts to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements.
Our collaboration with Regeneron poses, and any future collaborations likely will pose a number of risks, including the following:
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Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of product candidates in the most efficient manner, or at all. If any collaborations that we enter into do not result in the successful development and commercialization of products or if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future research funding or milestone or royalty payments under the collaboration. If we do not receive the funding we expect under these agreements, our development of our product candidates could be delayed and we may need additional resources to develop our product candidates. All of the risks relating to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization described in this prospectus supplement also apply to the activities of our collaborators.
Additionally, subject to its contractual obligations to us, if a collaborator of ours were to be involved in a business combination, it might deemphasize or terminate the development or commercialization of any product candidate licensed to it by us. If one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new collaborators and our perception in the business and financial communities could be harmed.
If we are not able to establish additional collaborations, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans and our business could be adversely affected.
For some of our other product candidates, we may decide to collaborate with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies for the development and potential commercialization of those product candidates. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator's resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator's evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to
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collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our product candidate. We may also be restricted under future license agreements from entering into agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators. Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators.
We are currently conducting preclinical testing of protein-based anti-VEGF compounds in collaboration with Regeneron with protein based anti-VEGF compounds to explore the feasibility of delivering their drugs using our intravitreal depot. The initial drug selected for preclinical testing under this collaboration is aflibercept, marketed under the brand name Eylea. We may explore broader collaborations for the development and potential commercialization of our intravitreal depot technology in combination with other large molecules with targets other than VEGF for the treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases and conditions.
If we are unable to reach agreements with suitable collaborators on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may have to curtail the development of a product candidate, reduce or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to fund and undertake development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional expertise and additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we fail to enter into collaborations and do not have sufficient funds or expertise to undertake the necessary development and commercialization activities, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market or continue to develop our product platform.
Although the majority of our clinical development is administered and managed by our own employees, we have relied, and may continue to rely, on third parties for certain aspects of our clinical development, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials.
Our employees have administered and managed most of our clinical development work, including our clinical trials for ReSure Sealant and our clinical trials for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery. However, we have relied and may continue to rely on third parties, such as contract research organizations, or CROs, to conduct future clinical trials of our product candidates, including OTX-TP for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension. If we deem necessary, we may engage third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct or assist in our clinical trials or other clinical development work. If we are unable to enter into an agreement with a CRO or other service provider when required, our product development activities would be delayed.
Our reliance on third parties for research and development activities reduces our control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we 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 standards, commonly referred to as good clinical practices for conducting, recording and reporting the results of 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. We are also required to register ongoing clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within specified timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions. If we engage third parties and they do not successfully carry out their
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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.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
We may be unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our technology and products, or the scope of the patent protection obtained may not be sufficiently broad, such that our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and products may be impaired.
Our success depends in large part on our and our licensor's ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our proprietary technology and products. We and our licensor have sought to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our novel technologies and product candidates. Some of our licensed patents that we believe are integral to our hydrogel technology platform have terms that extend through at least 2024, including a U.S. patent that will expire in 2024 that collectively covers the hydrogel composition of OTX-TP and OTX-MP and the process of making them in combination with certain drug release particles, and other patents directed more specifically to our products extend through at least 2030. However, certain broader patents within our licensed patent portfolio expire between 2017 and 2019. 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. As a result, our licensed patent portfolio would be less effective in excluding others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not have filed or prosecuted and may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection.
In some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to enforce or maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. In particular, the license agreement that we have entered into with Incept, LLC, or Incept, an intellectual property holding company, which covers all patent rights and a significant portion of the technology for ReSure Sealant and our product candidates, provides that, with limited exceptions, Incept has sole control and responsibility for ongoing prosecution for the patents covered by the license agreement. In addition, although we have a right under the Incept license to bring suit against third parties who infringe our licensed patents in our field, other Incept licensees may also have the right to enforce our licensed patents in their own respective fields without our oversight or control. Those other licensees may choose to enforce our licensed patents in a way that harms our interest, for example, by advocating for claim interpretations or agreeing on invalidity positions that conflict with our positions or our interest. For example, three of our licensed patents relating to ReSure Sealant were recently invalidated and rendered unenforceable following their assertion by Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, another licensee of Incept. We also have no right to control the defense of any of our licensed patents if their validity or scope is challenged before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, European Patent Office, or other patent office or tribunal. Instead, we would essentially rely on our licensor to defend such challenges, and it may not do so in a way that would best protect our interests. Therefore, our licensed patents and applications may not be prosecuted, enforced, defended or maintained in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. If Incept fails to prosecute, enforce or maintain such patents, or loses rights to those patents, our licensed patent portfolio may be reduced or eliminated.
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The patent position of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our licensor's patent rights are highly uncertain. Our licensor's pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, unlike patent law in the United States, European patent law precludes the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body and imposes substantial restrictions on the scope of claims it will grant if broader than specifically disclosed embodiments. Moreover, we have no patent protection and likely will never obtain patent protection for ReSure Sealant outside the United States and Canada. We have only three issued patents outside of the United States that cover all three intracanalicular insert product candidates. We have three licensed patent families in Europe and certain other parts of the world for our intravitreal drug delivery product candidates, but only one patent issuance to date outside of the United States. Patents might not be issued and we may never obtain any patent protection or may only obtain substantially limited patent protection outside of the United States with respect to our products.
Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we or our licensor were the first to make the inventions claimed in our licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. Databases for patents and publications, and methods for searching them, are inherently limited so it is not practical to review and know the full scope of all issued and pending patent applications. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our licensed patent rights are uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. In particular, during prosecution of any patent application, the issuance of any patents based on the application may depend upon our ability to generate additional preclinical or clinical data that support the patentability of our proposed claims. We may not be able to generate sufficient additional data on a timely basis, or at all. Moreover, 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.
Recent patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, includes a number of significant changes to United States patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. The USPTO recently developed new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. The first to file provisions limit the rights of an inventor to patent an invention if not the first to file an application for patenting that invention, even if such invention was the first invention. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. For example, the Leahy-Smith Act provides a new administrative tribunal known as the Patent Trial and Appeals Board, or PTAB, that provides a venue for companies to challenge the validity of competitor patents at a cost that is much lower than district court litigation and on timelines that are much faster. Although it is not clear what, if any, long term impact the PTAB
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proceedings will have on the operation of our business, the initial results of patent challenge proceedings before the PTAB since its inception in 2013 have resulted in the invalidation of many U.S. patent claims. The availability of the PTAB as a lower-cost, faster and potentially more potent tribunal for challenging patents could therefore increase the likelihood that our own licensed patents will be challenged, thereby increasing the uncertainties and costs of maintaining and enforcing them. Moreover, if such challenges occur, as indicated above, we have no right to control the defense. Instead, we would essentially rely on our licensor to consider our suggestions and to defend such challenges, with the possibility that it may not do so in a way that best protects our interests.
We may be subject to a third-party preissuance submission of prior art to the USPTO, or become involved in other contested proceedings such as opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings 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 products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future products.
In the United States, the FDA does not prohibit physicians from prescribing an approved product for uses that are not described in the product's labeling. Although use of a product directed by off-label prescriptions may infringe our method-of-treatment patents, the practice is common across medical specialties, particularly in the United States, and such infringement is difficult to detect, prevent or prosecute. In addition, patents that cover methods of use for a medical device cannot be enforced against the party that uses the device, but rather only against the party that makes them. Such indirect enforcement is more difficult to achieve.
The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
Because the active pharmaceutical ingredients in our product candidates are available on a generic basis, or are soon to be available on a generic basis, competitors will be able to offer and sell products with the same active pharmaceutical ingredient as our products so long as these competitors do not infringe any patents that we license. Our licensed patents largely relate to the hydrogel composition of our intracanalicular inserts and the drug-release design scheme of our inserts. As such, if a third party were able to design around the formulation and process patents that we license and create a different formulation using a different production process not covered by our licensed patents or patent applications, we would likely be unable to prevent that third party from manufacturing and marketing its product.
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If we are not able to obtain patent term extension in the United States under the Hatch-Waxman Act and in foreign countries under similar legislation, thereby potentially extending the term of our marketing exclusivity for our product candidates, our business may be impaired.
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, one of the U.S. patents covering each of such product candidates or the use thereof may be eligible for up to five years of patent term restoration under the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act allows a maximum of one patent to be extended per FDA-approved product. Patent term extension also may be available in certain foreign countries upon regulatory approval of our product candidates. Nevertheless, we may not be granted patent term extension either in the United States or in any foreign country because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the term of extension, as well as the scope of patent protection during any such extension, afforded by the governmental authority could be less than we request.
Further, our license from Incept does not provide us with the right to control decisions by Incept or its other licensees on Orange Book listings or patent term extension decisions under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Thus, if one of our important licensed patents is eligible for a patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act, and it covers a product of another Incept licensee in addition to our own product candidate, we may not be able to obtain that extension if the other licensee seeks and obtains that extension first.
If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration, or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we will have the right to exclusively market our product may be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration sooner, and our revenue could be reduced, possibly materially.
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our licensed patents or other intellectual property, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our licensed patents or other intellectual property. As a result, to counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Under the terms of our license agreement with Incept, we have the right to initiate suit against third parties who we believe infringe on the patents subject to the license. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent's claims narrowly or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.
Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our ReSure Sealant and product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries. We may become party to, or threatened with,
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infringement litigation claims regarding our products and technology, including claims from competitors or from non-practicing entities that have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may have no deterrent effect. Moreover, we may become party to future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding our licensed patent portfolio or the patents of third parties. Such proceedings could also include contested post-grant proceedings such as oppositions, inter partes review, reexamination, interference or derivation proceedings before the USPTO or foreign patent offices. The legal threshold for initiating litigation or contested proceedings is low, so that even lawsuits or proceedings with a low probability of success might be initiated and require significant resources to defend. Litigation and contested proceedings can also be expensive and time-consuming, and our adversaries in these proceedings may have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to prosecuting these legal actions than we or our licensor can. The risks of being involved in such litigation and proceedings may increase as our product candidates near commercialization and as we gain the greater visibility associated with being a public company. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. We may not be aware of all such intellectual property rights potentially relating to our product candidates and their uses, or we may incorrectly determine that a patent is invalid or does not cover a particular product or product candidate. Thus, we do not know with certainty that ReSure Sealant or any of our product candidates, or our commercialization thereof, does not and will not infringe or otherwise violate any third party's intellectual property.
We are aware of a family of U.S. patent applications and issued patents that expired in approximately December 2015 and which have claims that ReSure Sealant could be considered as having infringed. We believe that the claims of this patent family are subject to a claim of invalidity. We are also aware of a U.S. patent with an expiration in 2020 with claims directed to formulations of hydrogels and which could be alleged to cover the hydrogel formulations used in our product candidates OTX-TP and OTX-MP. Based on the specifications and file history of that patent, we believe its claims should be construed with a scope that does not cover our product candidates. We also believe that such claims, if and to the extent they were asserted against our product candidates, would be subject to a claim of invalidity. Further, we are aware of a third-party patent relating to intracanalicular inserts that may relate to, and potentially could be asserted against our intracanalicular insert product candidates, including DEXTENZA and OTX-TP. We believe that the claims of this patent are subject to a claim of invalidity.
If we are found to infringe a third party's intellectual property rights, we could be required or we may choose to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our products and technology. 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. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. 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 and could be forced to indemnify our customers or collaborators. A finding of infringement could also result in an injunction that prevents us from commercializing our product candidates or forces us to cease some of our business operations. In addition, we may be forced to redesign our product candidates, seek new regulatory approvals and indemnify third parties pursuant to contractual agreements. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.
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If we fail to comply with our obligations in our intellectual property licenses and funding arrangements with third parties, we could lose rights that are important to our business.
Our license agreement with Incept, under which we license all of our patent rights and a significant portion of the technology for ReSure Sealant and our product candidates, imposes royalty and other financial obligations and other substantial performance obligations on us. We also may enter into additional licensing and funding arrangements with third parties that may impose diligence, development and commercialization timelines and milestone payment, royalty, insurance and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under current or future license and collaboration agreements, our counterparties may have the right to terminate these agreements, in which event we might not be able to develop, manufacture or market any product that is covered by these agreements or may face other penalties under the agreements. Such an occurrence could diminish the value of our product. Termination of these agreements or reduction or elimination of our rights under these agreements may result in our having to negotiate new or reinstated agreements with less favorable terms, or cause us to lose our rights under these agreements, including our rights to important intellectual property or technology.
Under the terms of our license agreement with Incept, we have agreed to assign to Incept our rights in any patent application filed at any time in any country for which one or more inventors are under an obligation of assignment to us. These assigned patent applications and any resulting patents are included within the specified patents owned or controlled by Incept to which we receive a license under the agreement. Incept has retained rights to practice the patents and technology licensed to us under the agreement for all purposes other than for researching, designing, developing, manufacturing and commercializing products that are delivered to or around the human eye for diagnostic, therapeutic or prophylactic purposes relating to ophthalmic diseases or conditions. As a result, termination of our agreement with Incept, based on our failure to comply with this or any other obligation under the agreement, would cause us to lose our rights to important intellectual property or technology upon which our business depends. Additionally, the field limit of the license and the requirement that we assign to Incept our rights in any patent application restricts our ability to expand our business outside of ophthalmology. In particular, if we determine to pursue a strategy of expanding the use of the hydrogel technology outside of the field of ophthalmology, we would need to negotiate and enter into an amendment to our existing license agreement with Incept or a new license agreement with Incept covering one or more additional such fields of use. We may not be able to obtain any such required amendment or new license on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our employees or we 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, medical device or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that these employees or we have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee's former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these 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, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. 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
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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. Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
Intellectual property litigation could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.
Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. 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 common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. 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. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could compromise our ability to compete in the marketplace.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
In addition to seeking patents for our technology, products and 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 these trade secrets, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, 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, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. 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.
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Risks Related to Regulatory Approval and Marketing 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. If we or any current or future collaborator of ours is not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, we or they will not be able to commercialize our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.
The activities associated with the development and commercialization of our product candidates, including design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by the EMA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have only received approval to market ReSure Sealant in the United States, and have not received approval to market any of our product candidates or to market ReSure Sealant in any jurisdiction outside the United States. We may determine to seek a CE Certificate of Conformity, which demonstrates compliance with relevant requirements and provides approval to commercialize ReSure Sealant in the European Union. If we are unable to obtain a CE Certificate of Conformity for ReSure Sealant or any of our other product candidates for which we seek European regulatory approval, we will be prohibited from commercializing such product or products in the European Union and other places which require the CE Certificate of Conformity. In such a case, the potential market to commercialize our products may be significantly smaller than we currently estimate.
The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive and may take many years, especially if additional clinical trials are required, if approval is obtained at all. 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 purity. 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 or effective, are 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, while we have had general discussions with the FDA concerning the design of some of our clinical trials, we have not discussed with the FDA the specifics of the regulatory pathways for our product candidates.
As part of its review to date of the NDA for DEXTENZA for post-surgical ocular pain, the FDA has completed inspections of three sites from our two completed Phase 3 clinical trials for compliance with the study protocol and Good Clinical Practices. During the first of these inspections, the FDA identified storage temperature excursions for the investigational product that is labeled to be stored in a refrigerated condition between two degrees and eight degrees Celsius. We also had previously addressed a minor temperature deviation report during the conduct of the Phase 3 trials and communicated a response to the trial sites. In addition, while investigating the report stemming from the FDA inspection, several more noteworthy temperature excursions were found to have occurred that had not been fully reported. Because of the limited nature of the temperature excursions and historical product testing, including testing on product stored at elevated temperatures, we believe it is unlikely that drug product performance was significantly impacted. We have also implemented a corrective action plan to address clinical compliance and prevent recurrence in other clinical studies. However, if the FDA determines as part of its review of our NDA that the temperature excursions and associated
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protocol deviations compromised any of the results from our completed Phase 3 clinical trials, the FDA may request additional site specific data analyses or even exclude certain study subjects from sites in which the temperature excursions were determined to be significant in duration before considering approval of the NDA.
The FDA has also completed two inspections of our manufacturing facility in connection with our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain. After each inspection, we received a Form 483 from the FDA pertaining to deficiencies in our manufacturing processes identified during such inspection. After we responded to the issues which had been identified with corrective action plans, we subsequently received a CRL from the FDA. Following the July 2016 CRL, we resubmitted our NDA to the FDA in January 2017. After the May 2017 inspection, we received a Form 483 from the FDA focused on procedures from manufacturing processes and analytical testing related to the manufacture of drug product for commercial production. We received a CRL regarding these and other matters in July 2017. We have corresponded with the FDA regarding these inspectional observations and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified in the Form 483, including the presence of particulate matter in certain manufactured lots of DEXTENZA. In November 2017, we submitted our complete responses to the FDA in an effort to close out the Form 483 deficiencies. Subject to satisfactorily addressing the FDA inspectional observations, we plan to resubmit our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain in the first half of 2018. However, if we are unable to address such issues successfully or if the FDA determines that the actions we have taken or will take to remediate such issues to be inadequate, our ability to commercialize any products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
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. The FDA, the EMA and regulatory authorities in other countries 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 marketing approval of a product candidate. Any marketing approval we or any current or future collaborator of ours ultimately obtains may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
Accordingly, if we or any current or future collaborator of ours experiences delays in obtaining approval or if we or they fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.
Failure to obtain marketing approval in foreign jurisdictions would prevent our product candidates from being marketed abroad.
In order to market and sell ReSure Sealant or our product candidates in the European Union and many other jurisdictions, we or our third-party collaborators 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 FDA approval. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be sold in that country. We or our collaborators 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
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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, a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may have a negative effect on the regulatory process in other countries. We may not be able to file for marketing approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market.
Additionally, on June 23, 2016, the electorate in the United Kingdom voted in favor of leaving the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit. On March 29, 2017, the country formally notified the European Union of its intention to withdraw pursuant to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Since a significant proportion of the regulatory framework in the United Kingdom is derived from European Union directives and regulations, the referendum could materially impact the regulatory regime with respect to the approval of our product candidates in the United Kingdom or the European Union. Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, any marketing approvals, as a result of Brexit or otherwise, would prevent us from commercializing our product candidates in the United Kingdom and/or the European Union and restrict our ability to generate revenue and achieve and sustain profitability. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to restrict or delay efforts to seek regulatory approval in the United Kingdom and/or European Union for our product candidates, which could significantly and materially harm our business.
Even if we, or any current or future collaborators, obtain marketing approvals for our product candidates, the terms of approvals, ongoing regulations and post-marketing restrictions for our products may limit how we manufacture and market our products, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.
Once marketing approval has been granted, an approved product and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive regulation. We, and any current or future collaborators, must therefore comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our products for which we or our collaborators obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to drug products, biologics, and medical devices are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product's approved labeling. Thus, if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, the accompanying label may limit the approved use of our product, which could limit sales of the product.
The FDA required two post-approval studies as a condition for approval of our premarket approval application, or PMA application, for ReSure Sealant. The first post-approval study, identified as the Clinical PAS, was to confirm that ReSure Sealant can be used safely by physicians in a standard cataract surgery practice and to confirm the incidence of the most prevalent adverse ocular events identified in our pivotal study of ReSure Sealant in eyes treated with ReSure Sealant. We submitted the final study report of the Clinical PAS to the FDA in June 2016 and the FDA has confirmed the Clinical PAS has been completed. The second post-approval study, identified as the Device Exposure Registry, is intended to link to the Medicare database to ascertain if patients are diagnosed or treated for endophthalmitis within 30 days following cataract surgery and application of ReSure Sealant. In December 2015, the CMS denied our application for a tracking or research code for ReSure Sealant commercial use. In cooperation with the FDA, we have identified another option for conducting this registry study while maintaining the objective for linking ReSure Sealant use to the Medicare database through a partnership with a third party. In July 2016, the FDA approved the Device Exposure Registry protocol, which should allow us to complete the study in one to two years. We are required to provide periodic reports to the FDA on the progress of this post-approval study until it is completed. We initiated enrollment in this study in December 2016 and submitted our first progress report to FDA in January 2017. Following review of the results from these post-approval studies, or if we are unable to complete the Device Exposure Registry, any concerns with respect to endophthalmitis
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that we are unable to address due to the lack of completion of the study. This would negatively affect our ability to commercialize ReSure Sealant.
In addition, manufacturers of approved products and those manufacturers' facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMPs applicable to drug and biologic manufacturers or quality assurance standards applicable to medical device manufacturers, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We, any contract manufacturers we may engage in the future, our current or future collaborators and their contract manufacturers will also be subject to other regulatory requirements, including submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians, recordkeeping, and costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product such as the requirement to implement a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy.
Accordingly, assuming we, or any current or future collaborators, receive marketing approval for one or more of our product candidates, we, and any current or future collaborators, and our and their contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control. If we, and any current or future collaborators, are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we, and any current or future collaborators, could have the marketing approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our, or any current or future collaborators', ability to market any products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Further, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
We may be subject to substantial penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products.
Violations of the FDCA relating to the promotion or manufacturing of drug products, biologics or medical devices may lead to investigations by the FDA, Department of Justice, or DOJ, and state Attorneys General alleging violations of the FDCA, federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws. In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:
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Non-compliance with European Union 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 the European Union's requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
Our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will be subject, directly or indirectly, to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which, in the event of a violation, could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription and use of ReSure Sealant and any other product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations include the following:
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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 and may require product manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures. 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.
If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our financial results. We are developing and implementing a corporate compliance program designed to ensure that we will market and sell any future products that we successfully develop from our product candidates in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, but we cannot guarantee that this program will protect us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion of products from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.
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Under the CURES Act and the Trump Administration's regulatory reform initiatives, the FDA's policies, regulations and guidance may be revised or revoked and that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates, which would impact our ability to generate revenue.
In December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to modernize the regulation of drugs and spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is unclear. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA's ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. An under-staffed FDA could result in delays in the FDA's responsiveness or in its ability to review submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce regulatory requirements in a timely fashion or at all. Moreover, on January 30, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order, applicable to all executive agencies, including the FDA, which requires that for each notice of proposed rulemaking or final regulation to be issued in fiscal year 2017, the agency shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed, unless prohibited by law. These requirements are referred to as the "two-for-one" provisions. This Executive Order includes a budget neutrality provision that requires the total incremental cost of all new regulations in the 2017 fiscal year, including repealed regulations, to be no greater than zero, except in limited circumstances. For fiscal years 2018 and beyond, the Executive Order requires agencies to identify regulations to offset any incremental cost of a new regulation and approximate the total costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation. In interim guidance issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB on February 2, 2017, the administration indicates that the "two-for-one" provisions may apply not only to agency regulations, but also to significant agency guidance documents. In addition, on February 24, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order directing each affected agency to designate an agency official as a "Regulatory Reform Officer" and establish a "Regulatory Reform Task Force" to implement the two-for-one provisions and other previously issued executive orders relating to the review of federal regulations, however it is difficult to predict how these requirements will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA's ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA's ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.
Current and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any collaborators to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could, among other things, prevent or delay marketing approval of our drug candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability, or the ability of any future collaborators, to profitably sell any drugs for which we, or they, obtain marketing approval. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage
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criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any future collaborators, may receive for any approved drugs.
Among the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, of potential importance to our business and our drug candidates are the following:
Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the ACA was enacted. These changes include the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, led to aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year that started in 2013 and will stay in effect through 2024 unless additional Congressional action is taken, and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These new laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used. Further, there have been several recent U.S. congressional inquiries and proposed state and federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the costs of drugs under Medicare and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products.
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We expect that these healthcare reforms, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product and/or the level of reimbursement physicians receive for administering any approved product we might bring to market. Reductions in reimbursement levels may negatively impact the prices we receive or the frequency with which our products are prescribed or administered. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. Since enactment of the ACA, there have been numerous legal challenges and Congressional actions to repeal and replace provisions of the law. In May 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation known as the American Health Care Act of 2017. Thereafter, the Senate Republicans introduced and then updated a bill to replace the ACA known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The Senate Republicans also introduced legislation to repeal the ACA without companion legislation to replace it, and a "skinny" version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. In addition, the Senate considered proposed healthcare reform legislation known as the Graham-Cassidy bill. None of these measures was passed by the U.S. Senate.
The Trump Administration has also taken executive actions to undermine or delay implementation of the ACA. In January 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies with authorities and responsibilities under the ACA to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision of the ACA that would impose a fiscal or regulatory burden on states, individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices. In October 2017, the President signed a second Executive Order allowing for the use of association health plans and short-term health insurance, which may provide fewer health benefits than the plans sold through the ACA exchanges. At the same time, the Administration announced that it will discontinue the payment of cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurance companies until Congress approves the appropriation of funds for such CSR payments. The loss of the CSR payments is expected to increase premiums on certain policies issued by qualified health plans under the ACA. A bipartisan bill to appropriate funds for CSR payments was introduced in the Senate, but the future of that bill is uncertain.
More recently, with enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which was signed by the President on December 22, 2017, Congress repealed the "individual mandate." The repeal of this provision, which requires most Americans to carry a minimal level of health insurance, will become effective in 2019. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the repeal of the individual mandate will cause 13 million fewer Americans to be insured in 2027 and premiums in insurance markets may rise. Further, each chamber of the Congress has put forth multiple bills designed to repeal or repeal and replace portions of the ACA. Although none of these measures has been enacted by Congress to date, Congress may consider other legislation to repeal and replace elements of the ACA. The Congress will likely consider other legislation to replace elements of the ACA, during the next Congressional session.
We will continue to evaluate the effect that the ACA and its possible repeal and replacement could have on our business. It is possible that repeal and replacement initiatives, if enacted into law, could ultimately result in fewer individuals having health insurance coverage or in individuals having insurance coverage with less generous benefits. While the timing and scope of any potential future legislation to repeal and replace ACA provisions is highly uncertain in many respects, it is also possible that some of the ACA provisions that generally are not favorable for the research-based pharmaceutical industry could also be repealed along with ACA coverage expansion provisions Accordingly, such reforms, if enacted, could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenue from product candidates that we may successfully develop and for which we may obtain marketing approval
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and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop commercialize product candidates.
The costs of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States has also been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States, and members of Congress and the Administration have stated that they will address such costs through new legislative and administrative measures. The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our product candidates 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 ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.
Moreover, legislative and regulatory proposals have also been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical drugs. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our drug candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the United States Congress of the FDA's approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us and any future collaborators to more stringent drug labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.
Governments outside the United States tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues, if any.
In some countries, such as the countries of the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control and access. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we, or any current or future collaborators, may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product 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 materially harmed.
Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain products outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.
If we expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, 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 certain 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.
Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other
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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 FCPA enforcement actions.
Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.
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. The Securities and Exchange Commission also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA's accounting provisions.
Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations, to provide accurate information to the FDA, to comply with manufacturing standards we have established, to comply with federal and state health-care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
If we, our collaborators or any third-party manufacturers we engage in the future fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur significant costs.
We, our collaborators and any third-party manufacturers we may engage in the future 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. From time to time and in the future, our operations may involve the use of hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological materials, and 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.
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Although we maintain general liability insurance as well as workers' compensation 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 insurance 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, hazardous or radioactive materials.
In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
Further, with respect to the operations of any current or future collaborators or third-party contract manufacturers, it is possible that if they fail to operate in compliance with applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations or properly dispose of wastes associated with our products, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, suffer reputational harm or experience a disruption in the manufacture and supply of our product candidates or products.
The recently passed comprehensive tax reform bill could adversely affect our business and financial condition.
On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law new legislation that significantly revises the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The newly enacted federal income tax law, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for net interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of current year taxable income and elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, in each case, for losses arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 (though any such net operating losses may be carried forward indefinitely), one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, elimination of U.S. tax on foreign earnings (subject to certain important exceptions), immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits. Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the new federal tax law is uncertain and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. In addition, it is uncertain how various states will respond to the newly enacted federal tax law. The impact of this tax reform on holders of our common stock is also uncertain and could be adverse. We urge our stockholders to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to this legislation and the potential tax consequences of investing in or holding our common stock.
We might not be able to utilize a significant portion of our net operating loss carryforwards and research and development tax credit carryforwards.
As of December 31, 2016, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $85.2 million, which begin to expire in 2026, and state net operating loss carryforwards of $73.9 million, which begin to expire in 2029. As of December 31, 2016, we also had federal research and development tax credit carryforwards of $4.1 million and state research and development tax credit carryforwards $2.1 million, which begin to expire in 2026 and 2025, respectively. These net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset our future income tax liabilities. Under the newly enacted federal income tax law, federal net operating losses incurred in 2018 and in future years may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal net operating losses is limited. It is uncertain how various states will respond to the newly enacted federal tax law. If our ability to use our historical net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards is materially limited, it would harm our future operating results by effectively increasing our future tax obligations.
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Risks Related to Employee Matters and Managing Growth
Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
We remain highly dependent on the research and development, clinical and business development expertise of Amar Sawhney, Ph.D., our Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and former President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as the other principal members of our management, scientific and clinical team, including Antony Mattessich, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain "key person" insurance for any of our executives or other employees.
Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel will also be critical to our success. The loss of the services of our executive officers 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 executive officers 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 products. Competition to hire from this limited 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 be employed by employers other than us and 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.
We expect to expand our development, regulatory and manufacturing capabilities and potentially implement sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.
Although we recently had a reduction in workforce primarily related to sales and marketing personnel, we expect our drug development, clinical, regulatory affairs, and manufacturing teams to grow in the short-term and may regrow our sales and marketing capabilities in the longer term following the planned resubmission of our NDA for DEXTENZA. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. In 2016, we entered into a lease agreement for new general office research and development and manufacturing space. We relocated our corporate headquarters to the new leased premises during June 2017 and are evaluating the relocation of our manufacturing operations to the new leased premises. Due to our limited financial resources and our limited experience in managing such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.
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Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders, if they choose to act together, have the ability to control all matters submitted to stockholders for approval.
Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders, in the aggregate, beneficially own a large portion of our capital stock. As a result, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would control the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.
This concentration of voting power may:
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of our company that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:
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Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.
We are currently subject to legal actions and proceedings related to the decline in our stock price, which could distract our management and could result in substantial costs or large judgments against us.
In July 2017, we experienced a decline in our stock price following our announcement that we had received notice of the FDA's determination that it could not approve our NDA for DEXTENZA in its present form. In addition, the market prices of securities of companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry have been extremely volatile and have experienced fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. These fluctuations could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against companies following periods of volatility in the market prices of their securities. In July 2017, class action lawsuits were filed against us and certain of our current executive officers in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, which have subsequently been transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts at our request. In addition, in July 2017, shareholder derivative actions were filed against certain of our current executive officers, all current board members, one former board member, and against the company as nominal defendant, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and in Massachusetts Superior Court (Suffolk County). These actions were re-filed in October and December 2017 and are now pending in Massachusetts Superior Court (Suffolk County). Due to the volatility in our stock price, we may be the target of similar litigation in the future.
In addition, we received a subpoena from the SEC in December 2017, requesting documents and information concerning DEXTENZA, including related communications with the FDA, investors and others. We intend to fully cooperate with the SEC regarding this non-public, fact-finding inquiry.
In connection with such legal proceedings, we could incur substantial costs and such costs and any related settlements or judgments may not be covered by insurance. We could also suffer an adverse impact on our reputation and a diversion of management's attention and resources, which could cause serious harm to our business, operating results and financial condition.
We are an "emerging growth company," and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock 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, and may remain an emerging growth company until December 31, 2019, provided that, if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time or if we have annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion
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or more in any fiscal year, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of December 31 of the applicable year. We also would cease to be an emerging growth company if we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period. As an emerging growth company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include:
We expect to continue to take advantage of some or all of the available exemptions. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
In addition, the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to delay such adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
We incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is now required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices.
As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of The NASDAQ Global Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly.
For as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies as described in the preceding risk factor.
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Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on 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. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that we will not be able to conclude, within the prescribed timeframe or at all, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. If we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, it could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.
Risks Related to this Offering
An active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained.
Our shares of common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on July 25, 2014. Given the limited trading history of our common stock, there is a risk that an active trading market for our shares will not be sustained, which could put downward pressure on the market price of our common stock and thereby affect the ability of our stockholders to sell their shares.
The price of our common stock may be volatile and fluctuate substantially, which could result in substantial losses for holders of our common stock.
Our stock price may be volatile. The stock market in general and the market for smaller biopharmaceutical companies in particular have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, our stockholders may not be able to sell their common stock at or above the price at which they purchased it. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:
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In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company's securities, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against that company. We also may face additional securities class-action litigation if we cannot obtain regulatory approvals for or if we otherwise fail to commercialize DEXTENZA, OTX-TP or our other product candidates. As described in "Part II, Item 1Legal Proceedings" of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2017, as supplemented by our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on December 22, 2017, we and certain of our current and former executive officers and current and former board members have been named as defendants in purported class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits. In addition, we received a subpoena from the SEC in December 2017 requesting documents and information concerning DEXTENZA. These proceedings and other litigation could cause us to incur substantial costs to defend such claims and divert management's attention and resources.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.
Persons who were our stockholders prior to our initial public offering continue to hold a substantial number of shares of our common stock. If such persons sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the trading price of our common stock could decline.
In addition, shares of common stock that are either subject to outstanding options or reserved for future issuance under our stock incentive plans will become eligible for sale in the public market to the
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extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting schedules and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and, in any event, we have filed a registration statement permitting shares of common stock issued on exercise of options to be freely sold in the public market. If these additional shares of common stock are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of our common stock could decline.
Certain holders of our common stock have rights, subject to specified conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or, along with certain holders of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants issued to lenders, to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. Any sales of securities by these stockholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be our stockholders' sole source of gain.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. In addition, the terms of our credit facility and any future debt agreements that we may enter into, may preclude us from paying dividends without the lenders' consent or at all. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be our stockholders' sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
After this offering, our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders, if they choose to act together, have the ability to control all matters submitted to stockholders for approval.
Upon the closing of this offering, our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders will, in the aggregate, continue to beneficially own a large portion of our capital stock. As a result, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would control the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.
This concentration of voting power may:
We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.
Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering and could spend the proceeds in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could result in financial losses that could cause the price of our common stock to decline and delay the development of our product candidates. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.
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A significant portion of our total outstanding shares are restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future, which could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. As of January 1, 2018, we had outstanding 29,658,202 shares of common stock. Of these shares, 5,285,316 shares are subject to lock-up agreements entered into in connection with this offering but will be able to be sold beginning on the date that is 90 days after the date of this prospectus supplement. Any of our remaining shares that are not restricted securities under Rule 144 under the Securities Act or subject to lock-up agreements, may be resold in the public market without restriction unless purchased by our affiliates. Holders of an aggregate of 2,749,659 shares of our common stock have rights, subject to specified conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or, along with holders of an additional 18,939 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants issued to our lenders, to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. In connection with this offering, the holders of these securities waived these registration rights for a period that ends 90 days after the closing of this offering. In August 2014, we filed a registration statement registering all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume, notice and manner of sale limitations applicable to affiliates and the applicable lock-up agreements entered into in connection with this public offering. See the "Underwriting" section of this prospectus supplement for a description of the lock-up agreements entered into in connection with this offering.
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We estimate that the net proceeds from our issuance and sale of 6,500,000 shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $30.1 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. If the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full, we estimate that the net proceeds to us will be approximately $34.6 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.
As of September 30, 2017, we had cash and cash equivalents of $51.2 million. We currently estimate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, to fund the planned resubmission of our NDA for DEXTENZA, to fund the clinical development of OTX-TP, OTX-TIC and OTX-TKI, to fund additional preclinical and regulatory activities for our other product candidates, including through our collaboration with Regeneron, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes and pursuit of our other research and development efforts.
This expected use of net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and cash equivalents represents our intentions based upon our current plans and business conditions, which could change in the future as our plans and business conditions evolve. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, including the progress of our development, the status of and results from clinical trials, resolution of the FDA inspectional observations in our outstanding Form 483, the timing of regulatory submissions and the outcome of regulatory reviews, as well as any collaborations that we may enter into with third parties for our product candidates, and any unforeseen cash needs. As a result, our management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering. We have no current agreements, commitments or understandings for any material acquisitions or licenses of any third-party products, businesses or technologies.
We expect that the net proceeds from this offering, and our existing cash and cash equivalents described above, will enable us to resubmit our NDA for DEXTENZA for the treatment of post-surgical ocular pain, subject to satisfactorily addressing the FDA inspectional observations and demonstrating consistency in our commercial manufacturing process; continue to enroll patients in our first Phase 3 clinical trial of OTX-TP for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension; initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of OTX-TIC for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe glaucoma and ocular hypertension; initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of OTX-TKI; and advance the sustained delivery of anti-VEGF drugs in a hydrogel depot for the treatment of wet AMD and other back-of-the-eye diseases through collaboration with Regeneron. We do not anticipate that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, will be sufficient to enable us to commercially launch DEXTENZA, if approved. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. See the "Risk Factors" section of this prospectus supplement and the documents incorporated by reference for a discussion of the risks affecting our business that could have an adverse effect on our available capital resources.
Pending our use of the net proceeds from this offering, we intend to invest the net proceeds in a variety of capital preservation investments, including short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments and U.S. government securities.
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Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market and trades under the symbol "OCUL". The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low intraday sales prices of our common stock as reported by The NASDAQ Global Market:
|
High | Low | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year ended December 31, 2015 |
|||||||
First quarter |
$ | 44.19 | $ | 19.55 | |||
Second quarter |
$ | 42.78 | $ | 20.63 | |||
Third quarter |
$ | 29.22 | $ | 13.36 | |||
Fourth quarter |
$ | 17.34 | $ | 6.75 | |||
Year ended December 31, 2016 |
|||||||
First quarter |
$ | 10.19 | $ | 5.07 | |||
Second quarter |
$ | 14.50 | $ | 4.63 | |||
Third quarter |
$ | 8.23 | $ | 4.04 | |||
Fourth quarter |
$ | 11.91 | $ | 4.82 | |||
Year ended December 31, 2017 |
|||||||
First quarter |
$ | 10.49 | $ | 6.18 | |||
Second quarter |
$ | 11.79 | $ | 7.42 | |||
Third quarter |
$ | 11.00 | $ | 5.04 | |||
Fourth quarter |
$ | 6.47 | $ | 3.30 | |||
Year ending December 31, 2018 |
|||||||
First Quarter (through January 24, 2018) |
$ | 6.64 | $ | 4.45 |
On January 24, 2018, the last sale price of our common stock as reported on The NASDAQ Global Market was $6.19 per share. As of December 31, 2017, we had approximately 39 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than this number of record holders and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees.
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We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. We do not intend to pay cash dividends in respect of our common stock in the foreseeable future. In addition, the terms of our existing credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB and MidCap Financial SBIC, LP, or MidCap preclude us from paying cash dividends without SVB's and MidCap's consent.
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The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and our capitalization as of September 30, 2017:
You should read this table together with our financial statements and related notes included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each of which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.
|
As of September 30, 2017 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Actual | As Adjusted | |||||
|
(in thousands, except share and per share data) |
||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 51,165 | $ | 81,215 | |||
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Long-term debt, net of discount, including current portion |
$ | 17,917 | $ | 17,917 | |||
Stockholders' equity: |
|||||||
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized, actual and as adjusted; 29,388,131 shares issued and outstanding, actual; 35,888,131 shares issued and outstanding, as adjusted |
3 | 4 | |||||
Additional paid-in capital |
260,082 | 290,131 | |||||
Accumulated deficit |
(224,163 | ) | (224,163 | ) | |||
| | | | | | | |
Total stockholders' equity |
35,922 | 65,972 | |||||
| | | | | | | |
Total capitalization |
$ | 53,839 | $ | 83,889 | |||
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
The table above is based on 29,388,131 shares of common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2017 and does not include:
On November 29, 2016, we entered into a sales agreement for an "at-the-market" facility, pursuant to which we may issue and sell shares of our common stock from time to time having an aggregate sales price of up to $40.0 million. Shares sold pursuant to the sales agreement have been sold pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement. As of the date hereof, we have sold approximately 890,568 shares for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $6.6 million pursuant to the sales agreement, including 97,492 shares sold subsequent to September 30, 2017.
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If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be diluted immediately to the extent of the difference between the price you pay per share of our common stock and the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.
Our historical net tangible book value as of September 30, 2017 was $35.9 million, or $1.22 per share of our common stock. Our historical net tangible book value is the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities. Historical net tangible book value per share represents historical net tangible book value divided by the 29,388,131 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2017.
After giving effect to our issuance and sale of 6,500,000 shares of our common stock in this offering at the public offering price of $5.00 per share, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2017 would have been $66.0 million, or $1.84 per share. This represents an immediate increase in as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $0.62 to existing stockholders and immediate dilution of $3.16 in as adjusted net tangible book value per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering. Dilution per share to new investors is determined by subtracting as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the public offering price per share paid by new investors. The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:
Purchase price per share |
$ | 5.00 | |||||
Historical net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2017 |
$ | 1.22 | |||||
Increase in as adjusted net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors purchasing shares in this offering |
0.62 | ||||||
| | | | | | | |
As adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering |
1.84 | ||||||
| | | | | | | |
Dilution per share to new investors purchasing shares in this offering |
$ | 3.16 | |||||
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
The table above is based on 29,388,131 shares of common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2017 and does not include:
If any additional shares are issued in connection with the exercise of options or warrants, or if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares of our common stock, you will experience further dilution.
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MATERIAL U.S. TAX CONSIDERATIONS FOR NON-U.S. HOLDERS OF COMMON STOCK
The following is a discussion of the material U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations relating to the ownership and disposition of shares of our common stock purchased in this offering by a non-U.S. holder. For purposes of this discussion, the term "non-U.S. holder" means a beneficial owner (other than a partnership or other pass-through entity) of our common stock that is not, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:
This discussion does not address the tax treatment of partnerships or other entities that are pass-through entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes or persons who hold our common stock through partnerships or such other pass-through entities. A partner in a partnership or other pass-through entity that will hold our common stock should consult his, her or its own tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of acquiring, holding and disposing of our common stock through a partnership or other pass-through entity, as applicable.
This discussion is based on current provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which we refer to as the Code, existing and proposed U.S. Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, current administrative rulings and judicial decisions, all as in effect as of the date of this prospectus supplement and all of which are subject to change or to differing interpretation, possibly with retroactive effect. Any change or differing interpretation could alter the tax consequences to non-U.S. holders described in this prospectus supplement. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, could challenge one or more of the tax consequences described in this prospectus supplement.
We assume in this discussion that each non-U.S. holder holds shares of our common stock as a capital asset (generally, property held for investment) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. This discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income and estate taxation that may be relevant to a particular non-U.S. holder in light of that non-U.S. holder's individual circumstances, nor does it address any aspects of U.S. state, local or non-U.S. taxes, the alternative minimum tax, or the Medicare tax on net investment income. This discussion also does not consider any specific facts or circumstances that may apply to a non-U.S. holder and does not address the special tax rules applicable to particular non-U.S. holders, such as:
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THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY AND IS NOT, AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE, LEGAL OR TAX ADVICE. PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, ESTATE AND NON-U.S. INCOME AND OTHER TAX CONSIDERATIONS OF ACQUIRING, HOLDING AND DISPOSING OF OUR COMMON STOCK.
Distributions
As discussed under "Dividend Policy" above, we do not currently expect to make distributions in respect of our common stock. If we make distributions in respect of our common stock, those distributions generally will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles, subject to the tax treatment described in this section. If a distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will be treated as a tax-free return of capital, up to the holder's tax basis in the common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as capital gain, subject to the tax treatment described below under the heading "Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Our Common Stock." Any such distributions will also be subject to the discussions below under the headings "Information Reporting and Backup Withholding" and "FATCA."
Dividends paid to a non-U.S. holder generally will be subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder's country of residence.
Dividends that are treated as effectively connected with a trade or business conducted by a non-U.S. holder within the United States, and, if an applicable income tax treaty so provides, that are attributable to a permanent establishment or a fixed base maintained by the non-U.S. holder within the United States, are generally exempt from the 30% withholding tax if the non-U.S. holder satisfies applicable certification and disclosure requirements (generally including provision of a valid IRS Form W-8ECI (or applicable successor form) certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. holder's conduct of a trade or business within the United States). However, such U.S. effectively connected income, net of specified deductions and credits, is taxed in the hands of the non-U.S. holder at the same graduated U.S. federal income tax rates as would apply if such holder were a U.S. person (as defined in the Code). Any U.S. effectively connected income received by a non-U.S. holder that is classified as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes may also,
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under certain circumstances, be subject to an additional "branch profits tax" at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder's country of residence.
A non-U.S. holder of our common stock who claims the benefit of an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder's country of residence generally will be required to provide a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or successor form) and satisfy applicable certification and other requirements. Non-U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding their entitlement to benefits under a relevant income tax treaty and the specific methods available to them to satisfy these requirements.
A non-U.S. holder that is eligible for a reduced rate of U.S. withholding tax under an income tax treaty may obtain a refund or credit of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for a refund with the IRS.
Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Our Common Stock
Subject to the discussions below under the headings "Information Reporting and Backup Withholding" and "FATCA," a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax or withholding tax on any gain realized upon such non-U.S. holder's sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of our common stock unless:
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market value of its worldwide real property interests plus its other assets used or held for use in a trade or business. Although there can be no assurance, we do not believe that we are, or have been, a "U.S. real property holding corporation" for U.S. federal income tax purposes or that we are likely to become one in the future. No assurance can be provided that our common stock will continue to be regularly traded on an established securities market for purposes of the rules described above.
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
We must report annually to the IRS and to each non-U.S. holder the gross amount of the distributions on our common stock paid to such holder and the tax withheld, if any, with respect to such distributions. Non-U.S. holders generally will have to comply with specific certification procedures to establish that the holder is not a U.S. person (as defined in the Code) in order to avoid backup withholding at the applicable rate with respect to dividends on our common stock. Generally, a holder will comply with such procedures if it provides a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or other applicable Form W-8), or otherwise meets documentary evidence requirements for establishing that it is a non-U.S. holder, or otherwise establishes an exemption. Dividends paid to non-U.S. holders subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax, as described above under "Distributions," will generally be exempt from U.S. backup withholding.
Information reporting and backup withholding generally will apply to the proceeds of a disposition of our common stock by a non-U.S. holder effected by or through the U.S. office of any broker, U.S. or non-U.S., unless the holder certifies its status as a non-U.S. holder and satisfies certain other requirements, or otherwise establishes an exemption. Generally, information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to a payment of disposition proceeds to a non-U.S. holder where the transaction is effected outside the United States through a non-U.S. office of a broker. However, for information reporting purposes, dispositions effected through a non-U.S. office of a broker with substantial U.S. ownership or operations generally will be treated in a manner similar to dispositions effected through a U.S. office of a broker. Non-U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the information reporting and backup withholding rules to them.
Copies of information returns may be made available to the tax authorities of the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides or is incorporated under the provisions of a specific treaty or agreement.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules from a payment to a non-U.S. holder can be refunded or credited against the non-U.S. holder's U.S. federal income tax liability, if any, provided that an appropriate claim is timely filed with the IRS.
U.S. Federal Estate Tax
Shares of our common stock owned or treated as owned by an individual who is not a citizen or resident of the United States (as specially defined for U.S. federal estate tax purposes) at the time of death are considered U.S. situs assets and will be included in the individual's gross estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes. Such shares, therefore, may be subject to U.S. federal estate tax, unless an applicable estate tax or other treaty provides otherwise.
FATCA
Provisions of the Code commonly referred to as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, generally impose a 30% withholding tax on dividends on, and gross proceeds from the sale or disposition of, our common stock if paid to a foreign entity unless (i) if the foreign entity is a "foreign financial institution," the foreign entity undertakes certain due diligence, reporting, withholding, and
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certification obligations, (ii) if the foreign entity is not a "foreign financial institution," the foreign entity identifies certain of its U.S. investors, if any, or (iii) the foreign entity is otherwise exempt under FATCA.
Withholding under FATCA generally (1) applies to payments of dividends on our common stock, and (2) will apply to payments of gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our common stock made after December 31, 2018. An intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country may modify the requirements described in this section. Under certain circumstances, a non-U.S. holder may be eligible for refunds or credits of the tax. Non-U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible implications of FATCA on their investment in our common stock and the entities through which they hold our common stock, including, without limitation, the process and deadlines for meeting the applicable requirements to prevent the imposition of the 30% withholding tax under FATCA.
The preceding discussion of material U.S. federal tax considerations is for information only. It is not legal or tax advice. Prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the particular U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of acquiring, holding and disposing of our common stock, including the consequences of any proposed changes in applicable laws.
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Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the underwriting agreement, dated January 25, 2018, between us and Piper Jaffray & Co., 345 Park Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10154, we have agreed to sell to Piper Jaffray & Co., and Piper Jaffray & Co. has agreed to purchase from us, 6,500,000 shares of common stock.
The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of Piper Jaffray & Co. are subject to certain conditions precedent such as the receipt by Piper Jaffray & Co. of officers' certificates and legal opinions and approval of certain legal matters by their counsel. The underwriting agreement provides that Piper Jaffray & Co. will purchase all of the shares of common stock if any of them are purchased. We have agreed to indemnify Piper Jaffray & Co. and certain of its controlling persons against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments that Piper Jaffray & Co. may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.
Piper Jaffray & Co. has advised us that, following the completion of this offering, it currently intends to make a market in the common stock as permitted by applicable laws and regulations. However, Piper Jaffray & Co. is not obligated to do so, and it may discontinue any market-making activities at any time without notice in its sole discretion. Accordingly, no assurance can be given as to the liquidity of the trading market for the common stock, that you will be able to sell any of the common stock held by you at a particular time or that the prices that you receive when you sell will be favorable.
Piper Jaffray & Co. is offering the shares of common stock subject to its acceptance of the shares of common stock from us and subject to prior sale. Piper Jaffray & Co. reserves the right to withdraw, cancel or modify offers to the public and to reject orders in whole or in part. In addition, Piper Jaffray & Co. has advised us that they do not intend to confirm sales to any account over which they exercise discretionary authority.
Commission and Expenses
Piper Jaffray & Co. has advised us that it proposes to offer the shares of common stock to the public at $5.00 per share and to certain dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $0.18 per share of common stock. After the offering, the public offering price, concession and reallowance to dealers may be reduced by the underwriter. No such reduction will change the amount of proceeds to be received by us as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement.
The following table shows the public offering price, the underwriting discounts and commissions that we are to pay Piper Jaffray & Co. and the proceeds, before expenses, to us in connection with this offering. These amounts are shown assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the over-allotment option.
|
Per Share | Total (no exercise) | Total (full exercise) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Public offering price |
$ | 5.00 | $ | 32,500,000 | $ | 37,375,000 | ||||
Underwriting discounts and commissions |
$ | 0.30 | $ | 1,950,000 | $ | 2,242,500 | ||||
Proceeds to us, before expenses |
$ | 4.70 | $ | 30,550,000 | $ | 35,132,500 |
We estimate expenses payable by us in connection with this offering, other than the underwriting discounts and commissions referred to above, will be approximately $500,000. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriter for certain expenses, including up to $15,000 for their FINRA counsels' fees and expenses. In accordance with FINRA Rule 5110, reimbursed fees are deemed underwriting compensation for this offering.
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Listing
Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the trading symbol "OCUL."
Stamp Taxes
If you purchase shares of common stock offered in this prospectus supplement, you may be required to pay stamp taxes and other charges under the laws and practices of the country of purchase, in addition to the offering price listed on the cover page of this prospectus supplement.
No Sales of Similar Securities
We, our officers and our directors have agreed, subject to specified exceptions, not to directly or indirectly:
This restriction terminates after the close of trading of the common stock on and including the 90th day after the date of this prospectus supplement.
Piper Jaffray & Co. may, in its sole discretion and at any time or from time to time before the termination of the 90-day period release all or any portion of the securities subject to lock-up agreements. There are no existing agreements between the underwriter and any of our shareholders who will execute a lock-up agreement, providing consent to the sale of shares prior to the expiration of the lock-up period.
Stabilization
The underwriter has advised us that it, pursuant to Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and certain persons participating in the offering may engage in short sale transactions, stabilizing transactions or the imposition of penalty bids in connection with this offering. These activities may have the effect of stabilizing or maintaining the market price of the common stock at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market. A stabilizing bid is a bid for the purchase of shares of common stock on behalf of the underwriter for the purpose of fixing or maintaining the price of the common stock. Penalty bids permit the underwriter to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer are purchased in a covering transaction to cover short positions.
Neither we, nor the underwriter, make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of our common stock. The underwriter is not obligated to engage in these activities and, if commenced, any of the activities may be discontinued at any time.
The underwriter may also engage in passive market making transactions in our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M during a period before the commencement of offers or sales of shares of our common stock in this offering and extending
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through the completion of distribution. A passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid of that security. However, if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker's bid, that bid must then be lowered when specified purchase limits are exceeded.
Electronic Distribution
A prospectus in electronic format may be made available by e-mail or on the web sites or through online services maintained by the underwriter or its affiliates. In those cases, prospective investors may view offering terms online and may be allowed to place orders online. The underwriter may agree with us to allocate a specific number of shares of common stock for sale to online brokerage account holders. Any such allocation for online distributions will be made by the underwriter on the same basis as other allocations. Other than the prospectus in electronic format, the information on the underwriter's web site and any information contained in any other web site maintained by the underwriter is not part of this prospectus supplement, has not been approved and/or endorsed by us or the underwriter and should not be relied upon by investors.
Other Activities and Relationships
Piper Jaffray & Co. and certain of its affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include securities trading, commercial and investment banking, financial advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, financing and brokerage activities. Piper Jaffray & Co. and certain of its affiliates have, from time to time, performed, and may in the future perform, various commercial and investment banking and financial advisory services for us and our affiliates, for which it received or will receive customary fees and expenses.
In the ordinary course of their various business activities, Piper Jaffray & Co. and certain of its affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans) for its own account and for the accounts of its customers, and such investment and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments issued by us and our affiliates. If Piper Jaffray & Co. or its affiliates have a lending relationship with us, they routinely hedge their credit exposure to us consistent with their customary risk management policies. Piper Jaffray & Co. and its affiliates may hedge such exposure by entering into transactions which consist of either the purchase of credit default swaps or the creation of short positions in our securities or the securities of our affiliates, including potentially the common stock offered hereby. Any such short positions could adversely affect future trading prices of the common stock offered hereby. Piper Jaffray & Co. and certain of its affiliates may also communicate independent investment recommendations, market color or trading ideas and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or instruments and may at any time hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.
Canada
The shares may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, that are "accredited investors", as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are "permitted clients", as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the shares must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.
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Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus supplement (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser's province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser's province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.
Pursuant to section 3A.3 (or, in the case of securities issued or guaranteed by the government of a non-Canadian jurisdiction, section 3A.4) of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the issuer and the underwriter are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.
Australia
This prospectus is not a disclosure document for the purposes of Australia's Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) of Australia, or Corporations Act, has not been lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and is only directed to the categories of exempt persons set out below. Accordingly, if you receive this prospectus in Australia:
You confirm and warrant that you are either:
To the extent that you are unable to confirm or warrant that you are an exempt sophisticated investor or professional investor under the Corporations Act any offer made to you under this prospectus is void and incapable of acceptance.
You warrant and agree that you will not offer any of the shares issued to you pursuant to this prospectus for resale in Australia within 12 months of those securities being issued unless any such resale offer is exempt from the requirement to issue a disclosure document under section 708 of the Corporations Act.
European Economic Area
In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive, each referred to herein as a Relevant Member State, with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that Relevant Member State, referred to herein as the Relevant Implementation Date, no offer of any securities which are the subject of the offering contemplated by this prospectus has been or will be made to the public in that Relevant Member State other than any offer where a prospectus has been or will be published in relation to such securities that has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant Member State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant Member State and notified to the relevant competent authority in that Relevant Member State in accordance with the Prospectus Directive, except that with
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effect from and including the Relevant Implementation Date, an offer of such securities may be made to the public in that Relevant Member State:
provided that no such offer of securities shall require the Company or the underwriter to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 16 of the Prospectus Directive.
For the purposes of this provision, the expression an "offer to the public" in relation to any securities in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the securities, as the same may be varied in that Relevant Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Relevant Member State and the expression "Prospectus Directive" means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in the Relevant Member State), and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State and the expression "2010 PD Amending Directive" means Directive 2010/73/EU.
Hong Kong
No securities have been offered or sold, and no securities may be offered or sold, in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than to persons whose ordinary business is to buy or sell shares or debentures, whether as principal or agent; or to "professional investors" as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance; or in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a "prospectus" as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) of Hong Kong or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32) of Hong Kong. No document, invitation or advertisement relating to the securities has been issued or may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to securities which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to "professional investors" as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance.
This prospectus has not been registered with the Registrar of Companies in Hong Kong. Accordingly, this prospectus may not be issued, circulated or distributed in Hong Kong, and the securities may not be offered for subscription to members of the public in Hong Kong. Each person acquiring the securities will be required, and is deemed by the acquisition of the securities, to confirm that he is aware of the restriction on offers of the securities described in this prospectus and the relevant offering documents and that he is not acquiring, and has not been offered any securities in circumstances that contravene any such restrictions.
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Japan
The offering has not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948 of Japan, as amended), or FIEL, and the Initial Purchaser will not offer or sell any securities, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means, unless otherwise provided herein, any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the FIEL and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan.
Singapore
This prospectus has not been and will not be lodged or registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or the invitation for subscription or purchase of the securities may not be issued, circulated or distributed, nor may the securities be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to the public or any member of the public in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore, or the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person as defined under Section 275(2), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA, or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of any other applicable provision of the SFA.
Where the securities are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:
shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries' rights and interest in that trust shall not be transferable for six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the Offer Shares under Section 275 of the SFA except:
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Switzerland
The securities may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, or SIX, or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This prospectus has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this prospectus nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the securities or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.
Neither this prospectus nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company or the securities have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this prospectus will not be filed with, and the offer of securities will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, or FINMA, and the offer of securities has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes, or CISA. The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of securities.
Israel
This document does not constitute a prospectus under the Israeli Securities Law, 5728-1968, or the Securities Law, and has not been filed with or approved by the Israel Securities Authority. In the State of Israel, this document is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, and any offer of the shares is directed only at, investors listed in the first addendum, or the Addendum, to the Israeli Securities Law, consisting primarily of joint investment in trust funds, provident funds, insurance companies, banks, portfolio managers, investment advisors, members of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, underwriters, venture capital funds, entities with equity in excess of NIS 50 million and "qualified individuals", each as defined in the Addendum (as it may be amended from time to time), collectively referred to as qualified investors (in each case purchasing for their own account or, where permitted under the Addendum, for the accounts of their clients who are investors listed in the Addendum). Qualified investors will be required to submit written confirmation that they fall within the scope of the Addendum, are aware of the meaning of same and agree to it.
United Kingdom
This prospectus is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive that are also (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended, referred to herein as the Order, and/or (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated. Each such person is referred to herein as a Relevant Person.
This prospectus and its contents should not be distributed, published or reproduced (in whole or in part) or disclosed by recipients to any other persons in the United Kingdom. Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.
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The validity of the shares of common stock offered hereby is being passed upon for us by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. Ropes & Gray LLP is acting as counsel for Piper Jaffray & Co. in connection with this offering.
The financial statements incorporated in this prospectus supplement by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of certain information filed by us with the SEC are also available on our website at http://www.ocutx.com. Our website is not a part of this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus and is not incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the Public Reference Room.
This prospectus supplement is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus omit some information contained in the registration statement in accordance with SEC rules and regulations. You should review the information and exhibits in the registration statement for further information on us and the securities we are offering. Statements in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus concerning any document we filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or that we otherwise filed with the SEC are not intended to be comprehensive and are qualified by reference to these filings. You should review the complete document to evaluate these statements. You can obtain a copy of the registration statement from the SEC at the address listed above or from the SEC's Internet site.
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The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference much of the information we file with the SEC, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is considered to be part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Because we are incorporating by reference future filings with the SEC, those future filings may modify or supersede some of the information included or incorporated in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This means that you must look at all of the SEC filings that we incorporate by reference to determine if any of the statements in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or in any document previously incorporated by reference have been modified or superseded. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus incorporate by reference the documents listed below (File No. 333-210777) and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (in each case, other than those documents or the portions of those documents not deemed to be filed), until the offering of the securities under the registration statement is terminated or completed:
You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address or telephone number:
Ocular
Therapeutix, Inc.
Attn: Chief Financial Officer
15 Crosby Drive
Bedford, MA 01730
(781) 357-4000
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PROSPECTUS
Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.
$150,000,000
of
Debt Securities
Common Stock
Preferred Stock
Depositary Shares
Purchase Contracts
Purchase Units
Warrants
And
2,300,000 Shares
of
Common Stock Offered by Selling Stockholders
We may issue securities from time to time in one or more offerings of up to $150,000,000 in aggregate offering price. This prospectus describes the general terms of these securities and the general manner in which these securities will be offered. We will provide the specific terms of these securities in supplements to this prospectus. The prospectus supplements will also describe the specific manner in which these securities will be offered and may also supplement, update or amend information contained in this document. You should read this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement before you invest.
In addition to the primary offering of securities described above, the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus may from time to time sell up to 2,300,000 shares of common stock. Unless otherwise set forth in a prospectus supplement, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale, if any, of common stock by any selling stockholders. Unless otherwise set forth in a prospectus supplement, the selling stockholders will pay any underwriting discounts and commissions and transfer taxes incurred by the selling stockholders in disposing of the shares of common stock.
We or any selling stockholders may offer these securities in amounts, at prices and on terms determined at the time of offering. The securities may be sold directly to you, through agents, or through underwriters and dealers. If agents, underwriters or dealers are used to sell the securities, we will name them and describe their compensation in a prospectus supplement. Unless otherwise set forth in a prospectus supplement, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of common stock by any selling stockholders.
Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "OCUL".
Investing in these securities involves significant risks. See "Risk Factors" included in any accompanying prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus for a discussion of the factors you should carefully consider before deciding to purchase these securities.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is April 28, 2016
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS |
1 | |||
RISK FACTORS |
2 |
|||
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION |
2 |
|||
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE |
2 |
|||
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS |
4 |
|||
ABOUT OCULAR THERAPEUTIX, INC. |
5 |
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RATIOS OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES AND RATIOS OF EARNINGS TO COMBINED FIXED CHARGES AND PREFERRED STOCK DIVIDENDS |
6 |
|||
USE OF PROCEEDS |
7 |
|||
SELLING STOCKHOLDERS |
8 |
|||
DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES |
9 |
|||
DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK |
18 |
|||
DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITARY SHARES |
23 |
|||
DESCRIPTION OF PURCHASE CONTRACTS AND PURCHASE UNITS |
26 |
|||
DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS |
27 |
|||
FORMS OF SECURITIES |
28 |
|||
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION |
30 |
|||
LEGAL MATTERS |
33 |
|||
EXPERTS |
33 |
This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we refer to as the "SEC," utilizing a "shelf" registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may from time to time sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings for an aggregate initial offering price of up to $150,000,000. In addition to the primary offering of securities, the selling stockholders may from time to time sell up to 2,300,000 shares of our common stock described in this prospectus in one or more secondary offerings.
This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we or selling stockholders may offer. Each time we or selling stockholders sell securities, we will provide one or more prospectus supplements that will contain specific information about the terms of the offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement together with the additional information described under the heading "Where You Can Find More Information" beginning on page 2 of this prospectus.
We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or in any related free writing prospectus filed by us with the SEC. We do not take any responsibility for, and cannot provide any assurance as to the reliability of, any information other than the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or in any related free writing prospectus filed by us with the SEC. This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the securities described in the accompanying prospectus supplement or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such securities in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, the documents incorporated by reference and any related free writing prospectus is accurate only as of their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed materially since those dates.
Unless the context otherwise indicates, references in this prospectus to "we," "our" and "us" refer, collectively, to Ocular Therapeutix, Inc., a Delaware corporation.
1
Investing in our securities involves significant risks. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, including the risk factors set forth in our filings with the SEC that are incorporated by reference herein, before making an investment decision pursuant to this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement relating to a specific offering.
Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by any or all of these risks or by additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial that may adversely affect us in the future.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of certain information filed by us with the SEC are also available on our website at http://www.ocutx.com. Our website is not a part of this prospectus and is not incorporated by reference in this prospectus. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the Public Reference Room.
This prospectus is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. This prospectus omits some information contained in the registration statement in accordance with SEC rules and regulations. You should review the information and exhibits in the registration statement for further information about us and the securities we are offering. Statements in this prospectus concerning any document we filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or that we otherwise filed with the SEC are not intended to be comprehensive and are qualified by reference to these filings. You should review the complete document to evaluate these statements. You can obtain a copy of the registration statement from the SEC at the address listed above or from the SEC's website.
The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference in this prospectus much of the information we file with the SEC, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference in this prospectus is considered to be part of this prospectus. Because we are incorporating by reference future filings with the SEC, this prospectus is continually updated and those future filings may modify or supersede some of the information included or incorporated in this prospectus. This means that you must look at all of the SEC filings that we incorporate by reference to determine if any of the statements in this prospectus or in any document previously incorporated by reference have been modified or superseded. This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents listed below (File No. 001-36554) and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act (in each case, other than those documents or the portions of those documents not deemed to be filed) between the date of the initial registration statement and the effectiveness of the registration statement and following the effectiveness of the registration statement until the offering of the securities under the registration statement is terminated or completed:
2
You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address or telephone number:
Ocular
Therapeutix, Inc.
Attn: Chief Financial Officer
34 Crosby Drive, Suite 105
Bedford, MA 01730
(781) 357-4000
3
This prospectus and the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus include "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. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "predict," "project," "target," "potential," "goals," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. You are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are referenced in the section of any accompanying prospectus supplement entitled "Risk Factors." You should also carefully review the risk factors and cautionary statements described in the other documents we file from time to time with the SEC, specifically our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make. You should read this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
4
ABOUT OCULAR THERAPEUTIX, INC.
We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for diseases and conditions of the eye using our proprietary hydrogel platform technology. Our bioresorbable hydrogel-based product candidates are designed to provide sustained delivery of therapeutic agents to the eye. Our hydrogel is a bioresorbable proprietary formulation of polyethylene glycol which when constituted with water takes on a gelatinous consistency. Our lead product candidates are DEXTENZA and OTX-TP, sustained-release, drug-eluting intracanalicular depots which are inserted into the canaliculus through a natural opening called the punctum located in the inner portion of the eyelid near the nose. Our intracanalicular depots (also referred to as drug-eluting depots or sustained-release depots) combine our hydrogel technology with FDA-approved therapeutic agents with the goal of providing sustained delivery of drug to the eye. We also have an intravitreal hydrogel depot, which is in preclinical development for the treatment of diseases and conditions of the back of the eye, including wet age-related macular degeneration. Our intravitreal depot is designed to be delivered via intravitreal injection to release therapeutic agents, such as antibodies to vascular endothelial growth factor over a sustained period. In addition to our ongoing product development, we have launched our first commercial product, ReSure Sealant, a hydrogel-based ophthalmic wound sealant approved by the FDA in 2014 to seal corneal incisions following cataract surgery.
Our principal executive offices are located at 34 Crosby Drive, Suite 105, Bedford, MA 01730, and our telephone number is (781) 357-4000. Our manufacturing and research and development operations are located at 36 Crosby Drive, Suite 101, Bedford, MA 01730.
5
RATIOS OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES AND RATIOS OF EARNINGS TO
COMBINED FIXED CHARGES AND PREFERRED STOCK DIVIDENDS
The following table sets forth our ratio of earnings to fixed charges for each of the periods indicated. For purposes of calculating the ratios in the table below, earnings consist of net loss plus fixed charges. Fixed charges include interest expensed, amortized premiums, discounts and capitalized expenses related to indebtedness and an estimate of the interest within rental expense.
|
December 31, 2015 |
December 31, 2014 |
December 31, 2013 |
December 31, 2012 |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ratios of earnings to fixed charges(1)(2) |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||
Ratios of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends(1)(3) |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
6
We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of any securities offered under this prospectus for general corporate purposes unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. General corporate purposes may include costs related to research and development, including clinical trials, regulatory submissions, sales and marketing activities and manufacturing, the acquisition or in-license of other products, product candidates, technologies, companies or businesses, repayment and refinancing of debt, working capital and capital expenditures. We have not determined the amount of net proceeds to be used specifically for such purposes. As a result, management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of net proceeds.
Unless otherwise set forth in a prospectus supplement, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale, if any, of common stock by any selling stockholders.
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In addition to the primary offering of shares of common stock by us, this prospectus relates to the possible resale by certain of our stockholders of 2,300,000 shares of our common stock that were issued and outstanding prior to the original date of filing of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
The selling stockholders (1) purchased shares of our convertible preferred stock prior to our initial public offering in several private placement transactions between October 2006 and November 2012 and (2) with respect to one potential selling stockholder, acquired additional shares as consideration for entering into a license agreement with us in January 2012 and a subsequent amendment to such license agreement in February 2014. Each of these transactions was exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, as set forth in Section 4(a)(2) thereunder relative to transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering. All of our shares of preferred stock automatically converted into shares of our common stock in connection with the closing of our initial public offering. Our initial public offering closed in July 2014.
We do not know when or in what amounts the selling stockholders may offer shares of our common stock for sale or which selling stockholders will participate in any such offering. Information about the selling stockholders, where applicable, including their identities, the nature of any position, office or other material relationship which the selling stockholders will have had during the prior three years with us or any of our predecessors or affiliates, the number of shares of common stock owned by the selling stockholders prior to the offering, the number of shares of common stock to be offered for the selling stockholder's account, and the number of shares of common stock and (if one percent or more) the percentage of such class of securities to be owned by the selling stockholders after completion of the offering, will be set forth in an applicable prospectus supplement, in an amendment to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or in other filings we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act, which are incorporated by reference in this prospectus. See "Incorporation by Reference" and "Where You Can Find More Information."
The selling stockholders may not sell any shares of our common stock pursuant to this prospectus until we have identified the selling stockholders who will sell shares and the shares being offered for resale by such selling stockholders as set forth above. However, the selling stockholders may sell or transfer all or a portion of their shares of our common stock pursuant to any available exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
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DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES
We may offer debt securities which may be senior or subordinated. We refer to the senior debt securities and the subordinated debt securities collectively as debt securities. The following description summarizes the general terms and provisions of the debt securities. We will describe the specific terms of the debt securities and the extent, if any, to which the general provisions summarized below apply to any series of debt securities in the prospectus supplement relating to the series and any applicable free writing prospectus that we authorize to be delivered. When we refer to "the Company," "we," "our," and "us" in this section, we mean Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. excluding, unless the context otherwise requires or as otherwise expressly stated, our subsidiaries.
We may issue senior debt securities from time to time, in one or more series under a senior indenture to be entered into between us and a senior trustee to be named in a prospectus supplement, which we refer to as the senior trustee. We may issue subordinated debt securities from time to time, in one or more series under a subordinated indenture to be entered into between us and a subordinated trustee to be named in a prospectus supplement, which we refer to as the subordinated trustee. The forms of senior indenture and subordinated indenture are filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Together, the senior indenture and the subordinated indenture are referred to as the indentures and, together, the senior trustee and the subordinated trustee are referred to as the trustees. This prospectus briefly outlines some of the provisions of the indentures. The following summary of the material provisions of the indentures is qualified in its entirety by the provisions of the indentures, including definitions of certain terms used in the indentures. Wherever we refer to particular sections or defined terms of the indentures, those sections or defined terms are incorporated by reference in this prospectus or the applicable prospectus supplement. You should review the indentures that are filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part for additional information.
None of the indentures will limit the amount of debt securities that we may issue. The applicable indenture will provide that debt securities may be issued up to an aggregate principal amount authorized from time to time by us and may be payable in any currency or currency unit designated by us or in amounts determined by reference to an index.
General
The senior debt securities will constitute our unsubordinated general obligations and will rank pari passu with our other unsubordinated obligations. The subordinated debt securities will constitute our subordinated general obligations and will be junior in right of payment to our senior indebtedness (including senior debt securities), as described under the heading "Certain Terms of the Subordinated Debt SecuritiesSubordination."
The debt securities will be our unsecured obligations unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement. Any secured debt or other secured obligations will be effectively senior to the debt securities to the extent of the value of the assets securing such debt or other obligations.
The applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus will include any additional or different terms of the debt securities or any series being offered, including the following terms:
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The applicable prospectus supplement will also describe any applicable material U.S. federal income tax consequences.
When we refer to "principal" in this section with reference to the debt securities, we are also referring to "premium, if any."
We may from time to time, without notice to or the consent of the holders of any series of debt securities, create and issue further debt securities of any such series ranking equally with the debt securities of such series in all respects (or in all respects other than (1) the payment of interest accruing prior to the issue date of such further debt securities or (2) the first payment of interest following the issue date of such further debt securities). Such further debt securities may be consolidated and form a single series with the debt securities of such series and have the same terms as to status, redemption or otherwise as the debt securities of such series.
You may present debt securities for exchange and you may present debt securities for transfer in the manner, at the places and subject to the restrictions set forth in the debt securities and the applicable prospectus supplement. We will provide you those services without charge, although you may have to pay any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with any exchange or transfer, as set forth in the indenture.
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Debt securities may bear interest at a fixed rate or a floating rate. Debt securities bearing no interest or interest at a rate that at the time of issuance is below the prevailing market rate (original issue discount securities) may be sold at a discount below their stated principal amount.
We may issue debt securities with the principal amount payable on any principal payment date, or the amount of interest payable on any interest payment date, to be determined by reference to one or more currency exchange rates, securities or baskets of securities, commodity prices or indices. You may receive a payment of principal on any principal payment date, or a payment of interest on any interest payment date, that is greater than or less than the amount of principal or interest otherwise payable on such dates, depending on the value on such dates of the applicable currency, security or basket of securities, commodity or index. Information as to the methods for determining the amount of principal or interest payable on any date, the currencies, securities or baskets of securities, commodities or indices to which the amount payable on such date is linked.
Certain Terms of the Senior Debt Securities
Covenants. Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement, the senior debt securities will not contain any financial or restrictive covenants, including covenants restricting either us or any of our subsidiaries from incurring, issuing, assuming or guaranteeing any indebtedness secured by a lien on any of our or our subsidiaries' property or capital stock, or restricting either us or any of our subsidiaries from entering into sale and leaseback transactions.
Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets. Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement, we may not consolidate with or merge into any other person, in a transaction in which we are not the surviving corporation, or convey, transfer or lease our properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any person, in either case, unless:
No Protection in the Event of a Change in Control. Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement with respect to a particular series of senior debt securities, the senior debt securities will not contain any provisions that may afford holders of the senior debt securities protection in the event we have a change in control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change in control).
Events of Default. Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement with respect to a particular series of senior debt securities, the following are events of default under the senior indenture for any series of senior debt securities:
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Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement, the default by us under any other debt, including any other series of debt securities, is not a default under the senior indenture.
If an event of default other than an event of default specified in the fourth bullet point above occurs with respect to a series of senior debt securities and is continuing under the senior indenture, then, and in each such case, either the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in aggregate principal amount of such series then outstanding under the senior indenture (each such series voting as a separate class) by written notice to us and to the trustee, if such notice is given by the holders, may, and the trustee at the request of such holders shall, declare the principal amount of and accrued interest on such series of senior debt securities to be immediately due and payable, and upon this declaration, the same shall become immediately due and payable.
If an event of default specified in the fourth bullet point above occurs with respect to us and is continuing, the entire principal amount of and accrued interest, if any, on each series of senior debt securities then outstanding shall become immediately due and payable.
Unless otherwise specified in the prospectus supplement relating to a series of senior debt securities originally issued at a discount, the amount due upon acceleration shall include only the original issue price of the senior debt securities, the amount of original issue discount accrued to the date of acceleration and accrued interest, if any.
Upon certain conditions, declarations of acceleration may be rescinded and annulled and past defaults may be waived by the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of all the senior debt securities of such series affected by the default, each series voting as a separate class. Furthermore, prior to a declaration of acceleration and subject to various provisions in the senior indenture, the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of a series of senior debt securities, by notice to the trustee, may waive an existing default or event of default with respect to such senior debt securities and its consequences, except a default in the payment of principal of or interest on such senior debt securities or in respect of a covenant or provision of the senior indenture which cannot be modified or amended without the consent of the holders of each such senior debt security. Upon any such waiver, such default shall cease to exist, and any event of default with respect to such senior debt securities shall be deemed to have been cured, for every purpose of the senior indenture; but no such waiver shall extend to any subsequent or other default or event of default or impair any right consequent thereto. For information as to the waiver of defaults, see "Modification and Waiver."
The holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of a series of senior debt securities may direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee with respect to such senior debt securities. However, the trustee may refuse to follow any direction that conflicts with law or the senior indenture, that may involve the trustee in personal liability or that the trustee determines in good faith may be unduly prejudicial to the rights of holders of such series of senior debt securities not joining in the giving of such direction and may take any other action it deems proper that is not inconsistent with any
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such direction received from holders of such series of senior debt securities. A holder may not pursue any remedy with respect to the senior indenture or any series of senior debt securities unless:
These limitations, however, do not apply to the right of any holder of a senior debt security to receive payment of the principal of and interest, if any, on such senior debt security in accordance with the terms of such debt security, or to bring suit for the enforcement of any such payment in accordance with the terms of such debt security, on or after the due date for the senior debt securities, which right shall not be impaired or affected without the consent of the holder.
The senior indenture requires certain of our officers to certify, on or before a fixed date in each year in which any senior debt security is outstanding, as to their knowledge of our compliance with all covenants, agreements and conditions under the senior indenture.
Satisfaction and Discharge. We can satisfy and discharge our obligations to holders of any series of senior debt securities if:
Under current U.S. federal income tax law, the deposit and our legal release from the senior debt securities would be treated as a taxable event, and beneficial owners of such debt securities would generally recognize any gain or loss on such senior debt securities. Purchasers of the senior debt securities should consult their own advisers with respect to the tax consequences to them of such deposit and discharge, including the applicability and effect of tax laws other than the U.S. federal income tax law.
Defeasance. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, the following discussion of legal defeasance and discharge and covenant defeasance will apply to any senior series of senior debt securities issued under the indentures.
Legal Defeasance. We can legally release ourselves from any payment or other obligations on the senior debt securities of any series (called "legal defeasance") if certain conditions are met, including the following:
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If we ever did accomplish legal defeasance, as described above, you would have to rely solely on the trust deposit for repayment of the debt securities. You could not look to us for repayment in the event of any shortfall.
Covenant Defeasance. Without any change of current U.S. federal tax law, we can make the same type of deposit described above and be released from some of the covenants in the senior debt securities (called "covenant defeasance"). In that event, you would lose the protection of those covenants but would gain the protection of having money and securities set aside in trust to repay the senior debt securities. In order to achieve covenant defeasance, we must do the following (among other things):
If we accomplish covenant defeasance, you can still look to us for repayment of the senior debt securities if there were a shortfall in the trust deposit. In fact, if one of the events of default occurred (such as our bankruptcy) and the debt securities become immediately due and payable, there may be such a shortfall. Depending on the events causing the default, you may not be able to obtain payment of the shortfall.
Modification and Waiver. We and the trustee may amend or supplement the senior indenture or the senior debt securities without the consent of any holder:
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Other amendments and modifications of the senior indenture or the senior debt securities issued may be made, and our compliance with any provision of the senior indenture with respect to any series of senior debt securities may be waived, with the consent of the holders of a majority of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of all series affected by the amendment or modification (voting together as a single class); provided, however, that each affected holder must consent to any modification, amendment or waiver that:
It shall not be necessary for the holders to approve the particular form of any proposed amendment, supplement or waiver, but it shall be sufficient if the holders' consent approves the substance thereof. After an amendment, supplement or waiver of the senior indenture in accordance
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with the provisions described in this section becomes effective, the trustee must give to the holders affected thereby certain notice briefly describing the amendment, supplement or waiver. Any failure by the trustee to give such notice, or any defect therein, shall not, however, in any way impair or affect the validity of any such amendment, supplemental indenture or waiver.
No Personal Liability of Incorporators, Stockholders, Officers, Directors. The senior indenture provides that no recourse shall be had under any obligation, covenant or agreement of ours in the senior indenture or any supplemental indenture, or in any of the senior debt securities or because of the creation of any indebtedness represented thereby, against any of our incorporators, stockholders, officers or directors, past, present or future, or of any predecessor or successor entity thereof under any law, statute or constitutional provision or by the enforcement of any assessment or by any legal or equitable proceeding or otherwise. Each holder, by accepting the senior debt securities, waives and releases all such liability.
Concerning the Trustee. The senior indenture provides that, except during the continuance of an event of default, the trustee will not be liable except for the performance of such duties as are specifically set forth in the senior indenture. If an event of default has occurred and is continuing, the trustee will exercise such rights and powers vested in it under the senior indenture and will use the same degree of care and skill in its exercise as a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances in the conduct of such person's own affairs.
The senior indenture and the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act incorporated by reference therein contain limitations on the rights of the trustee thereunder, should it become a creditor of ours or any of our subsidiaries, to obtain payment of claims in certain cases or to realize on certain property received by it in respect of any such claims, as security or otherwise. The trustee is permitted to engage in other transactions, provided that if it acquires any conflicting interest (as defined in the Trust Indenture Act), it must eliminate such conflict or resign.
We may have normal banking relationships with the senior trustee in the ordinary course of business.
Unclaimed Funds. All funds deposited with the trustee or any paying agent for the payment of principal, premium, interest or additional amounts in respect of the senior debt securities that remain unclaimed for two years after the date upon which such principal, premium or interest became due and payable will be repaid to us. Thereafter, any right of any holder of senior debt securities to such funds shall be enforceable only against us, and the trustee and paying agents will have no liability therefor.
Governing Law. The senior indenture and the senior debt securities will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the internal laws of the State of New York.
Certain Terms of the Subordinated Debt Securities
Other than the terms of the subordinated indenture and subordinated debt securities relating to subordination or otherwise as described in the prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of subordinated debt securities, the terms of the subordinated indenture and subordinated debt securities are identical in all material respects to the terms of the senior indenture and senior debt securities.
Additional or different subordination terms may be specified in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series.
Subordination. The indebtedness evidenced by the subordinated debt securities is subordinate to the prior payment in full of all of our senior indebtedness, as defined in the subordinated indenture. During the continuance beyond any applicable grace period of any default in the payment of principal, premium, interest or any other payment due on any of our senior indebtedness, we may not make any payment of principal of or interest on the subordinated debt securities (except for certain sinking fund
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payments). In addition, upon any payment or distribution of our assets upon any dissolution, winding-up, liquidation or reorganization, the payment of the principal of and interest on the subordinated debt securities will be subordinated to the extent provided in the subordinated indenture in right of payment to the prior payment in full of all our senior indebtedness. Because of this subordination, if we dissolve or otherwise liquidate, holders of our subordinated debt securities may receive less, ratably, than holders of our senior indebtedness. The subordination provisions do not prevent the occurrence of an event of default under the subordinated indenture.
The term "senior indebtedness" of a person means with respect to such person the principal of, premium, if any, interest on, and any other payment due pursuant to any of the following, whether outstanding on the date of the subordinated indenture or incurred by that person in the future:
unless, in the case of any particular indebtedness, renewal, extension or refunding, the instrument creating or evidencing it or the assumption or guarantee relating to it expressly provides that such indebtedness, renewal, extension or refunding is not superior in right of payment to the subordinated debt securities. Our senior debt securities constitute senior indebtedness for purposes of the subordinated debt indenture.
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The following description of our capital stock and provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws are summaries and are qualified by reference to our certificate of incorporation, our by-laws and applicable provisions of Delaware corporate law. We have filed copies of our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws with the SEC as exhibits to our registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
Our authorized capital stock consists of 100,000,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of our preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, all of which preferred stock is undesignated.
As of March 31, 2016, we had issued and outstanding 24,758,786 shares of our common stock and no shares of our preferred stock.
Common Stock
Voting Rights. Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders and do not have cumulative voting rights. Each election of directors by our stockholders will be determined by a plurality of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election. In general, except (1) for the election of directors, (2) as described below under "Provisions of Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws and Delaware Law That May Have Anti-Takeover EffectsSuper-Majority Voting," (3) in the future to the extent that we have two or more classes or series of stock outstanding with separate voting rights and (4) as otherwise required by law, any matter to be voted on by our stockholders at any meeting is decided by the vote of the holders of a majority in voting power of the votes cast by the holders of shares of our stock present or represented at the meeting and voting affirmatively or negatively on such matter.
Dividends. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately any dividends as may be declared by our board of directors, subject to any preferential dividend rights of outstanding preferred stock.
Liquidation and Dissolution. In the event of our liquidation or dissolution, the holders of our common stock are entitled to receive proportionately all assets available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any of our outstanding preferred stock.
Other Rights. Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of our common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.
Transfer Agent and Registrar. Computershare Trust Company, Inc. is transfer agent and registrar for the common stock.
NASDAQ Global Market. Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "OCUL."
Preferred Stock
Under the terms of our certificate of incorporation, our board of directors is authorized to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series without stockholder approval, subject to any limitations imposed by applicable NASDAQ rules. Our board of directors has the discretion to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, dividend rights, conversion rights, redemption privileges and liquidation preferences, of each series of preferred stock.
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The purpose of authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock and determine its rights and preferences is to eliminate delays associated with a stockholder vote on specific issuances. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions, future financings and other corporate purposes, could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or could discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, a majority of our outstanding voting stock. Currently, we have no shares of preferred stock outstanding.
If we decide to issue any preferred stock pursuant to this prospectus, we will describe in a prospectus supplement the specific terms of the preferred stock, including, if applicable, the following:
The preferred stock could have other rights, including economic rights that are senior to our common stock that could adversely affect the market value of our common stock. The issuance of the preferred stock may also have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us without any action by the shareholders.
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Warrants
As of March 31, 2016, we had outstanding warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 18,939 shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $7.92 per share. These warrants provide for adjustments in the event of specified mergers, reorganizations, reclassifications, stock dividends, stock splits or other changes in our corporate structure.
Stock Options
As of March 31, 2016, we had issued and outstanding options to purchase 2,958,669 shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $10.79 per share.
Effects of Authorized but Unissued Stock
We have shares of common stock and preferred stock available for future issuance without stockholder approval, subject to any limitations imposed by the listing standards of The NASDAQ Global Market. We may utilize these additional shares for a variety of corporate purposes, including for future public offerings to raise additional capital or facilitate corporate acquisitions or for payment as a dividend on our capital stock. The existence of unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock may enable our board of directors to issue shares to persons friendly to current management or to issue preferred stock with terms that could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or could discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, a controlling interest in our company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise. In addition, if we issue preferred stock, the issuance could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation.
Provisions of Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws and Delaware Law That May Have Anti-Takeover Effects
Delaware Law
We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL. Subject to certain exceptions, Section 203 prevents a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a "business combination" with any "interested stockholder" for three years following the date that the person became an interested stockholder, unless either the interested stockholder attained such status with the approval of our board of directors, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and stockholders in a prescribed manner or the interested stockholder acquired at least 85% of our outstanding voting stock in the transaction in which it became an interested stockholder. A "business combination" includes, among other things, a merger or consolidation involving us and the "interested stockholder" and the sale of more than 10% of our assets. In general, an "interested stockholder" is any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by such entity or person. The restrictions contained in Section 203 are not applicable to any of our existing stockholders that owned 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock upon the closing of our initial public offering.
Staggered Board; Removal of Directors
Our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws divide our board of directors into three classes with staggered three-year terms. In addition, our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws provide that directors may be removed only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of 75% of our shares of capital stock present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote. Under our certificate of incorporation and by-laws, any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office. Furthermore, our certificate of incorporation provides that the authorized number of directors
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may be changed only by the resolution of our board of directors. The classification of our board of directors and the limitations on the ability of our stockholders to remove directors, change the authorized number of directors and fill vacancies could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, control of our company.
Stockholder Action; Special Meeting of Stockholders; Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations
Our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws provide that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders at an annual meeting or special meeting of stockholders may only be taken if it is properly brought before such meeting and may not be taken by written action in lieu of a meeting. Our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws also provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders can only be called by the chairman of our board of directors, our chief executive officer or our board of directors. In addition, our by-laws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our board of directors, or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has delivered timely written notice in proper form to our secretary of the stockholder's intention to bring such business before the meeting. These provisions could have the effect of delaying until the next stockholder meeting stockholder actions that are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities. These provisions also could discourage a third party from making a tender offer for our common stock because even if the third party acquired a majority of our outstanding voting stock, it would be able to take action as a stockholder, such as electing new directors or approving a merger, only at a duly called stockholders meeting and not by written consent.
Super-Majority Voting
The DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporation's certificate of incorporation or by-laws unless a corporation's certificate of incorporation or by-laws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our by-laws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in any annual election of directors. In addition, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in any election of directors is required to amend or repeal or to adopt any provisions inconsistent with any of the provisions of our certificate of incorporation described above.
Registration Rights
We entered into a fourth amended and restated investors' rights agreement dated June 30, 2013, as amended, or the investor rights agreement, with holders of our preferred stock prior to the closing of our initial public offering. Holders of a total of 4,718,121 shares of our common stock outstanding or issuable upon exercise of the warrants as of March 31, 2016 have the right to require us to register these shares under the Securities Act under specified circumstances. After registration pursuant to these rights, these shares will become freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act. If not otherwise exercised, the rights under the investor rights agreement described below will expire five years after the closing of our initial public offering, which occurred on July 30, 2014.
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Demand and Form S-3 Registration Rights
Subject to specified limitations set forth in the investor rights agreement, at any time, the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding shares having rights under the investor rights agreement, or the registrable securities, may demand that we register registrable securities then outstanding under the Securities Act for purposes of a public offering having an aggregate offering price to the public of not less than $10 million. We are not obligated to file a registration statement pursuant to this provision on more than two occasions.
In addition, subject to specified limitations set forth in the investor rights agreement, at any time after we become eligible to file a registration statement on Form S-3, holders of the registrable securities then outstanding may request that we register their registrable securities on Form S-3 for purposes of a public offering for which the reasonably anticipated aggregate offering price to the public would exceed $1 million.
Incidental Registration Rights
If we propose to register for our own account any of our securities under the Securities Act, the holders of registrable securities will be entitled to notice of the registration and, subject to specified exceptions, have the right to require us to use our best efforts to register all or a portion of the registrable securities then held by them in that registration. Under our outstanding warrants, each of the holders of the warrants is also entitled to notice of the registration at the time that we provide notice of the registration to the holders of registrable securities. The holders of registrable securities waived these incidental registration rights in connection with this offering.
In the event that any registration in which the holders of registrable securities participate pursuant to our investor rights agreement is an underwritten public offering or if any warrant holder participates in such an offering pursuant to the warrants, we have agreed to enter into an underwriting agreement containing customary representations and warranties and covenants, including without limitation customary provisions with respect to indemnification of the underwriters of such offering.
In the event that any registration in which the holders of registrable securities participate pursuant to our investor rights agreement is an underwritten offering or if any warrant holder participates pursuant to the warrants, we will use our best efforts to include the requested securities to be included, but such inclusions may be limited by market conditions to the extent set forth in the investor rights agreement.
Expenses
Pursuant to the investor rights agreement, we are required to pay all registration expenses, including all registration and filing fees, exchange listing fees, printing expenses, fees and expenses of one counsel selected by the selling stockholders to represent the selling stockholders, state Blue Sky fees and expenses, and the expense of any special audits incident to or required by any such registration, but excluding underwriting discounts, selling commissions and the fees and expenses of the selling stockholders own counsel (other than the counsel selected to represent all selling stockholders). We are not required to pay registration expenses if the registration request under the investor rights agreement is withdrawn at the request of holders initiating such registration request, unless the withdrawal is related to information concerning the business or financial condition of us after the initiation of such registration request.
The investor rights agreement contains customary cross-indemnification provisions, pursuant to which we are obligated to indemnify the selling stockholders in the event of material misstatements or omissions in the registration statement attributable to us or any violation or alleged violation whether by action or inaction by us under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, any state securities or Blue Sky law or any rule or regulation promulgated under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or any state securities or Blue Sky law in connection with such registration statement or the qualification or compliance of the offering, and they are obligated to indemnify us for material misstatements or omissions in the registration statement attributable to them.
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DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITARY SHARES
General
We may, at our option, elect to offer fractional shares of preferred stock, which we call depositary shares, rather than full shares of preferred stock. If we do, we will issue to the public receipts, called depositary receipts, for depositary shares, each of which will represent a fraction, to be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, of a share of a particular series of preferred stock. Unless otherwise provided in the prospectus supplement, each owner of a depositary share will be entitled, in proportion to the applicable fractional interest in a share of preferred stock represented by the depositary share, to all the rights and preferences of the preferred stock represented by the depositary share. Those rights include dividend, voting, redemption, conversion and liquidation rights.
The shares of preferred stock underlying the depositary shares will be deposited with a bank or trust company selected by us to act as depositary under a deposit agreement between us, the depositary and the holders of the depositary receipts. The depositary will be the transfer agent, registrar and dividend disbursing agent for the depositary shares.
The depositary shares will be evidenced by depositary receipts issued pursuant to the deposit agreement. Holders of depositary receipts agree to be bound by the deposit agreement, which requires holders to take certain actions such as filing proof of residence and paying certain charges.
The summary of terms of the depositary shares contained in this prospectus is not a complete description of the terms of the depositary shares. You should refer to the form of the deposit agreement, our certificate of incorporation and the certificate of designation for the applicable series of preferred stock that are, or will be, filed with the SEC.
Dividends and Other Distributions
The depositary will distribute all cash dividends or other cash distributions, if any, received in respect of the preferred stock underlying the depositary shares to the record holders of depositary shares in proportion to the numbers of depositary shares owned by those holders on the relevant record date. The relevant record date for depositary shares will be the same date as the record date for the underlying preferred stock.
If there is a distribution other than in cash, the depositary will distribute property (including securities) received by it to the record holders of depositary shares, unless the depositary determines that it is not feasible to make the distribution. If this occurs, the depositary may, with our approval, adopt another method for the distribution, including selling the property and distributing the net proceeds from the sale to the holders.
Liquidation Preference
If a series of preferred stock underlying the depositary shares has a liquidation preference, in the event of the voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of us, holders of depositary shares will be entitled to receive the fraction of the liquidation preference accorded each share of the applicable series of preferred stock, as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Withdrawal of Stock
Unless the related depositary shares have been previously called for redemption, upon surrender of the depositary receipts at the office of the depositary, the holder of the depositary shares will be entitled to delivery, at the office of the depositary to or upon his or her order, of the number of whole shares of the preferred stock and any money or other property represented by the depositary shares. If the depositary receipts delivered by the holder evidence a number of depositary shares in excess of the
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number of depositary shares representing the number of whole shares of preferred stock to be withdrawn, the depositary will deliver to the holder at the same time a new depositary receipt evidencing the excess number of depositary shares. In no event will the depositary deliver fractional shares of preferred stock upon surrender of depositary receipts. Holders of preferred stock thus withdrawn may not thereafter deposit those shares under the deposit agreement or receive depositary receipts evidencing depositary shares therefor.
Redemption of Depositary Shares
Whenever we redeem shares of preferred stock held by the depositary, the depositary will redeem as of the same redemption date the number of depositary shares representing shares of the preferred stock so redeemed, so long as we have paid in full to the depositary the redemption price of the preferred stock to be redeemed plus an amount equal to any accumulated and unpaid dividends on the preferred stock to the date fixed for redemption. The redemption price per depositary share will be equal to the redemption price and any other amounts per share payable on the preferred stock multiplied by the fraction of a share of preferred stock represented by one depositary share. If less than all the depositary shares are to be redeemed, the depositary shares to be redeemed will be selected by lot or pro rata or by any other equitable method as may be determined by the depositary.
After the date fixed for redemption, depositary shares called for redemption will no longer be deemed to be outstanding and all rights of the holders of depositary shares will cease, except the right to receive the monies payable upon redemption and any money or other property to which the holders of the depositary shares were entitled upon redemption upon surrender to the depositary of the depositary receipts evidencing the depositary shares.
Voting the Preferred Stock
Upon receipt of notice of any meeting at which the holders of the preferred stock are entitled to vote, the depositary will mail the information contained in the notice of meeting to the record holders of the depositary receipts relating to that preferred stock. The record date for the depositary receipts relating to the preferred stock will be the same date as the record date for the preferred stock. Each record holder of the depositary shares on the record date will be entitled to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of the voting rights pertaining to the number of shares of preferred stock represented by that holder's depositary shares. The depositary will endeavor, insofar as practicable, to vote the number of shares of preferred stock represented by the depositary shares in accordance with those instructions, and we will agree to take all action that may be deemed necessary by the depositary in order to enable the depositary to do so. The depositary will not vote any shares of preferred stock except to the extent it receives specific instructions from the holders of depositary shares representing that number of shares of preferred stock.
Charges of Depositary
We will pay all transfer and other taxes and governmental charges arising solely from the existence of the depositary arrangements. We will pay charges of the depositary in connection with the initial deposit of the preferred stock and any redemption of the preferred stock. Holders of depositary receipts will pay transfer, income and other taxes and governmental charges and such other charges (including those in connection with the receipt and distribution of dividends, the sale or exercise of rights, the withdrawal of the preferred stock and the transferring, splitting or grouping of depositary receipts) as are expressly provided in the deposit agreement to be for their accounts. If these charges have not been paid by the holders of depositary receipts, the depositary may refuse to transfer depositary shares, withhold dividends and distributions and sell the depositary shares evidenced by the depositary receipt.
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Amendment and Termination of the Deposit Agreement
The form of depositary receipt evidencing the depositary shares and any provision of the deposit agreement may be amended by agreement between us and the depositary. However, any amendment that materially and adversely alters the rights of the holders of depositary shares, other than fee changes, will not be effective unless the amendment has been approved by the holders of a majority of the outstanding depositary shares. The deposit agreement may be terminated by the depositary or us only if:
Resignation and Removal of Depositary
The depositary may resign at any time by delivering to us notice of its election to do so, and we may remove the depositary at any time. Any resignation or removal of the depositary will take effect upon our appointment of a successor depositary and its acceptance of such appointment. The successor depositary must be appointed within 60 days after delivery of the notice of resignation or removal and must be a bank or trust company having its principal office in the United States and having the requisite combined capital and surplus as set forth in the applicable agreement.
Notices
The depositary will forward to holders of depositary receipts all notices, reports and other communications, including proxy solicitation materials received from us, that are delivered to the depositary and that we are required to furnish to the holders of the preferred stock. In addition, the depositary will make available for inspection by holders of depositary receipts at the principal office of the depositary, and at such other places as it may from time to time deem advisable, any reports and communications we deliver to the depositary as the holder of preferred stock.
Limitation of Liability
Neither we nor the depositary will be liable if either we or it is prevented or delayed by law or any circumstance beyond its control in performing its obligations. Our obligations and those of the depositary will be limited to performance in good faith of our and their duties thereunder. We and the depositary will not be obligated to prosecute or defend any legal proceeding in respect of any depositary shares or preferred stock unless satisfactory indemnity is furnished. We and the depositary may rely upon written advice of counsel or accountants, on information provided by persons presenting preferred stock for deposit, holders of depositary receipts or other persons believed to be competent to give such information and on documents believed to be genuine and to have been signed or presented by the proper party or parties.
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DESCRIPTION OF PURCHASE CONTRACTS AND PURCHASE UNITS
We may issue purchase contracts, including contracts obligating holders to purchase from or sell to us, and obligating us to sell to or purchase from the holders, a specified number of shares of our common stock, preferred stock or depositary shares at a future date or dates, which we refer to in this prospectus as purchase contracts. The price per share of common stock, preferred stock or depositary shares and the number of shares of each may be fixed at the time the purchase contracts are issued or may be determined by reference to a specific formula set forth in the purchase contracts. The purchase contracts may be issued separately or as part of units, often known as purchase units, consisting of one or more purchase contracts and beneficial interests in debt securities or any other securities described in the applicable prospectus supplement or any combination of the foregoing, securing the holders' obligations to purchase the common stock, preferred stock or depositary shares under the purchase contracts.
The purchase contracts may require us to make periodic payments to the holders of the purchase units or vice versa, and these payments may be unsecured or prefunded on some basis. The purchase contracts may require holders to secure their obligations under those contracts in a specified manner, including pledging their interest in another purchase contract.
The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the terms of the purchase contracts and purchase units, including, if applicable, collateral or depositary arrangements.
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We may issue warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares or debt securities. We may offer warrants separately or together with one or more additional warrants, common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares or debt securities, or any combination of those securities in the form of units, as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. If we issue warrants as part of a unit, the accompanying prospectus supplement will specify whether those warrants may be separated from the other securities in the unit prior to the expiration date of the warrants. The applicable prospectus supplement will also describe the following terms of any warrants:
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Each debt security, depositary share, purchase contract, purchase unit and warrant will be represented either by a certificate issued in definitive form to a particular investor or by one or more global securities representing the entire issuance of securities. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, certificated securities will be issued in definitive form and global securities will be issued in registered form. Definitive securities name you or your nominee as the owner of the security, and in order to transfer or exchange these securities or to receive payments other than interest or other interim payments, you or your nominee must physically deliver the securities to the trustee, registrar, paying agent or other agent, as applicable. Global securities name a depositary or its nominee as the owner of the debt securities, depositary shares, purchase contracts, purchase units or warrants represented by these global securities. The depositary maintains a computerized system that will reflect each investor's beneficial ownership of the securities through an account maintained by the investor with its broker/dealer, bank, trust company or other representative, as we explain more fully below.
Registered Global Securities
We may issue the registered debt securities, depositary shares, purchase contracts, purchase units and warrants in the form of one or more fully registered global securities that will be deposited with a depositary or its nominee identified in the applicable prospectus supplement and registered in the name of that depositary or nominee. In those cases, one or more registered global securities will be issued in a denomination or aggregate denominations equal to the portion of the aggregate principal or face amount of the securities to be represented by registered global securities. Unless and until it is exchanged in whole for securities in definitive registered form, a registered global security may not be transferred except as a whole by and among the depositary for the registered global security, the nominees of the depositary or any successors of the depositary or those nominees.
If not described below, any specific terms of the depositary arrangement with respect to any securities to be represented by a registered global security will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to those securities. We anticipate that the following provisions will apply to all depositary arrangements.
Ownership of beneficial interests in a registered global security will be limited to persons, called participants, that have accounts with the depositary or persons that may hold interests through participants. Upon the issuance of a registered global security, the depositary will credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the participants' accounts with the respective principal or face amounts of the securities beneficially owned by the participants. Any dealers, underwriters or agents participating in the distribution of the securities will designate the accounts to be credited. Ownership of beneficial interests in a registered global security will be shown on, and the transfer of ownership interests will be effected only through, records maintained by the depositary, with respect to interests of participants, and on the records of participants, with respect to interests of persons holding through participants. The laws of some states may require that some purchasers of securities take physical delivery of these securities in definitive form. These laws may impair your ability to own, transfer or pledge beneficial interests in registered global securities.
So long as the depositary, or its nominee, is the registered owner of a registered global security, that depositary or its nominee, as the case may be, will be considered the sole owner or holder of the securities represented by the registered global security for all purposes under the applicable indenture, deposit agreement, purchase contract, warrant agreement or purchase unit agreement. Except as described below, owners of beneficial interests in a registered global security will not be entitled to have the securities represented by the registered global security registered in their names, will not receive or be entitled to receive physical delivery of the securities in definitive form and will not be
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considered the owners or holders of the securities under the applicable indenture, deposit agreement, purchase contract, purchase unit agreement or warrant agreement. Accordingly, each person owning a beneficial interest in a registered global security must rely on the procedures of the depositary for that registered global security and, if that person is not a participant, on the procedures of the participant through which the person owns its interest, to exercise any rights of a holder under the applicable indenture, deposit agreement, purchase contract, purchase unit agreement or warrant agreement. We understand that under existing industry practices, if we request any action of holders or if an owner of a beneficial interest in a registered global security desires to give or take any action that a holder is entitled to give or take under the applicable indenture, deposit agreement, purchase contract, purchase unit agreement or warrant agreement, the depositary for the registered global security would authorize the participants holding the relevant beneficial interests to give or take that action, and the participants would authorize beneficial owners owning through them to give or take that action or would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners holding through them.
Principal, premium, if any, and interest payments on debt securities, and any payments to holders with respect to depositary shares, warrants, purchase agreements or purchase units, represented by a registered global security registered in the name of a depositary or its nominee will be made to the depositary or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered owner of the registered global security. None of us, the trustees, the warrant agents, the unit agents or any other agent of ours, agent of the trustees or agent of the warrant agents or unit agents will have any responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in the registered global security or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to those beneficial ownership interests.
We expect that the depositary for any of the securities represented by a registered global security, upon receipt of any payment to holders of principal, premium, interest or other distribution of underlying securities or other property on that registered global security, will immediately credit participants' accounts in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in that registered global security as shown on the records of the depositary. We also expect that payments by participants to owners of beneficial interests in a registered global security held through participants will be governed by standing customer instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with the securities held for the accounts of customers or registered in "street name," and will be the responsibility of those participants.
If the depositary for any of the securities represented by a registered global security is at any time unwilling or unable to continue as depositary or ceases to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act, and a successor depositary registered as a clearing agency under the Exchange Act is not appointed by us within 90 days, we will issue securities in definitive form in exchange for the registered global security that had been held by the depositary. Any securities issued in definitive form in exchange for a registered global security will be registered in the name or names that the depositary gives to the relevant trustee, warrant agent, unit agent or other relevant agent of ours or theirs. It is expected that the depositary's instructions will be based upon directions received by the depositary from participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the registered global security that had been held by the depositary.
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We or a selling stockholder may sell securities:
In addition, we may issue the securities as a dividend or distribution or in a subscription rights offering to our existing security holders.
We or any selling stockholder may directly solicit offers to purchase securities, or agents may be designated to solicit such offers. We will, in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering, name any agent that could be viewed as an underwriter under the Securities Act, and describe any commissions that we must pay. Any such agent will be acting on a best efforts basis for the period of its appointment or, if indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, on a firm commitment basis. This prospectus may be used in connection with any offering of our securities through any of these methods or other methods described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The distribution of the securities may be effected from time to time in one or more transactions:
Each prospectus supplement will describe the method of distribution of the securities and any applicable restrictions.
The prospectus supplement with respect to the securities of a particular series will describe the terms of the offering of the securities, including the following:
If any underwriters or agents are utilized in the sale of the securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered, we will enter into an underwriting agreement or other agreement with them at the time of sale to them, and we will set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering the names of the underwriters or agents and the terms of the related agreement with them.
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If a dealer is utilized in the sale of the securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered, we or any selling stockholder will sell such securities to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell such securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by such dealer at the time of resale.
If we offer securities in a subscription rights offering to our existing security holders, we may enter into a standby underwriting agreement with dealers, acting as standby underwriters. We may pay the standby underwriters a commitment fee for the securities they commit to purchase on a standby basis. If we do not enter into a standby underwriting arrangement, we may retain a dealer-manager to manage a subscription rights offering for us.
Remarketing firms, agents, underwriters, dealers and other persons may be entitled under agreements which they may enter into with us to indemnification by us against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and may be customers of, engage in transactions with or perform services for us in the ordinary course of business.
We may pay expenses incurred with respect to the registration of the shares of common stock owned by any selling stockholders.
If so indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, we or any selling stockholder will authorize underwriters or other persons acting as our agents to solicit offers by certain institutions to purchase securities from us pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on the date stated in the prospectus supplement. Each contract will be for an amount not less than, and the aggregate amount of securities sold pursuant to such contracts shall not be less nor more than, the respective amounts stated in the prospectus supplement. Institutions with whom the contracts, when authorized, may be made include commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions and other institutions, but shall in all cases be subject to our approval. Delayed delivery contracts will not be subject to any conditions except that:
Certain agents, underwriters and dealers, and their associates and affiliates may be customers of, have borrowing relationships with, engage in other transactions with, or perform services, including investment banking services, for us or one or more of our respective affiliates or any selling stockholder in the ordinary course of business.
In order to facilitate the offering of the securities, any underwriters may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the securities or any other securities the prices of which may be used to determine payments on such securities. Specifically, any underwriters may overallot in connection with the offering, creating a short position for their own accounts. In addition, to cover overallotments or to stabilize the price of the securities or of any such other securities, the underwriters may bid for, and purchase, the securities or any such other securities in the open market. Finally, in any offering of the securities through a syndicate of underwriters, the underwriting syndicate may reclaim selling concessions allowed to an underwriter or a dealer for distributing the securities in the offering if the syndicate repurchases previously distributed securities in transactions to cover syndicate short positions, in stabilization transactions or otherwise. Any of these activities may stabilize
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or maintain the market price of the securities above independent market levels. Any such underwriters are not required to engage in these activities and may end any of these activities at any time.
Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Exchange Act, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in three business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. The applicable prospectus supplement may provide that the original issue date for your securities may be more than three scheduled business days after the trade date for your securities. Accordingly, in such a case, if you wish to trade securities on any date prior to the third business day before the original issue date for your securities, you will be required, by virtue of the fact that your securities initially are expected to settle more than three scheduled business days after the trade date for your securities, to make alternative settlement arrangements to prevent a failed settlement.
To comply with the securities laws of some states, if applicable, the securities may be sold in such jurisdictions only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers. In addition, in some states the securities may not be sold unless they have been registered or qualified for sale or an exemption from registration or qualification requirements is available and is complied with.
The securities may be new issues of securities and may have no established trading market. The securities may or may not be listed on a national securities exchange. We can make no assurance as to the liquidity of or the existence of trading markets for any of the securities.
In compliance with the guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, the aggregate maximum discount, commission or agency fees or other items constituting underwriting compensation to be received by any FINRA member or independent broker-dealer will not exceed 8% of the proceeds from any offering pursuant to this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement.
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Unless the applicable prospectus supplement indicates otherwise, the validity of the securities in respect of which this prospectus is being delivered will be passed upon by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
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6,500,000 Shares
Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.
Common Stock
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
Piper Jaffray
January 25, 2018