UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
OR
For the fiscal year ended
OR
For the transition period from __________ to __________
OR
Date of event requiring this shell company report __________
Commission file number
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter and translation of Registrant’s name into English)
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
(Address of principal executive offices)
Chief Executive Officer
Galapagos NV
Tel: +32 15 342 900 Fax: +
(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.
Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered |
ordinary share, no par value per share | The | |
Ordinary shares, no par value per share* | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC* |
* Not for trading, but only in connection with the registration of the American Depositary Shares.
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. None
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.
Ordinary shares, no par value per share:
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☒
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ☐ Yes ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.:
Accelerated filer ☐ | Non-accelerated filer ☐ | Emerging growth company |
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻
† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements ◻
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b) ◻
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
U.S. GAAP ☐ | ☒ | Other ☐ |
If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ☐ Item 17 ☐ Item 18
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
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Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds | 195 | |
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Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers | 197 | |
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INTRODUCTION
Unless otherwise indicated or unless the context requires otherwise, “GLPG,” “the company,” “our company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Galapagos NV and its consolidated subsidiaries.
We own various trademark registrations and applications, and unregistered trademarks, including GALAPAGOS, JYSELECA (in the European countries where we commercialize filgotinib), and our corporate logo. All other trade names, trademarks and service marks referred to in this annual report on Form 20-F, or this annual report, are the property of their respective owners. Trade names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this annual report are the property of their respective holders. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and trade names in this annual report may be referred to without the ® and ™ symbols, but such references should not be construed as any indicator that their respective owners will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, their rights thereto. We do not intend to use or display other companies’ trademarks and trade names to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.
Our audited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB. Our consolidated financial statements are presented in euros. All references in this annual report to “$,” “US$,” “U.S.$,” “U.S. dollars,” “dollars,” and “USD” mean U.S. dollars and all references to “€” and “euros” mean euros, unless otherwise noted. Throughout this annual report, references to “ADSs” mean American Depositary Shares or ordinary shares represented by American Depositary Shares, as the case may be.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This annual report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. All statements other than present and historical facts and conditions contained in this annual report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial positions, business strategy, plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this annual report, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “is designed to,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “objective,” “should,” or the negative of these and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and our research and development programs;
● | the initiation, timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and our research and development programs; |
● | our ability to advance product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical trials; |
● | our reliance on the success of our product candidate filgotinib and certain other product candidates; |
● | the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals; |
● | our ability to develop sales and marketing capabilities; |
● | the commercialization of our product candidates, if approved; |
● | the pricing and reimbursement of our product candidates, if approved; |
● | the implementation of our business model, strategic plans for our business, product candidates and technology; |
● | the scope of protection we are able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering our product candidates and technology; |
● | our ability to operate our business without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights and proprietary technology of third parties; |
● | cost associated with enforcing or defending intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or violation; product liability; and other claims; |
● | regulatory developments in the United States, Europe, and other jurisdictions; |
● | estimates of our expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and our needs for additional financing; |
● | the potential benefits of strategic collaboration agreements and our ability to enter into strategic arrangements; |
● | our ability to maintain and establish collaborations or obtain additional grant funding; |
● | the rate and degree of market acceptance of our product candidates if approved by regulatory authorities; |
● | our financial performance; |
● | developments relating to our competitors and our industry, including competing therapies; |
● | our ability to effectively manage and anticipate growth; |
● | our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; |
● | statements regarding future revenue, hiring plans, expenses, capital expenditures, capital requirements and share performance; and |
● | other risks and uncertainties, including those listed in the section of this annual report titled “Item 3.D.—Risk Factors.” |
You should refer to the section of this annual report titled “Item 3.D.—Risk Factors” for a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this annual report will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame or at all. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
You should read this annual report and the documents that we reference in this annual report and have filed as exhibits to this annual report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. In light of the significant risks and uncertainties to which our forward-looking statements are subject, you should not place undue reliance on or regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified timeframe, or at all. We discuss many of these risks in greater detail in this annual report. For all forward-looking statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
This annual report contains market data and industry forecasts that were obtained from third parties and industry publications. These data involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We have not independently verified any third party-information. While we believe the market position, market opportunity and market size information included in this annual report is generally reliable, such information is inherently imprecise.
Please see the Glossary of Terms at the end of Item 4 for definitions of scientific and other terms used in this annual report.
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Summary of risk factors
We are heavily dependent upon our global R&D collaboration with Gilead and the amendment of our arrangement with Gilead for the commercialization and development of filgotinib. There can be no assurance that these arrangements will deliver the benefits we expect, including but not limited to the payment of potential future milestones, opt-in and/or royalty payments by Gilead.
We have no historical profit from product sales and limited historical data on product revenues, which makes it difficult to assess our future prospects and financial results.
We have limited sales and distribution experience and we have built, and continue to develop a marketing and sales organization. We expect to continue to invest financial and management resources to continue to build these capabilities and to establish a European commercial infrastructure. To the extent any of our product candidates for which we maintain commercial rights is approved for marketing, if we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to market and sell any product candidates effectively, or generate product revenues.
The marketing and sale of filgotinib or future approved products may be unsuccessful or less successful than anticipated. We are heavily dependent on the success of filgotinib, which is approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis in the European Union, Great Britain, and Japan and marketed under the brand name Jyseleca®.
We are also dependent on the success of our other clinical-stage product candidates, such as our immunology candidates/trials (such as filgotinib, GLPG3667 and GLPG5101) and our oncology candidates (such as GLPG5101, GLPG5201 and GLPG5301). We cannot give any assurance that any product candidate will successfully complete clinical trials or receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before it can be commercialized.
Clinical development is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials as well as data from any interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials may not be predictive of future trial results or approved label for clinical use. Clinical failure can occur at any stage of clinical development.
Due to our limited resources and access to capital in the past, we have decided to prioritize development of certain product candidates and may have forgone the opportunity to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may ultimately have been more profitable or for which there was a greater likelihood of success.
We may not be successful in our efforts to progress and expand our immunology and oncology portfolio and to build a pipeline of product candidates.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, the EMA, the MHLW, and other comparable regulatory authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable which may affect the commercial viability of our products in development. If we are unable to ultimately obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
In connection with our global clinical trials, local regulatory authorities may have differing perspectives on clinical protocols and safety parameters, which impacts the manner in which we conduct these global clinical trials and could negatively impact our chances for obtaining regulatory approvals or marketing authorization in these jurisdictions, or for obtaining the requested label or dosage for our product candidates, if regulatory approvals or marketing authorizations are obtained.
Even if we receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.
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Our future clinical trials or those of any of our collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in our preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials and result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.
Coverage and reimbursement decisions by third-party payers may have an adverse effect on pricing and market acceptance.
Legislative and regulatory activity may exert downward pressure on potential pricing and reimbursement for any of our product candidates, if approved, that could materially affect the opportunity to commercialize.
We face significant competition for our drug discovery and development efforts, and if we do not compete effectively, our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated.
Our ability to compete may decline if we do not adequately protect our proprietary rights.
Our business, results of operations and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The market price of the ADSs could be subject to wide fluctuations.
We may be at an increased risk of securities class action litigation.
PART I
Item 1 Identity of directors, senior management and advisers
Not applicable.
Item 2 Offer statistics and expected timetable
Not applicable.
Item 3 Key information
A. Reserved
B. Capitalization and indebtedness
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the offer and use of proceeds
Not applicable.
D. Risk factors
Our business is subject to significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this annual report and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, including the following risk factors which we face, and which are faced by our industry. Our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. This report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our results could materially differ from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, as a result of certain factors including the risks described below and elsewhere in this annual report and our other SEC filings. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above.
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Risks related to commercialization
The marketing and sale of filgotinib or future approved products may be unsuccessful or less successful than anticipated. We are heavily dependent on the success of filgotinib, which is approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis in the European Union (including Norway), Great Britain, and Japan.
We, and our collaboration partner, Gilead, began commercializing filgotinib in the European Union and Great Britain, and Gilead began commercializing filgotinib in Japan for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, following receipt in September 2020 of marketing approval from the European Medicines Agency, or the EMA, from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or the MHRA, and from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, or the MHLW. We received marketing approval from the EMA for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, or UC in November 2021, from the MHRA in January 2022, and from the MHLW in March 2022.
As of 2021, we assumed sole responsibility in Europe for the commercialization of filgotinib as well as for all future indications for filgotinib, including becoming the marketing authorization holder for Jyseleca for the treatment of RA and UC in twenty-seven European countries, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein (the European Economic Area or EEA), and Great Britain, with Gilead maintaining commercialization rights and remaining the marketing authorization holder for filgotinib and other future indications for filgotinib outside of Europe, including in Japan where Jyseleca is approved for the treatment of RA and UC and is co-marketed with Eisai. In October 2021, Galapagos signed a distribution agreement with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (‘Sobi’). Sobi is our distribution and commercialization partner in Eastern and Central Europe, Portugal, Greece, and the Baltic countries. They launched Jyseleca in RA in the Czech Republic and Portugal. Although we have secured reimbursement for Jyseleca in fifteen European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain, and our sales force commenced making sales of Jyseleca in the second half of 2021, we have limited experience as a commercial company, and there is limited information about our ability to overcome many of the risks and uncertainties encountered by companies commercializing products in the biopharmaceutical industry. To market and sell filgotinib, and any of our product candidates that may be approved for marketing in the future, we will need to successfully:
● | establish and maintain, in the geographies where we hope to treat patients, relationships with qualified treatment centers who will treat the patients who receive filgotinib and any future products; |
● | continue to obtain adequate pricing and reimbursement for filgotinib and any future products in the jurisdictions in which we plan to commercialize approved products; |
● | obtain regulatory authorization for the development and commercialization of the product candidates in our pipeline; |
● | develop and maintain successful strategic alliances and collaborations; and |
● | manage our spending as costs and expenses are expected to increase due to clinical trials, marketing approvals, and commercialization, including any extension of marketing approval for filgotinib, and for any future products we may develop. |
If we are not successful in accomplishing these objectives, we may not be able to develop product candidates, successfully commercialize filgotinib or any future products we may develop, raise capital, expand our business, or continue our operations. Further, to the extent that Gilead is commercializing filgotinib in one or more jurisdictions or a third party, such as Eisai or Sobi, is commercializing filgotinib in one or more jurisdictions, we are significantly dependent on their successful accomplishment of these objectives, which is largely out of our control.
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The commercial success of filgotinib and of any future products will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, healthcare payers, patients, and the medical community.
The commercial success of filgotinib and of any future products we may develop will depend in part on acceptance by the medical community, patients, and third-party or governmental payers as medically useful, cost-effective, and safe. Filgotinib and any other products that we and our current and future partners may bring to the market may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue and may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of filgotinib and of any future products we may develop will depend on a number of factors, including:
● | the efficacy and safety as demonstrated in clinical trials; |
● | the timing of market introduction of the product as well as the timing of entry of competitive products; |
● | the clinical indications for which the product is approved; |
● | acceptance by physicians, the medical community, and patients of the product as a safe and effective treatment; |
● | the convenience of prescribing and initiating patients on the product; |
● | the potential and perceived advantages of such product over alternative treatments; |
● | the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments, including any similar generic treatments; |
● | the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement and pricing by third-party payers and government authorities; |
● | relative convenience and ease of administration; |
● | the prevalence and severity of adverse side effects; and |
● | the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts. |
Even if a product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in preclinical and clinical studies and receives regulatory approval, market acceptance of the product will not be known until after it is launched. Our efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payers on the benefits of our products may require significant resources and may never be successful. Our efforts to educate the marketplace may require more resources than are required by the conventional methods marketed by our competitors. Any of these factors may cause filgotinib or any future products we may develop to be unsuccessful or less successful than anticipated.
We have limited sales and distribution experience. We expect to continue to invest financial and management resources to continue to build these capabilities further. To the extent that any of our product candidates for which we maintain commercial rights is approved for marketing, if we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our products, we may not be able to market and sell any products effectively, or generate product revenues as projected.
We have built, and continue to develop a marketing and sales organization for the marketing, sales, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. As of 2021, we assumed sole responsibility in Europe for the commercialization of filgotinib, approved in RA at that point, and as well as for all future indications for filgotinib, with Gilead maintaining commercialization rights and remaining the marketing authorization holder for filgotinib and other future indications for filgotinib outside of Europe. This assumption of responsibility by us has required us to, and will require us to continue to, develop robust marketing and sales capabilities, including a commercial infrastructure. We have limited experience as a commercial company and there is limited information about our ability to overcome many of the risks and uncertainties encountered by companies commercializing products in the biopharmaceutical industry. In order to
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commercialize filgotinib independently in Europe and any product candidates that may receive marketing approval in the future and for which we maintain commercial rights, we will need to maintain and expand marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services, and these efforts may not achieve the desired results. Further, in the event of development of any other product candidates for which we maintain commercial rights, we may elect to build a targeted specialty sales force which will be expensive and time consuming. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal market access, sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of these products. With respect to any proprietary product candidates we may have in the future, we may choose to partner with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems.
If we are unable to continue to develop and scale our own sales, marketing and distribution capabilities for filgotinib in Europe, or for any future products which we choose to commercialize ourselves, we will not be able to commercialize such products successfully without reliance on third parties and, in the case of filgotinib, we may be unable to realize all of the anticipated benefits of the transition of European rights to filgotinib from Gilead to us. Further, if we are unable to enter into collaborations with third parties for the commercialization of approved products, if any, on acceptable terms or at all, or if any such partner (such as Gilead and Eisai, in the case of filgotinib) does not devote sufficient resources to the commercialization of our product or otherwise fails in commercialization efforts, we may not be able achieve the commercial goal for any of our product candidates that may receive regulatory approval. If we are not able to commercialize our product candidates well, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future revenue will be materially and adversely impacted.
Coverage and reimbursement decisions by third-party payers may have an adverse effect on pricing and market acceptance.
There is significant uncertainty related to the third-party coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs. To the extent that we retain commercial rights following clinical development, we may seek approval to market our product candidates in the United States, the European Union and other selected jurisdictions. Market acceptance and sales of our product candidates, if approved, in both domestic and international markets will depend significantly on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers for any of our product candidates and may be affected by existing and future healthcare reform measures. Third-party payers, such as government authorities, private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will cover and establish payment levels. See section entitled “Information on the Company – Pharmaceutical coverage, pricing and reimbursement.”
We cannot be certain that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be available for any of our products or product candidates, if approved. Also, we cannot be certain that reimbursement policies will not reduce the demand for, or the price paid for, any of our product candidates, if approved. If reimbursement is not available or is available on a limited basis for any of our products or product candidates, if approved, we may not be able to commercialize successfully any such product candidate.
Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval for a product from a government or other third-party payer is a time consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products to the payer. We may not be able to provide data sufficient to gain acceptance with respect to coverage and reimbursement or to have pricing set at a satisfactory level. If reimbursement of our future products, if any, is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels such as may result where alternative or generic treatments are available, we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability.
In certain countries, particularly in the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product candidate. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials that compare the cost-effectiveness of our product candidates to other available therapies. In the United States, Medicare and Medicaid are significant third party payors. Medicare is administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Medicaid is administered jointly by CMS and the individual states. Obtaining adequate coverage and reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid is important for new drug products. Additionally, private payors may adopt coverage policies or reimbursement methodologies similar to Medicare. Reimbursement by a third-party payer may depend upon a number of factors, including the third-party payor's
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determination that use of a product is: a covered benefit under its health plan; safe, effective and medically necessary; appropriate for the specific patient; cost-effective; and neither experimental nor investigational. Novel and expensive cell therapies like CAR-T cell therapies have experienced and continue to experience coverage and reimbursement challenges. For example, Medicare only covers CAR-T cell therapies that meet specific criteria set forth in a national coverage decision. Other third party payors may impose coverage criteria more extensive than compliance with FDA labeling. If reimbursement of any of our products or product candidates, if approved, is unavailable or limited in scope or amount in a particular country, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability of our products in such country.
The delivery of healthcare in the European Union, including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than EU, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of healthcare and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most EU member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing EU and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize any products for which we have or will obtain marketing approval.
Legislative and regulatory activity may exert downward pressure on potential pricing and reimbursement for any of our product candidates, if approved, that could materially affect the opportunity to commercialize.
The United States and several other jurisdictions are considering, or have already enacted, a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our ability to sell any of our products or product candidates profitably, if approved. Among policy-makers and payers in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access to healthcare. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at broadening the availability of healthcare and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. See section entitled “Information on the Company – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Healthcare Reform.” We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payers of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare may adversely affect:
● | the demand for any of our product candidates, if approved; |
● | the ability to set a price that we believe is fair for any of our product candidates, if approved; |
● | our ability to generate revenues and achieve or maintain profitability; |
● | the level of taxes that we are required to pay; and |
● | the availability of capital. |
We expect that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or, collectively, the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future in any jurisdiction, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or successfully commercialize our products or product candidates.
Legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical and biologic products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations or regulations, guidance or interpretations of other regulatory authorities will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our products or product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by Congress of the
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FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.
Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our products or product candidates. There has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs.
We expect that the healthcare reform measures that have been adopted and may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product and could seriously harm our future revenues. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs in the United States or in other jursidictions may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or successfully commercialize our products.
Risks related to product development and regulatory approval
We are also dependent on the success of our other clinical-stage product candidates, such as our inflammation candidates (such as filgotinib, GLPG3667, and GLPG5101) and our oncology candidates (such as GLPG5101, GLPG5201, and GLPG5301). We cannot give any assurance that any product candidate will successfully complete clinical trials or receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before it can be commercialized.
We anticipate to start Phase 3 trials with filgotinib in axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) in 2023. Our business and future success is substantially dependent on our ability to further commercialize filgotinib and to develop, obtain additional regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize filgotinib for additional indications. Our business and future success also depend on our ability to develop successfully, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize our other clinical-stage immunology and oncology product candidates, including GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201 and GLPG5301.
Our product candidates will require additional clinical development, management of clinical and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions (if regulatory approval can be obtained at all), securing sources of commercial manufacturing supply, building of, or partnering with, a commercial organization, substantial investment and significant marketing, sales and distribution efforts before any revenues can be generated from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, or any other comparable regulatory authority such as the MHLW, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. We cannot assure you that our clinical trials for filgotinib (in AxSpA), GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, GLPG5301 and other product candidates will be completed in a timely manner, or at all, or that we will be able to obtain approval from the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, or any other comparable regulatory authority for any of these product candidates. We cannot be certain that we will advance any other product candidates into clinical trials. If any of filgotinib in AxSpA, GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, GLPG5301 or any future product candidate is not approved and commercialized, we will not be able to generate any product revenues for that product candidate. Moreover, any delay or setback in the development of any product candidate could adversely affect our business and cause the price of the American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, or our ordinary shares to fall.
Due to our limited resources and access to capital in the past, we have decided to prioritize development of certain product candidates and may have forgone the opportunity to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may ultimately have been more profitable or for which there was a greater likelihood of success.
Because we had limited resources in the past, we had to decide which product candidates to pursue and the resources to allocate to each. As of year-end 2022, we implemented a new innovation R&D model focusing on the therapeutic areas of immunology and oncology. Consequently, we are currently primarily focused on the commercialization of filgotinib in RA and UC, and the development of filgotinib in AxSpA, as well as on advancing our
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clinical-stage pipeline, including filgotinib (for additional indications), GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201 and GLPG5301. Our decisions concerning the allocation of research, collaboration, management, commercial and financial resources toward particular compounds, products or product candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of additional viable commercial products, we may forgo or delay the pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates, or for other indications that may prove to have greater commercial potential. Similarly, our potential decisions to delay, terminate or collaborate with third parties in respect of certain product development programs may also prove not to be optimal and could cause us to miss valuable opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the market potential of our products or product candidates or misread trends in the pharmaceutical industry, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW and other comparable regulatory authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable which may affect the commercial viability of our products or product candidates in development. If we are unable ultimately to obtain regulatory approval for our products or product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW and other comparable regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. Although we and Gilead have received regulatory approval for filgotinib in the European Union, Great Britain, and Japan for the treatment of RA and UC, it is possible that none of our other existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:
● | the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials; |
● | we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication; |
● | the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities for approval; |
● | we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks; |
● | filgotinib and many of our product candidates are developed to act against targets discovered by us, and because a number of our products and product candidates are novel mode of action compounds, they can carry an additional risk regarding the desired level of efficacy and safety profile; |
● | the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials; |
● | the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of a new drug application, or NDA, supplemental NDA, biologics license application, or BLA, or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States, Europe or elsewhere; |
● | the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities may find deficiencies with or fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies, or such processes or facilities may not pass a pre-approval inspection; and |
● | the approval policies or regulations of the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW or other comparable regulatory authorities may change (in particular, the regulatory requirements and guidance with respect to cell |
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therapy products are still evolving) or differ from one another significantly in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval. |
This lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our collaboration partners’ failure to obtain regulatory approval to market filgotinib in AxSpA, GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, GLPG5301 and/or other product candidates, which would harm our business, results of operations and prospects significantly. In addition, even if we were to obtain additional approvals, regulatory authorities may approve any of our products or product candidates for fewer or more limited indications or patient populations than we request, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials, or may approve a product or product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. In certain jurisdictions, regulatory authorities may not approve the price we intend to charge for our products. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our products or product candidates.
We cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. Further, our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval even if they are successful in clinical trials. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations. Even though we have successfully obtained regulatory approval for filgotinib in several jurisdictions and even if we successfully obtain regulatory approvals to market one or more of our product candidates, our revenues will be dependent, to a significant extent, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval and have commercial rights or share in revenues from the exercise of such rights. If the markets for patient subsets that we are targeting (such as AxSpA) are not as significant as we estimate, we may not generate significant revenues from sales of such products or product candidates, if approved.
In connection with our global clinical trials, local regulatory authorities may have differing perspectives on clinical protocols and safety parameters, which impacts the manner in which we conduct these global clinical trials and could negatively impact our chances for obtaining regulatory approvals or marketing authorization in these jurisdictions, or for obtaining the requested label or dosage for our product candidates, if regulatory approvals or marketing authorizations are obtained.
In connection with our global clinical trials, we are obligated to comply with the requirements of local regulatory authorities in each jurisdiction where we execute and locate a clinical trial. Local regulatory authorities can request specific changes to the clinical protocol or specific safety measures that differ from the positions taken in other jurisdictions. For example, filgotinib received approval in RA and UC from the EMA in the European Union, the MHRA in Great Britain, and the MHLW in Japan, yet a complete response letter, or CRL, in RA from the FDA in the United States. The FDA, EMA, the MHRA, and MHLW will receive the full data from the MANTA and MANTA-RAy male semen parameter studies conducted in parallel to the FINCH Phase 3 program in RA. We cannot assure that the same view of the MANTA and MANTA-RAy results will be adopted by regulatory authorities at the marketing authorization stage, now that filgotinib received marketing authorization in the EEA, Great Britain, and Japan for RA and UC. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may approve different labels, including for whom the drug is indicated or require different warnings or precautions, or impose dosing restrictions that differ from the approved dosing regimen in other jurisdictions, and these differences could have a material adverse effect on our ability to commercialize our products in these jurisdictions. Regulatory authorities could also not approve our applications, which would adversely affect our business prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
Even if we receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.
Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product, and we may be required to include labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or significant safety warnings, including boxed warnings.
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If the FDA, EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, or any other comparable regulatory authority approves any of our product candidates, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration requirements and continued compliance with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, and good clinical practices, or GCPs, for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. Manufacturers and other parties involved in the drug supply chain for prescription drug and biological products must also comply with product tracking and tracing requirements and for notifying the FDA of counterfeit, diverted, stolen and intentionally adulterated products or products that are otherwise unfit for distribution in the United States. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:
● | restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market, or voluntary or mandatory product recalls; |
● | fines, untitled or warning letters or holds on clinical trials; |
● | imposition by the FDA, the EMA, the MHLW, or any other comparable regulatory authority of more restrictive labeling, including label updates and adjustments; |
● | refusal by the FDA, the EMA, the MHLW, or any other comparable regulatory authority to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us, or suspension or revocation of product approvals or licenses; |
● | product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and |
● | injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties. |
For example, the MHRA has assigned a black triangle to filgotinib, indicating that it is on a list of medicines subject to additional monitoring. Additionally, in February 2022 the EMA announced that its Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), the EMA’s safety committee, started a safety review of JAK inhibitors used to treat certain chronic inflammatory disorders, including filgotinib. This safety study intended to investigate whether certain serious risks associated with the JAK inhibitors Xeljanz (tofacitinib) and Olumiant (baricitinib) are associated with all JAK inhibitors authorized in the EU for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. Further, while we and Gilead elected in 2020 not to pursue approval and commercialization of filgotinib in the U.S., in 2021, the FDA announced that following completion of its review of a safety study of Xeljanz (tofacitinib), it would require revisions to the Boxed Warning, the FDA’s most prominent warning, for Xeljanz and certain other JAK inhibitors that are the subject of the EMA’s review to include information about the risks of serious heart-related events, cancer, blood clots and death.
In November 2022, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the EMA’s scientific committee, announced that it has endorsed PRAC’s recommendation to add measures to minimize risk of serious side effects with JAK inhibitors for chronic inflammatory disorders by updating the product labels of all JAK inhibitors to include a precautionary approach for patients aged 65 years or above, those at increased risk of major cardiovascular problems (such as heart attack or stroke), those who smoke or have done so for a long time in the past and those at increased risk of cancer. For those at-risk patients, the recommendation is that JAK inhibitors, including filgotinib, should be used only if no suitable treatment alternatives are available. The CHMP followed PRAC’s recommendation that JAK inhibitors should be used with caution in patients with risk factors for blood clots in the lungs and in deep veins (venous thromboembolism, VTE) other than those listed above.
Following the adoption by the CHMP, the European Commission approved this decision on 10 March, 2023.
The policies of the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, and other comparable regulatory authorities may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. 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
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that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
Filgotinib may be subject to box warnings, labeling restrictions or dose limitations in certain jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse impact on our ability to market filgotinib in these jurisdictions.
Based on preclinical findings, we expect that filgotinib, if approved in the U.S. or in other additional jurisdictions, may have a labeling statement warning female patients of childbearing age to take precautionary measures of birth control to protect against pregnancy. In animal toxicology studies in the preclinical phase, filgotinib at an exposure dose above the approved dose in humans induced adverse effects on semen parameters. We and Gilead conducted dedicated male semen analysis studies in CD and UC patients (MANTA) and in RA, psoriatic arthritis, or PsA, and ankylosing spondylitis, or AS, patients (MANTA-RAy).
We submitted a type II variation application to the EMA in June 2022, supported by interim data on the primary, secondary and exploratory endpoints at Week 13 and 26 for subjects who met a prespecified sperm decrease at these timepoints (up to Week 52) from the ongoing MANTA and MANTA-RAy studies, investigating the potential effect of filgotinib use on semen parameters and sex hormones in adult patients with IBD and various RC.
Following assessment of the interim data by the CHMP, it was concluded in the CHMP opinion that the data did not reveal a difference between treatment groups in the proportion of patients who had a 50% or more decrease from baseline in semen parameters at Week 13 (pooled primary endpoint: filgotinib 6.7%, placebo 8.3%) and at Week 26. Further, the CHMP concluded that the data did not show any relevant changes in sex hormone levels or change from baseline in semen parameters across treatment groups. Overall, CHMP concluded that these clinical data were not suggestive of filgotinib-related effects on testicular function. We received a positive CHMP opinion for the European label update of filgotinib based on testicular safety data from MANTA/RAy studies.
Following the positive CHMP opinion, the language in the section of the Special Warnings and Precautions about the potential effect of filgotinib on sperm production and male fertility will be removed from the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC).
In Japan and other jurisdictions where filgotinib has been approved for RA and UC, those regulatory authorities could impose new labeling or other requirements upon learning of new information related to filgotinib.
Even if filgotinib receives additional regulatory approval or marketing authorization, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may impose dosing restrictions that differ from the approved dosing regimens in other jurisdictions.
Box warnings, labeling restrictions, dose limitations and similar restrictions on use could have a material adverse effect on our ability to commercialize filgotinib in those jurisdictions where such restrictions apply.
Clinical development is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials as well as data from any interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials may not be predictive of future trial results or an approved label for clinical use. Clinical failure can occur at any stage of clinical development.
Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. Although product candidates may demonstrate promising results in early clinical (human) trials and preclinical (animal) studies, they may not prove to be effective in subsequent clinical trials. For example (without any limitation), testing on animals may occur under different conditions than testing in humans and therefore the results of animal studies may not accurately predict human experience. Likewise, early clinical studies may not be predictive of eventual safety or effectiveness results in larger-scale pivotal clinical trials. The results of preclinical studies and previous clinical trials as well as data from any interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials of our product candidates, as well as studies and trials of other products with similar mechanisms of action to our product candidates, may not be predictive of the results of ongoing or future clinical trials. For example (without any limitation), the positive results generated to date in preclinical studies and Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials for filgotinib in RA and UC and in the Phase 2 clinical trials for CD do not ensure that later clinical trials, including any post-approval clinical trials for approved products, will continue to demonstrate similar results or observations. For our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates which are in Phase 1/2 of clinical development, dose escalation and dose expansion cohort data are required to establish the dose for pivotal trials, and durability of response can only be established based
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on longer term follow up of patients who received therapy. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and earlier clinical trials. In addition to the safety and efficacy traits of any product candidate, clinical trial failures may result from a multitude of factors including flaws in trial design, dose selection, placebo effect and patient enrollment criteria. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials, and it is possible that we will as well. Based upon negative or inconclusive results, we or our collaboration partners may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies. In addition, data obtained from trials and studies are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulators may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval.
We may experience delays in our ongoing clinical trials and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays related to:
● | obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a trial; |
● | reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research organizations, or CROs, and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites; |
● | obtaining Institutional Review Board, or IRB, or ethics committee approval at each site; |
● | obtaining regulatory concurrence on the design and parameters for the trial; |
● | obtaining approval for the designs of our clinical development programs for each country targeted for trial enrollment; |
● | recruiting suitable patients to participate in a trial, which may be impacted by the number of competing trials that are enrolling patients; |
● | having patients complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up; |
● | clinical sites deviating from trial protocol or dropping out of a trial; |
● | adding new clinical trial sites; |
● | for our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates, adding new manufacturing sites; |
● | manufacturing sufficient quantities of product candidate or obtaining sufficient quantities of comparator drug for use in clinical trials; |
● | the availability of adequate financing and other resources; |
● | the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; or |
● | the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia. |
We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, our collaboration partners, by the IRBs or ethics committees of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or by the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, MHLW, or other comparable regulatory authorities, or recommended for suspension or termination by the Data Monitoring Committee, or the DMC, for such trial. A suspension or termination, including in some cases a clinical hold, may be imposed due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, MHLW, or other comparable regulatory authorities, safety issues or adverse side effects, including those seen in the class to which our product candidates belong, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in
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governmental regulations or administrative actions, manufacturing issues or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. For example (without limitation), it is possible that safety issues or adverse side effects could be observed in trials for filgotinib in RA, UC, and CD; for GLPG3667 or GLPG5101 in immunology, and for GLPG5101, GLPG5201 or GLPG5301 in oncology, which could result in a delay, suspension or termination of the ongoing trials of filgotinib (in one or more indications), GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, and GLPG5301. If we experience delays in the completion of, or experience a termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed or prevented. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. In addition, many of the factors that cause or lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
If filgotinib in AxSpA, GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, or GLPG5301, or any other product candidate is found to be unsafe or lack efficacy, we will not be able to obtain regulatory approval for it and our business would be materially harmed.
In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and/or efficacy results between different trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial protocols, differences in composition of the patient populations, adherence to the dosing regimen and other trial protocols and the rate of dropouts among clinical trial participants. We do not know whether any Phase 2, Phase 3, or other clinical trials we or any of our collaboration partners may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. If we are unable to bring any of our current or future product candidates to market, our ability to create long-term shareholder value will be limited.
We initiated our first clinical study in 2009, and for 15 of our compounds with novel modes of action, Phase 2 studies were initiated. Phase 3 studies in RA, UC, and CD were initiated by our collaboration partner Gilead for filgotinib.
The rates at which we complete our scientific studies and clinical trials depend on many factors, including, but not limited to, patient enrollment.
Patient enrollment, a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials, is affected by many factors including the size and nature of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating.
Furthermore, our efforts to build relationships with patient communities may not succeed, which could result in delays in patient enrollment in our clinical trials. In addition, any negative results we may report in clinical trials of our drug candidate may make it difficult or impossible to recruit and retain patients in other clinical trials of that same drug candidate. Delays in the completion of any clinical trial of our product candidates will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and delay or potentially jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue. In addition, some of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
We may not be successful in our efforts to use and expand our novel target discovery platform to build a pipeline of product candidates.
A key element of our strategy is to use and expand our novel target discovery platform to build a pipeline of product candidates and progress these product candidates through clinical development for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Although our research and development efforts to date have resulted in a pipeline of product candidates directed at various diseases, we may not be able to develop product candidates that are safe and effective. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for 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 product candidates that will receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. If we do not continue to develop successfully and to commercialize products, we will face difficulty in
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obtaining product revenues in future periods, which could result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely affect the price of the ADSs or our ordinary shares.
We face significant competition for our drug discovery and development efforts, and if we do not compete effectively, our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are intensely competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Our drug discovery and development efforts may target diseases and conditions that are already addressed by existing therapies or by product candidates that are being developed by our competitors, many of which have substantially greater resources, larger research and development staffs and facilities, more experience in completing preclinical testing and clinical trials, and more or better formulation, marketing and manufacturing capabilities than we do. As a result of these resources, our competitors may develop drug products that render our products and product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive by developing more effective drugs or by developing their products more efficiently. Our ability to develop competitive products would be limited if our competitors succeed in obtaining regulatory approvals for product candidates more rapidly than we are able to or in obtaining patent protection or other intellectual property rights that limit our drug development efforts. We depend upon our management team to develop and successfully implement strategies for us to obtain regulatory approvals for our selected product candidates more speedily than our competitors and to obtain and maintain patent protection and other intellectual property rights that protect our drug development efforts. Any drug products resulting from our research and development efforts, or from our joint efforts with collaboration partners or licensees, might not be able to compete successfully with our competitors’ existing and future products, or obtain regulatory approval in the United States, European Union or elsewhere. Further, we may be subject to additional competition from alternative forms of treatment, including generic or over-the-counter drugs.
In the field of RA, therapies include conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), such as methotrexate, which is considered the standard-of-care for the treatment of RA. In fact, both the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) recommendations and the American College of Rheumatology guidelines recommend inclusion of methotrexate in first-line therapies for patients with RA. Given that csDMARDs may be ineffective for some patients with RA or cause side effects, additional therapies for patients who do not respond adequately or who are intolerant to standard-of-care treatments are needed. Accordingly, in addition to csDMARDS, biological DMARDs, such as monoclonal antibodies targeting TNF, like AbbVie’s Humira, or against IL-6 Receptor (IL-6R) like Roche’s RoActemra in EU, and Actemra as marketed in the US, have been developed. These biologics which must be delivered via injection or infusion. In November 2012, Xeljanz, marketed by Pfizer, was approved by the FDA as an oral treatment of adult patients with RA who have had an inadequate response to, or who are intolerant to, MTX. Xeljanz was approved by the EMA in 2017. Olumiant, a once-daily JAK1/2 inhibitor, marketed by Eli Lilly, was approved by the EMA for RA with 2 dosages in 2017 and by the FDA in 2018. A JAK inhibitor called Rinvoq which received approval for use with 1 dosage in RA from FDA and EMA in 2019 and in UC from FDA and EMA in 2022 is marketed by AbbVie. Filgotinib (Jyseleca), developed by us in collaboration with Gilead, is a preferential JAK1 inhibitor approved in 2020 for use in RA with 2 dosages and in 2022 in UC in European Union, Great Britain and Japan. We expect that Jyseleca is competing with all of these advanced therapies now that it is marketed. If generic or biosimilar versions of these therapies are approved, we would also expect Jyseleca to compete against these versions of the therapies.
In the field of AxSpA, Axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) is an umbrella term that includes different inflammatory diseases primarily targeting the sacro-iliac joints and the spine. The most notable diseases of the AxSpA group are radiographic AxSpA (r-AxSpA; also known as ankylosing spondylitis, AS) and non-radiographic AxSpA (nr-AxSpA). The latter was introduced by the Assessment in SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) to classify a group of patients who did not meet criteria for radiographic sacroiliitis but still experienced a burden of disease comparable to patients with well-defined AS. The disease usually arises in the third decade of life and is characterised by a chronic course, flares and high permanent invalidity rates. Next to physiotherapy, pharmacological therapy to treat signs and symptoms of the disease is based on the use of NSAIDs. In patients who do not respond or cannot tolerate first line treatments, biologic anti-rheumatic disease modifying (bDMARDs) drugs such as anti-TNF and IL-17 can be used. These include AbbVie’s Humira (AS only in US), UCB’s Cimzia (severe only in EU), Novartis’ Cosentyx and Lilly’s Taltz. Bimzelix (bimekizumab) from UCB is currently under regulatory review for AS and nr-AxSpA and Netakimab (BCD-085) from Biocad is in Phase 3 for AS. Inhibition of the JAK pathway with tsDMARDs has recently shown to be a good additional strategy to effectively manage AxSpA. Both tofacitinib and upadacitinib have been approved in the European Union (EU) for the treatment of adult patients with active AS who have responded inadequately to
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conventional therapy. Furthermore, upadacitinib has been approved in the EU for the treatment of active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nrAxSpA) in adult patients with objective signs of inflammation, as indicated by elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and/or MRI, who have responded inadequately to NSAIDs.
In the field of UC, first line therapies are oral (or local) treatments with several low-cost generic compounds such as mesalamine. Steroids such as budesonide are also used in UC. For more advanced therapy, monoclonal antibodies with various targets such as TNF and more recently, integrins such as vedolizumab (Entyvio, marketed by Takeda) are approved. We are also aware of other biologics currently approved or in clinical development for these indications, such as ustekinumab (Stelara), developed by Johnson & Johnson, which is approved for UC, and binutuzumab (Skyrizi), developed by AbbVie and under development for UC. Celgene/BMS has a new oral therapy, ozanimod (Zeposia), approved in UC. Pfizer’s Xeljanz was approved by the FDA for UC in 2018. Filgotinib (Jyseleca) is approved in the European Union, Great Britain and Japan for UC. Abbvie’s Rinvoq is approved for UC. The number of treatments for UC presents a substantial level of competition for any new treatment entering the IBD market. We expect that Jyseleca competes with all of these therapies now marketed for UC. If generic or biosimilar versions of these therapies are approved, we would also expect Jyseleca to compete against these versions of the therapies.
In the field of dermatomyositis (DM), DM is commonly treated with physical therapy, exercise and medication including corticosteroids, immunosuppressants or recently immunoglobulin treatment. Treatment of this disease has relied for many years on off-label medication and in 2021 the FDA approved immunoglobulin treatment Octagam, based on the Phase 3 ProDerm trial of Octapharma.
In the field of SLE, corticosteroids, antimalarials and immunosuppressants are commonly used to control lupus disease activity. Only two products are approved to treat SLE, both as add-on therapy: Belimumab (Benlysta) (anti-BAFF) from GSK and recently anifrolumab (Saphnelo) (anti-IFN) from Astra Zeneca. There are currently 8 product at Phase 3 for SLE, only two of which are oral – deucravacitinib (Sotyktu) (TYK2) from BMS and cenerimod (S1P1) from Idorsia. .
In the field of hematologic malignancies, such as Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Multiple Myeloma (MM), there are many approved therapies or therapies in development (chemotherapy, BTKi, antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates, CAR-Ts, cytokines, NK and T-cell engagers, etc.) and many different types of cell therapy in development (allogeneic / autologous, T / NK / CAR-NK, TIL, TCR-T, dendritic, etc.) which creates a highly competitive environment. New technologies and therapies such as in vivo modification of immune cells may further disrupt this market in the long-term. Six CAR T treatments have been approved for hematological cancers: Novartis’ Kymriah (CD19 CAR T), Gilead/Kite’s Yescarta (CD19 CAR T), Tecartus (CD19 CAR T), J&J’s Carvykti (BCMA CAR T) BMS’ Breyanzi (CD19 CAR T) and Abecma (BCMA CAR T).
Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resources than we have. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop or market products or other novel therapies that are more effective, safer, or less costly than our current or future product candidates, or obtain regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for our product candidates. Our success will be based in part on our ability to identify, develop, and manage a portfolio of product candidates that are safer and more effective than competing products.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.
Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, or other comparable regulatory authorities. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of certain side effects. In such an event, our trials could be suspended or terminated and the FDA, the EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, or comparable regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential
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product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
For example (without any limitation), the ISABELA Phase 3 program in IPF was discontinued in February 2021, prior to recruitment completion. The decision was based on the recommendations of the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) which, following a regular review of unblinded data, concluded that ziritaxestat’s benefit-risk profile no longer supported continuing these studies.
If one or more of our products or product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
● | regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product; |
● | regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label or impose updates to the label; |
● | we may be required to create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients; |
● | we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and |
● | our reputation may suffer. |
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product or product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
Our future clinical trials or those of any of our collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in our preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials and result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.
If significant adverse events or other side effects are observed in any of our clinical trials, we may have difficulty recruiting patients to our clinical trials, patients may drop out of our trials, we may be required to pause, delay, or abandon the trials or our development efforts of one or more product candidates altogether, we may be required to have more restrictive labeling, including updates and adjustments of product labels, or we may experience the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA, EMA, MHRA, the MHLW, or other applicable regulatory authorities. We, the FDA, or other applicable regulatory authorities, or an IRB may suspend clinical trials of a product candidate at any time for various reasons, including a belief that subjects or patients in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or adverse side effects. Some potential therapeutics developed in the biotechnology industry that initially showed therapeutic promise in early-stage trials have later been found to cause adverse events or other side effects that prevented their further development. Even if any such adverse events or other side effects do not preclude the product candidate from obtaining or maintaining marketing approval, undesirable side effects may inhibit market acceptance of the approved product due to its tolerability versus other therapies.
Cell therapies are novel, complex, and difficult to manufacture and we may not be successful in our efforts to develop and commercialize such therapies.
In June 2022, we acquired CellPoint and AboundBio with the aim to enter the space of oncology. Through the acquisitions of CellPoint and AboundBio, respectively, we gained access to an innovative, scalable, decentralized and automated point-of-care cell therapy supply model as well as fully human antibody-based therapeutics platform. CellPoint has developed, in a strategic collaboration with Lonza, a novel point-of-care supply model, which offers the potential for efficient, 7-day delivery of CAR-T therapies and avoids complex logistics, thereby addressing important limitations of current CAR-T treatments. The platform that we use consists of end-to-end xCellit workflow management and monitoring software and Lonza’s Cocoon® platform, a functionally closed, automated manufacturing platform for cell and gene therapies.
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The manufacturing processes that we use to produce our product candidates for human therapeutics are complex, novel, have not been validated for commercial use and are subject to multiple risks. Several factors could cause production interruptions, including equipment malfunctions, facility contamination, raw material shortages or contamination, natural disasters, disruption in utility services, human error, or disruptions in the operations of our suppliers. Moreover, unlike chemical pharmaceuticals, the physical and chemical properties of a biologic often cannot be fully characterized. As a result, assays of the finished product may not be sufficient to ensure that the product will perform in the intended manner. Accordingly, it is necessary to employ multiple steps to control our manufacturing process to assure that the product candidate is made strictly and consistently in compliance with the process. Problems with the manufacturing process, even minor deviations from the normal process, could result in product defects or manufacturing failures that result in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims, or insufficient inventory.
In addition, the manufacture of our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates involves complex processes, such as harvesting and transporting cells from every patient to Lonza’s Cocoon® system, engineering the cells ex vivo to express a specific biologic receptor for a specific target, and finally transporting the point-of-care cell therapy product candidates from Lonza’s Cocoon® system back to the patient for infusion into the patient. As a result of the complexities, the manufacturing process for our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates is more variable and difficult to reproduce than traditional small molecule chemical compounds or biologics. Our manufacturing process may be susceptible to product loss or failure due to logistical issues associated with the collection of patients’ cells and the infusion of the patient with our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates. Product loss or failure may also be caused by a number of factors, including manufacturing issues associated with the variability in patient material, interruptions in the manufacturing process, contamination, equipment failure, assay failures, improper installation or operation of Lonza’s Cocoon® system, vendor or operator error, inconsistency in cell growth, and variability in product characteristics.
If for any reason a patient’s starting material is lost, or if any point-of-care cell therapy product candidate does not meet the preset specifications, the manufacturing process for that patient will need to be restarted, sometimes including the re-collection of cells from the patient, and the resulting delay may adversely affect that patient’s outcome. It may even happen that failed product candidate manufacture may prevent a patient from receiving our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates. If microbial, environmental or other contaminations are discovered in our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates or in the third-party facilities in which our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates are manufactured through Lonza’s Cocoon® system, delays can occur and such facilities can be closed. If such contaminations or other product quality issues are not discovered and if as a result thereof patients are exposed to a health risk, we may be held liable. Our insurance may not cover those cases, or the financial coverage may not be sufficient. Because our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates are manufactured specifically for each individual patient, vendors and operators will be required to maintain a chain of identity with respect to the patient’s cellular material as it moves from the patient through the Cocoon® point-of-care manufacturing process, and back to the patient for infusion. Maintaining such a chain of identity is difficult and complex, and failure to do so could result in adverse patient outcomes, loss of product, or regulatory action including clinical hold or other suspension or termination of our clinical trials or withdrawal of our point-of-care cell therapy products from the market, if approved.
Further, as product candidates are developed through preclinical to late-stage clinical trials towards approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as point-of-care manufacturing methods, are altered along the way to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve their intended objectives, and any of these changes could cause our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates or our manufacturing process to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials or otherwise necessitate the conduct of additional studies, which can be costly and time-consuming. We and our vendors may not successfully establish a robust point-of-care production process, including quality release and monitoring process, that fulfills the requirements of the FDA, the EMA and comparable regulatory authorities. There can be no assurance that Lonza’s Cocoon® system for our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates is viable and can be effectively scaled up or transferred to third party vendors and operators for commercialization. We are dependent on a third party for the end-to-end xCellit workflow management and monitoring software and if there are any issues with this software, we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates.
Any failure to follow regulatory requirements or any delay, interruption or other issues that arise in the manufacture or storage of our product candidates as a result of a failure of our facilities or the facilities and operations of third parties to comply with regulatory requirements or pass any regulatory authority inspection could significantly impair our ability to develop and commercialize our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates. Point-of-care cell
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therapy product candidates that have been produced and stored for later use may degrade, become contaminated or suffer other quality defects, which may cause the affected point-of-care cell therapy product candidates to no longer be suitable for their intended use. Furthermore, if our vendors or operators fail to deliver the required commercial quantities or supply of our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates on a timely basis and at reasonable costs, we would likely be unable to meet demand for our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates, and we would lose potential revenues.
In addition, the manufacturing process and facilities used to produce our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates through our Cocoon® system are subject to FDA, the EMA and comparable regulatory authority approval processes and compliance with applicable Good Manufacturing Practices, and we and our vendors and operators will need to meet all applicable regulatory authority requirements on an ongoing basis, including requirements pertaining to quality control, quality assurance, and the maintenance of records and documentation. The FDA, the EMA and comparable regulatory authorities enforce these requirements through facility inspections. In the EU, the national competent authorities are responsible for manufacturing facility inspections, but the EMA plays a coordinating role in ensuring that standards are enforced consistently throughout the EU. Facilities using our point-of-care manufacturing process, including Lonza’s Cocoon® system, must be approved by the FDA, national competent authorities in the EU or comparable regulatory authorities. Vendors and operators are also subject to continuing FDA, EMA and comparable regulatory authority compliance.
Our own or third parties’ facilities where Lonza’s Cocoon® system is in use may be unable to comply with these regulatory requirements. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. If we or our vendors and operators are unable to reliably produce product candidates to specifications acceptable to the FDA, the EMA or comparable regulatory authorities, or in accordance with the strict regulatory requirements, we may not obtain or maintain the approvals we need to commercialize our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates, there can be no assurance that either we or our third party vendors or operators will be able to manufacture the approved product to specifications acceptable to the FDA, the EMA or comparable regulatory authorities, to produce it in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential launch of the product, or to meet potential future demand. Deviations from manufacturing requirements may further require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third party to implement and may include the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business.
Even to the extent we use vendors or operators for Lonza’s Cocoon® system, we are ultimately responsible for the manufacturing of our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates. A failure to comply with regulatory requirements may result in regulatory enforcement actions against our vendors or operators or us, including fines and civil and criminal penalties.
Patients receiving T cell-based immunotherapies may experience serious adverse events, including neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome. Serious adverse events or undesirable side effects associated with our CAR T product candidates may result in delays, clinical holds, or terminations of our preclinical or clinical trials, impact our ability to obtain regulatory or marketing approval, and impact the commercial potential of such product candidates, which will significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.
We are currently developing CAR-T product candidates, including (1) GLPG5101, a CD19 CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care for which we aim to start clinical development in rSLE in 2023; (2) GLPG5101 and GLPG5201, CD19 CAR-T product candidates manufactured at point-of-care, currently in Phase 1/2 in rrNHL and rrCLL, respectively; and (3) GLPG5301, a BCMA CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, for which we plan to start clinical development in rrMM. In previous and ongoing clinical studies, including our current studies, involving CAR-T products and product candidates, patients experienced side effects such as neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome. There have been life-threatening events related to severe neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome, requiring intense medical intervention such as intubation or vasopressor support, and in several cases, resulted in death. Severe neurotoxicity is a condition that is currently defined clinically by cerebral edema, confusion, drowsiness, speech impairment, tremors, seizures, or other central nervous system side effects, when such side effects are serious enough to lead to intensive care. In some cases, severe neurotoxicity was thought to be associated with the use of certain lymphodepletion regimens used prior to the administration of the CAR-T products. Cytokine release syndrome is a condition that is currently defined clinically by certain symptoms related to the release of cytokines, which
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can include fever, chills, low blood pressure, when such side effects are serious enough to lead to intensive care with mechanical ventilation or significant vasopressor support. The exact cause or causes of cytokine release syndrome and severe neurotoxicity in connection with treatment of CAR-T products is not fully understood at this time. In addition, patients have experienced other adverse events in these studies, such as a reduction in the number of blood cells (in the form of neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia or other cytopenias), febrile neutropenia, chemical laboratory abnormalities (including elevated liver enzymes), and renal failure.
Undesirable side effects caused by any of our CAR-T product candidates targeting rrNHL, rrCLL, or BCMA, could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt preclinical or clinical studies and could result in restrictions on the labeling, distribution, or marketing of any approved products or a requirement to conduct potentially costly post-approval studies or the delay or denial of marketing approval by the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Side effects and toxicities associated with any of or product candidates, if approved, as well as the warnings, precautions, and requirements listed in the prescribing information, could affect the willingness of physicians to prescribe, and patients to use, such product candidates, if approved, and negatively affect market acceptance and commercial sales. In some cases, side effects such as neurotoxicity or cytokine release syndrome have resulted in clinical holds of ongoing clinical trials and/or discontinuation of the development of the product candidate. Results of our studies could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the studies or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff, as toxicities resulting from engineered cell therapies are not normally encountered in the general patient population and by medical personnel. Medical personnel may need additional training regarding engineered cell therapies to understand their side effects. Complexity of the potential side effects of engineered cell therapies , associated with the potential presence of comorbidities, could result in deaths. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
If we or others identify undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
● | regulatory authorities may not approve our CAR-T product candidates, or, if such product candidates are approved, may limit or withdraw such approval; |
● | regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a “boxed” warning or a contraindication, if our product candidates are approved; |
● | if our product candidates were approved, regulatory authorities may require a REMS plan to mitigate risks, which could include medication guides, physician communication plans, or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries, and other risk minimization tools; |
● | we may be subject to regulatory investigations and government enforcement actions; |
● | we could be sued and held liable for injury caused to individuals exposed to or taking our product candidates; and |
● | our reputation may suffer. |
Negative public opinion and increased regulatory scrutiny of cell therapies and cellular research may damage public perception of our CAR-T product candidates, and any future products or adversely affect our ability to conduct our business or obtain and maintain marketing approvals for our CAR-T product candidates.
Public perception may be influenced by claims that cell therapy, including cell editing technologies, is unsafe or unethical, and research activities and adverse events in the field, even if not ultimately attributable to us or our CAR-T product candidates, could result in increased governmental regulation, unfavorable public perception, challenges in recruiting patients to participate in our clinical studies, potential regulatory delays in the testing or approval of our CAR-T product candidates, labeling restrictions for any future approved CAR-T products, and a decrease in demand for any such product. More restrictive government regulations or negative public opinion would have a negative effect on our business or financial condition and may delay or impair the development and commercialization of our CAR-T product candidates or demand for any approved products.
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Delays in obtaining regulatory approval of manufacturing processes and facilities or disruptions in manufacturing processes may delay or disrupt our commercialization efforts.
Before we can begin to commercially manufacture our product candidates for human therapeutics, the FDA must review for the applicable manufacturing process and facilities as part of its review of our marketing application. This will likely require the manufacturing facilities to pass a pre-approval inspection by the FDA. A manufacturing authorization must also be obtained from the appropriate European Union regulatory authorities or other comparable regulatory authorities.
In order to obtain FDA approval, we will need to ensure that all of the processes, methods, and equipment are compliant with cGMP and perform extensive audits of vendors, contract laboratories, and suppliers. If any of our vendors, contract laboratories or suppliers is found to be out of compliance with cGMP, we may experience delays or disruptions in manufacturing while we work with these third parties to remedy the violation(s) or while we work to identify suitable replacement vendors. The cGMP requirements govern, among other things, quality control of the manufacturing process, raw materials, containers/closures, buildings and facilities, equipment, storage and shipment, labeling, laboratory activities, data integrity, documentation policies and procedures, and returns. In complying with cGMP, we will be obligated to expend time, resources, and efforts in production, record keeping, and quality control to assure that the product meets applicable specifications and other requirements. If we fail to comply with these requirements, we would be subject to possible regulatory action that could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows, including the inability to sell any products that we may develop.
Risks related to our financial position and need for additional capital
We have no historical profit from product sales and limited historical data on product revenues, which makes it difficult to assess our future prospects and financial results.
Pharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of uncertainty. Our operations to date have been generally limited to developing our technology and undertaking preclinical studies and clinical trials of our immunology and oncology product candidates, currently including filgotinib (in AxSpA), GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201 or GLPG5301. We may not have the ability to overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical area. We have only recently commenced our transition from clinical-stage to a commercial-stage company and continue to build a marketing and sales organization for the marketing, sales, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. We have limited experience as a commercial company, have no historical profit from product sales and limited historical data on product revenues. Consequently, the ability to predict our future operating results or business prospects is more limited than if we had a longer operating history or approved products on the market.
With the exception of the year ended December 31, 2019, we have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.
With the exception of the year ended December 31, 2019, we have incurred significant operating losses since our inception in 1999. We reported net losses of €305.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, net losses of €103.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, and net losses of €218.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. Our losses resulted principally from costs incurred in research and development, preclinical testing, clinical development of our product and our product candidates as well as costs incurred for research programs, pre-commercial activities, commercial activities (as of 2020) and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. In the future we intend to continue the aforementioned activities. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our shareholders’ equity and working capital. We expect to continue incurring significant research, development, and other expenses related to our ongoing operations, and to continue incurring operating losses for the foreseeable future.
We cannot be sure that we will generate significant revenues from sales of products for the foreseeable future. If any of our product candidates fail in clinical trials or do not gain regulatory approval, or if any of our products or product candidates, if approved, fail to achieve market acceptance, we may never become profitable. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods.
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Even with one approved product, filgotinib, and if one or more of our product candidates is approved for commercial sale and we retain commercial rights, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any such approved product candidate. Additionally, we may not achieve significant revenues from sales of products. Therefore, even if we are able to generate revenues from the sale of any approved product, we may not become or sustain profitable.
We may require substantial additional funding, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. We are currently conducting clinical trials for filgotinib in AxSpA, GLPG3667, GLPG5101, GLPG5201, GLPG5301, and other immunology and oncology product candidates. Developing pharmaceutical product candidates, including conducting clinical trials, is expensive. We will require substantial additional future capital in order to complete clinical development and, if we are successful, to commercialize any of our current product candidates. If the FDA, or any other comparable regulatory agency, such as the EMA, requires that we perform studies or trials in addition to those that we currently anticipate with respect to the development of our product candidates, or repeat studies or trials, our expenses would further increase beyond what we currently expect, and any delay resulting from such further or repeat studies or trials could also result in the need for additional financing and other resources.
Our existing current financial investments and cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient for us to complete advanced clinical development of our product candidates or, if applicable, to commercialize product candidates that would be approved. Accordingly, we may continue to require substantial additional capital to continue our clinical development activities and potentially engage in commercialization activities. Because successful development of our product candidates is uncertain, we are unable to estimate the actual funds and resources we will require to complete research and development and commercialize our product candidates. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including but not limited to:
● | the progress, costs, results of and timing of our ongoing and planned clinical trials; |
● | our ability to reach milestones under our existing collaboration arrangements and enter into additional collaborative agreements for the development and commercialization of our product candidates; |
● | the willingness of the FDA, EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, and other comparable regulatory authorities to accept our clinical trials and preclinical studies and other work as the basis for review and approval of product candidates; |
● | the outcome, costs and timing of seeking and obtaining regulatory approvals from the FDA, EMA, the MHRA, the MHLW, and other comparable regulatory authorities; |
● | whether our collaboration partners continue to collaborate with us on the development and commercialization of our product candidates; |
● | the number of product candidates and indications that we pursue, whether developed internally or in-licensed; |
● | the timing and costs associated with manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials and other studies and, if approved, for commercial sale; |
● | our need to expand our development activities and, potentially, our research activities; |
● | the timing and costs associated with establishing sales and marketing capabilities; |
● | the costs associated with our existing and future product sales, marketing, commercial manufacturing, and distribution activities; |
● | the costs associated with adding new manufacturing sites for our point-of-care cell therapy product candidates; |
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● | market acceptance of any approved product candidates; |
● | the costs of acquiring, licensing or investing in additional businesses, products, product candidates and technologies; |
● | the cost to maintain, expand and defend the scope of our intellectual property portfolio, including the amount and timing of any payments we may be required to make, or that we may receive, in connection with licensing, filing, prosecution, defense and enforcement of any patents or other intellectual property rights; |
● | the extent to which we may be required to pay milestone or other payments under our in-license agreements and the timing of such payments; |
● | our need and ability to hire additional management, development and scientific personnel; and |
● | our need to implement additional internal systems and infrastructure, including financial and reporting systems. |
Some of these factors are outside of our control. Based upon our current expected level of operating expenditures and our existing current financial investments and cash and cash equivalents, we believe that we will be able to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for the coming years. This period could be shortened, but not below a period of 12 months, if there are any significant increases beyond our expectations in spending on development programs or more rapid progress of development programs than anticipated. Accordingly, we expect that we could need to raise additional funds in the future. Additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to obtain funding from equity offerings or debt financings, including on a timely basis, we may be required to:
● | seek additional collaboration partners for one or more of any future proprietary product candidates at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable or on terms that are less favorable than might otherwise be available; |
● | relinquish or license on unfavorable terms our rights to technologies or any future proprietary product candidates that we otherwise would seek to develop or commercialize ourselves; |
● | significantly curtail one or more of our research or development programs; |
● | curtail our product sales, marketing, commercial manufacturing, and |
● | cease operations altogether. |
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing shareholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our product candidates or technologies.
We may seek additional funding through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and/or licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a holder of the ADSs or our ordinary shares. The incurrence of indebtedness and/or the issuance of certain equity securities could result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in certain additional restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt and/or issue additional equity, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. In addition, issuance of additional equity securities, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of the ADSs or our ordinary shares to decline. In the event that we enter into collaborations and/or licensing arrangements in order to raise capital, we may be required to accept unfavorable terms, including relinquishing or licensing to a third party on unfavorable terms our rights to technologies or product candidates that we otherwise would seek to develop or commercialize ourselves or potentially reserve for future potential arrangements when we might be able to achieve more favorable terms.
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Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect the Company’s current and projected business operations and its financial condition and results of operations.
Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership. Although a statement by the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC indicated that all depositors of SVB would have access to all of their money after only one business day of closure, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts, borrowers under credit agreements, letters of credit and certain other financial instruments with SVB, Signature Bank or any other financial institution that is placed into receivership by the FDIC may be unable to access undrawn amounts thereunder. In addition, on March 13, 2023, The Bank of England announced that, in consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), HM Treasury (HMT) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has taken the decision to sell Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited (SVBUK), the UK subsidiary of the US bank, to HSBC UK Bank Plc (HSBC). The Bank of England stated that all depositors’ money with SVBUK is safe and secure as a result of this transaction. The Bank of England further stated that SVBUK’s business will continue to be operated normally by SVBUK and that all services will continue to operate as normal and customers should not notice any changes.
Although we are not a borrower or party to any such instruments with SVB, SVBUK, Signature or any other financial institution currently in receivership or a similar proceeding, if any of our lenders or counterparties to any such instruments were to be placed into receivership or a similar proceeding, we may be unable to access such funds. In addition, if any of our customers, suppliers or other parties with whom we conduct business are unable to access funds pursuant to such instruments or lending arrangements with such a financial institution, such parties’ ability to pay their obligations to us or to enter into new commercial arrangements requiring additional payments to us could be adversely affected. In this regard, counterparties to SVB or SVBUK credit agreements and arrangements, and third parties such as beneficiaries of letters of credit (among others), may experience direct impacts from the closure of SVB and the sale of SVBUK to HSBC, and uncertainty remains over liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry. Similar impacts have occurred in the past, such as during the 2008-2010 financial crisis.
Inflation and rapid increases in interest rates have led to a decline in the trading value of previously issued government securities with interest rates below current market interest rates. Although the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board have announced a program to provide up to $25 billion of loans to financial institutions secured by certain of such government securities held by financial institutions to mitigate the risk of potential losses on the sale of such instruments, widespread demands for customer withdrawals or other liquidity needs of financial institutions for immediately liquidity may exceed the capacity of such program. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions, or that they would do so in a timely fashion.
Although we assess our banking and customer relationships as we believe necessary or appropriate, our access to funding sources and other credit arrangements in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize our current and projected future business operations could be significantly impaired by factors that affect the Company, the financial institutions with which the Company has credit agreements or arrangements directly, or the financial services industry or economy in general. These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry or financial markets, or concerns or negative expectations about the prospects for companies in the financial services industry. These factors could involve financial institutions or financial services industry companies with which the Company has financial or business relationships, but could also include factors involving financial markets or the financial services industry generally.
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The results of events or concerns that involve one or more of these factors could include a variety of material and adverse impacts on our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations. These could include, but may not be limited to, the following:
● | delayed access to deposits or other financial assets or the uninsured loss of deposits or other financial assets; |
● | delayed or lost access to, or reductions in borrowings available under revolving existing credit facilities or other working capital sources and/or delays, inability or reductions in the company’s ability to refund, roll over or extend the maturity of, or enter into new credit facilities or other working capital resources; |
● | potential or actual breach of contractual obligations that require the Company to maintain letters of credit or other credit support arrangements; |
● | potential or actual breach of financial covenants in our credit agreements or credit arrangements; |
● | potential or actual cross-defaults in other credit agreements, credit arrangements or operating or financing agreements; or |
● | termination of cash management arrangements and/or delays in accessing or actual loss of funds subject to cash management arrangements. |
In addition, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to our cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfill our other obligations, result in breaches of our financial and/or contractual obligations or result in violations of federal or state wage and hour laws. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on our liquidity and our current and/or projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, any further deterioration in the macroeconomic economy or financial services industry could lead to losses or defaults by our customers or suppliers, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our current and/or projected business operations and results of operations and financial condition. For example, a customer may fail to make payments when due, default under their agreements with us, become insolvent or declare bankruptcy, or a supplier may determine that it will no longer deal with us as a customer. In addition, a customer or supplier could be adversely affected by any of the liquidity or other risks that are described above as factors that could result in material adverse impacts to us, including but not limited to delayed access or loss of access to uninsured deposits or loss of the ability to draw on existing credit facilities involving a troubled or failed financial institution. Any customer or supplier bankruptcy or insolvency, or the failure of any customer to make payments when due, or any breach or default by a customer or supplier, or the loss of any significant supplier relationships, could result in material losses to us and may have a material adverse impact on our business.
Risks related to our reliance on third parties
We are heavily dependent upon our collaboration arrangements with Gilead and certain other third parties for the development and commercialization of our products and there can be no assurance that these arrangements will deliver the benefits we expect.
In July 2019, we entered into a 10-year global research and development collaboration with Gilead. In connection with our entry into the option, license and collaboration agreement, we received an upfront payment of $3.95 billion and a €960 million ($1.1 billion) equity investment from Gilead. Under the option, license and collaboration agreement, we will fund and lead all discovery and development autonomously until the end of the relevant Phase 2 clinical study. After the completion of a qualifying Phase 2 clinical study (or in certain circumstances, the first Phase 3 clinical study), Gilead will have the option to acquire an exclusive commercial license to that program in all countries outside of Europe. If the option is exercised, we and Gilead will co-develop the compound and share costs equally. In addition, we are heavily dependent on Gilead for the commercialization of filgotinib and the further development of filgotinib outside of Europe.
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Gilead may not devote sufficient resources or give sufficient priority to the programs in respect of which it acquires a commercial license pursuant to the option, license and collaboration agreement. Furthermore, Gilead may not be successful in the commercialization of filgotinib outside of Europe and further development and commercialization of filgotinib or other programs for which it acquires a commercial license, even when they do devote resources and prioritize their efforts for such programs.
In addition, the terms of the collaboration with Gilead and any collaboration or other arrangement that we may establish may not ultimately prove to be favorable to us or may not be perceived as favorable, which may negatively impact the trading price of the ADSs or our ordinary shares. In addition, pursuant to the collaboration with Gilead, we are entitled to certain option payments and tiered royalties and milestones on certain products. There can be no assurance that such payments will be sufficient to cover the cost of development of the relevant product candidates.
We are subject to a number of additional risks associated with our dependence on our collaborations with third parties, the occurrence of which could cause our collaboration arrangements to fail. In particular, the collaboration we entered into in July 2019 is managed by a set of joint committees comprised of equal numbers of representatives from each of us and Gilead. Conflicts may arise between us and Gilead, such as conflicts concerning the interpretation of clinical data, the achievement of milestones, the interpretation of financial provisions or the ownership of intellectual property developed during the collaboration, and there can be no assurance that the joint committees will be able to resolve any such conflicts. If any such conflicts arise, Gilead could act in a manner adverse to our best interests. Any such disagreement could result in one or more of the following, each of which could delay or prevent the development or commercialization of product candidates subject to the collaboration arrangements, and in turn prevent us from generating sufficient revenues to achieve or maintain profitability:
● | reductions or delays in the payment of milestone payments, royalties or other payments we believe are due; |
● | actions taken by Gilead inside or outside our collaboration which could negatively impact our rights or benefits under our collaboration including termination of the collaboration for convenience; or |
● | unwillingness on the part of Gilead to keep us informed regarding the progress of its development and commercialization activities or regulatory approval or to permit public disclosure of the results of those activities. |
In addition to our collaboration with Gilead, we may also enter into future collaborations which will give rise to similar risks, although our ability to enter into such collaborations may be limited given the scale of our collaboration with Gilead.
If our global research and development collaboration with Gilead or other collaborations on research and development candidates do not result in the successful development and commercialization of products or if Gilead or another one of our collaboration partners 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 product candidates.
We may not be successful in establishing future development and commercialization collaborations, particularly given the scale of our collaborations with Gilead, and this could adversely affect, and potentially prohibit, our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.
Developing pharmaceutical products, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approval, establishing manufacturing capabilities, commercializing, and marketing approved products is expensive. Accordingly, we have sought and may in the future seek to enter into collaborations with companies that have more resources and experience. In the future, however, our ability to do so may be limited given the scale of the 10-year global research and development collaboration that we entered into with Gilead in July 2019. If Gilead declines to exercise its option and we are otherwise unable to obtain a collaboration partner for our product candidates, we may be unable to advance the development of our product candidates through late-stage clinical development and seek approval in any market. In situations where we enter into a development and commercial collaboration arrangement for a product candidate, we may also seek to establish additional collaborations for development and commercialization in territories outside of those addressed by the first collaboration arrangement for such product candidate. If any of our product candidates receives
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marketing approval, we may enter into sales and marketing arrangements with third parties with respect to otherwise unlicensed or unaddressed territories. Furthermore, there are a limited number of potential collaboration partners, and we expect to face competition in seeking appropriate collaboration partners. If we are unable to enter into any development and commercial collaborations and/or sales and marketing arrangements on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be unable to successfully develop and seek regulatory approval for our product candidates and/or effectively market and sell approved products, if any.
We rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates, and our business could be substantially harmed.
We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon CROs to monitor and manage data for our preclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and we control only certain aspects of their activities. We and our CROs also rely upon clinical sites and investigators for the performance of our clinical trials in accordance with the applicable protocols and applicable legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies and trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and applicable legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on CROs as well as clinical sites and investigators does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We are required to, and do, have mechanisms in place to adequately manage, oversee and control our clinical trials, including selection of CROs, auditing activities, strong focus on set-up (during which deliverables, timelines and roles and responsibilities are defined), and strong oversight during the conduct of clinical trials. We, our CROs, as well as the clinical sites and investigators are required to comply with current Good Clinical Practices (GCPs), which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area, or EEA, and comparable regulatory authorities for all of our products in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, investigators and clinical sites. If we, any of our CROs or any of the clinical sites or investigators fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA, the MHRA, MHLW, or comparable regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP regulations. We also cannot assure you that our CROs, as well as the clinical sites and investigators, will perform our clinical trials in accordance with the applicable protocols as well as applicable legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, or report the results obtained in a timely and accurate manner. In addition to GCPs, our clinical trials must be conducted with products produced under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations. While we have agreements governing activities of our CROs, we have limited influence over the actual performance of our CROs as well as the performance of clinical sites and investigators. In addition, significant portions of the clinical trials for our product candidates are and will continue to be conducted outside of Belgium, which will make it more difficult for us to monitor CROs as well as clinical sites and investigators and perform visits of our clinical sites, and will force us to rely heavily on CROs to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials in accordance with the applicable protocols and compliance with applicable regulations, including GCPs, and scientific standards. Failure to comply with applicable protocols and regulations in the conduct of the clinical trials for our product candidates may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Additionally, the performance of our CROs may also be delayed or disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, availabilities of staff, exposure of CRO staff to COVID-19 or re-prioritization of CRO resources as a result of the pandemic, or by the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia.
Some of our CROs have an ability to terminate their respective agreements with us if it can be reasonably demonstrated that the safety of the subjects participating in our clinical trials warrants such termination, or as a result of data integrity compromise, or if there is reasonable belief that good clinical practice or applicable laws or regulations will be materially violated, or if we make a general assignment for the benefit of our creditors, or if we are liquidated.
If any of our relationships with these CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our preclinical and clinical programs. If CROs do not carry out their contractual duties or obligations successfully or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure (including by clinical sites or investigators) to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or
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terminated and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase substantially and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed significantly.
Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
We rely completely on third parties to manufacture our preclinical and clinical drug supplies and to produce commercial supplies of any approved product.
We do not currently have, nor do we plan to acquire, the infrastructure or capability internally to manufacture our drug supply for our approved products or preclinical and clinical drug supplies. This reliance on third parties increases the risk of shortages of our drugs or drug candidates and of the availability of such drugs or drug candidates at an acceptable cost or quality. This could potentially delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts.
If, for any reason, we were to experience an unexpected loss in the supply of any of our approved products, our product candidates or placebo or comparator drug used in certain of our clinical trials, whether as a result of manufacturing, supply or storage issues or otherwise, we could experience delays, disruptions, suspensions or terminations of, or be required to restart or repeat, any pending or ongoing clinical trials or commercial distribution of our approved products could be negatively affected. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers or other third-party manufacturers to manufacture our approved products and our product candidates are subject to the FDA’s, EMA’s, MHRA’s, MHLW’s and other comparable regulatory authorities’ pre-approval inspections that can be conducted after we submit the required approval applications to any relevant regulatory authority, such as, for example, an NDA or BLA to the FDA. We monitor, but do not control, the implementation of the manufacturing process of, but are dependent on, our contract manufacturers or other third-party manufacturers for compliance with cGMP regulatory requirements for manufacture of any drug products. If our contract manufacturers or other third-party manufacturers do not successfully manufacture material that conforms to applicable specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA, EMA, MHRA, MHLW or others or if such authority finds deficiencies at a contract manufacturer’s facility or is unable to conduct an inspection necessary to evaluate such facility due to delays or disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approvals for our products manufactured at these facilities. This could significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved.
We rely on our manufacturers to purchase from third-party suppliers the materials necessary to produce our product candidates for our clinical trials and our approved products. There are a limited number of suppliers for raw materials that we use to manufacture our drugs and there may be a need to assess alternate suppliers to prevent a possible disruption of the manufacture of the materials necessary to produce our product candidates for our clinical trials and our approved products. We do not have any control over the process or timing of the acquisition of raw materials by our manufacturers, and delays may result for reasons beyond our control, including the COVID-19 pandemic or the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Moreover, although we have established agreements for commercial production of filgotinib as certain manufacturing obligations are transferred back to us from Gilead, we currently do not have any agreements for the commercial production of the underlying raw materials. If our manufacturers or we are unable to purchase these raw materials after regulatory approval has been obtained for our product candidates, the commercial launch of our products would be delayed or there would be a shortage in supply, which would impair our ability to generate revenues from the sale of our products. Additionally, if we receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, we may experience unforeseen difficulties or challenges in the manufacture of our products on a commercial scale compared to the manufacture for clinical purposes.
We expect to continue to depend on contract manufacturers or other third-party manufacturers for the foreseeable future. We recently entered into long-term agreements with some of our historical contract manufacturers and currently
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obtain our supplies of finished drug product through individual purchase orders which cannot guarantee adequate supplies of finished products. In addition, although we intend to do so in the coming months, we have not yet entered into agreements with any alternate fill/finish suppliers.
Via the acquisition of CellPoint on June 21, 2022, we gained access to a decentralized and automated point-of-care cell therapy supply model, which CellPoint B.V. had developed in a strategic collaboration with a third party, Lonza. The proprietary platform consists of the end-to-end xCellit workflow management and monitoring software and Lonza’s Cocoon® platform, a functionally closed, automated manufacturing platform for cell and gene therapies. Clinical studies with this decentralized supply model have been approved by regulatory authorities in Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. If, for any reason, the collaboration terminates or is otherwise materially changed and we are no longer entitled to use such technology platform, then we may be unable to secure alternatives to such technology and our research, development or other efforts may be interrupted or delayed, and our financial condition and results of operation may be materially adversely affected.
We rely on clinical data and results obtained by third parties that could ultimately prove to be inaccurate or unreliable.
If the third-party data and results we rely upon prove to be inaccurate, unreliable or not applicable to our product candidates, we could make inaccurate assumptions and conclusions about our product candidates and our research and development efforts could be materially adversely affected.
Risks related to our intellectual property
Our ability to compete may decline if we do not adequately protect our proprietary rights.
Our commercial success depends on obtaining and maintaining proprietary rights to filgotinib, any future product, and our current and any future product candidates, as well as successfully defending these rights against third-party challenges. We will only be able to protect our product candidates, and their uses from unauthorized use by third parties to the extent that valid and enforceable patents, or effectively protected trade secrets, cover them. Our ability to obtain patent protection for our product candidates is uncertain due to a number of factors, including:
● | we may not have been the first to make the inventions covered by pending patent applications or issued patents; |
● | we may not have been the first to file patent applications for our product candidates or the compositions we developed or for their uses; |
● | others may independently develop identical, similar or alternative products or compositions and uses thereof; |
● | our disclosures in patent applications may not be sufficient to meet the statutory requirements for patentability; |
● | any or all of our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents; |
● | we may not seek or obtain patent protection in countries that may eventually provide us a significant business opportunity; |
● | any patents issued to us may not provide a basis for commercially viable products, may not provide any competitive advantages, or may be successfully challenged by third parties; |
● | our compositions and methods may not be patentable; |
● | others may design around our patent claims to produce competitive products which fall outside of the scope of our patents; or |
● | others may identify prior art or other bases which could invalidate our patents. |
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Even if we have or obtain patents covering our product candidates or compositions, we may still be barred from making, using and selling our product candidates or technologies because of the patent rights of others. Others may have filed, and in the future may file, patent applications covering compositions or products that are similar or identical to ours. If a patent owned by a third party covers one of our product candidates or its use, this could materially affect our ability to develop the product candidate or sell the resulting product if approved. Because patent applications are not published until 18 months from their priority date, there may be currently pending applications unknown to us that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates or compositions may infringe. Additionally, because the scope of claims in pending patent applications can change, there may be pending applications whose claims do not currently cover any of our product candidates but may be altered such that one or more of our product candidates are covered when the resulting patent issues. These patent applications may have priority over patent applications filed by us.
Moreover, even if we are able to obtain patent protection, such patent protection may be of insufficient scope to achieve our business objectives. For example (without any limitation), others may be able to develop a product that is similar to, or better than, ours in a way that is not covered by the claims of our patents.
Obtaining and maintaining a patent portfolio entails significant expense and resources. Part of the expense includes periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees, various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications due in several stages over the lifetime of patents and/or applications, as well as the cost associated with complying with numerous procedural provisions during the patent application process. We may or may not choose to pursue or maintain protection for particular inventions. In addition, there are situations in which failure to make certain payments or noncompliance with certain requirements in the patent process can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. If we choose to forgo patent protection or allow a patent application or patent to lapse purposefully or inadvertently, our competitive position could suffer. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing or prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology subject to our collaboration or license agreements with third parties. For example, under our collaboration agreement with Gilead, Gilead controls litigation on our patents for filgotinib in jurisdictions outside the European region and for any optioned programs. Therefore, these patents and patent applications may not be prosecuted or enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.
Legal actions to enforce our patent rights can be expensive and may involve the diversion of significant management time. In addition, these legal actions could be unsuccessful and could also result in the invalidation of our patents or a finding that they are unenforceable. We may or may not choose to pursue litigation or other actions against those that have infringed on our patents, or used them without authorization, due to the associated expense and time commitment of monitoring these activities. If we fail to protect or to enforce our intellectual property rights successfully, our competitive position could suffer, which could harm our results of operations.