UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
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þ
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QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
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FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
or
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o
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TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
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FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM
TO
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Commission file number 033-80623
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
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Delaware
(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation or Organization)
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95-4343413
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
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1522 217
th
Place SE, Suite 100, Bothell, Washington 98021
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(425) 686-1500
(Registrants telephone number, including area code)
Indicate by check whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section
13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such
shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to
such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes
þ
No
o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its
corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted
pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter
period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes
þ
No
o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a
non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definition of large accelerated
filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
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Large accelerated filer
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Accelerated filer
þ
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Non-accelerated filer
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(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
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Smaller reporting company
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Exchange Act Rule
12b-2). Yes
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No
þ
Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuers classes of common stock, as of
the latest practicable date.
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Class
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Outstanding at November 1, 2011
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Common Stock, $0.001 par value
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9,748,352
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OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Index to Form 10-Q
2
PART I.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
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Item 1.
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Consolidated Financial Statements
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OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands of U.S. dollars)
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September 30,
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December 31,
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2011
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2010
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(unaudited)
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$
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$
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ASSETS
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Current
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Cash and cash equivalents
[note 4]
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15,723
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23,533
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Restricted cash
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377
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502
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Short-term investments
[note 4]
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53,533
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61,574
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Amounts receivable
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987
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1,224
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Prepaid expenses
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3,353
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2,485
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Total current assets
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73,973
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89,318
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Property and equipment, net
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198
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87
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Other assets
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509
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513
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Total assets
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74,680
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89,918
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LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY
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Current
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Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
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1,465
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893
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Deferred collaboration revenue
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10,000
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10,000
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Current portion of long-term obligations
[note 6]
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1,406
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1,314
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Warrant liability
[note 4, note 5]
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6,248
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15,269
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Total current liabilities
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19,119
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27,476
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Deferred collaboration revenue, net of current
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9,036
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11,622
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Long-term obligation, less current portion
[note 6]
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6,500
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6,695
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Total liabilities
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34,655
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45,793
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Commitments and contingencies
[note 7]
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Shareholders equity:
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Common shares
[note 5]
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$0.001 par value 25,000,000 shares authorized and
9,748,352 issued and outstanding at September 30,
2011 and 9,693,591 issued and
outstanding at December 31, 2010
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10
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10
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Additional paid-in capital
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108,660
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107,579
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Accumulated deficit
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(71,173
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(66,069
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Accumulated other comprehensive income
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2,528
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2,605
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Total shareholders equity
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40,025
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44,125
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Total liabilities and shareholders equity
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74,680
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89,918
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Subsequent events [note 9]
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See accompanying notes.
3
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Loss (Income)
(Unaudited)
(In thousands of U.S. dollars, except per share and share amounts)
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Three months
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Nine months
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Ended September 30,
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Ended September 30,
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2011
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2010
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2011
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2010
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$
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$
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$
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$
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COLLABORATION REVENUE
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1,174
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4,881
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4,260
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11,282
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EXPENSES
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Research and development
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3,814
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6,723
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14,076
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16,182
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General and administrative
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1,457
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1,067
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4,499
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3,892
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Restructuring expense
[note 6]
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4,038
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4,038
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Total expenses
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5,271
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11,828
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18,575
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24,112
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LOSS FROM OPERATIONS
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4,097
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6,947
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14,315
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12,830
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OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)
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Interest income
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49
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25
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168
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44
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Other
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(62
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28
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22
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2
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Gain on warrants
[note 5]
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8,580
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9,021
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Total other income
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8,567
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53
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9,211
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46
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Loss (income) for the
period before income taxes
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(4,470
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6,894
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5,104
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12,784
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Income tax recovery
[note 3]
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(3,000
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Net loss (income)
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(4,470
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6,894
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5,104
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9,784
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Basic loss (income) per
common share
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(0.46
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1.07
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0.52
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1.53
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Diluted loss (income) per
common share
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(0.45
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1.07
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0.52
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1.53
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Weighted average number of
basic common shares
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9,736,589
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6,453,950
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9,722,836
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6,396,210
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Weighted average number
diluted common shares
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10,043,821
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6,453,950
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9,722,836
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6,396,210
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See accompanying notes.
4
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(In thousands of U.S. dollars)
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Nine months ended
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September 30,
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2011
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2010
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$
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$
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OPERATING ACTIVITIES
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Loss for the period
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(5,104
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(9,784
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Add items not involving cash
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Depreciation and amortization
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56
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39
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Stock-based compensation
[note 5(c)]
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866
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462
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Restructuring expense
[note 6]
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4,038
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Change in value of warrants
[note 4, note 5]
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(9,021
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Changes in non-cash items
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Amounts receivable
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237
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(486
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Restricted cash
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125
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(502
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Prepaid expenses
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(865
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(308
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Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
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572
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(12,330
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Lease obligation
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(103
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)
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(774
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Deferred collaboration revenue
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(2,586
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(3,485
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Cash used in operating activities
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(15,823
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(23,130
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FINANCING ACTIVITIES
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Proceeds from issuance of common stock under stock option and
employee purchase plans
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213
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674
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Cash provided by financing activities
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213
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674
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INVESTING ACTIVITIES
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Proceeds from sale of investments
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68,521
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12,302
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Purchase of investments
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(60,590
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(40,086
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Purchase of property and equipment
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(76
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(37
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Cash provided by (used in) investing activities
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7,855
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(27,821
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Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents
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(55
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7
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Decrease in cash and cash equivalents during the period
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(7,810
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(50,270
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)
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Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period
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23,533
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62,051
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Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period
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15,723
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11,781
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Supplemental cash flow information
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Property and equipment acquired under lease obligation
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90
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See accompanying notes.
5
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(Unaudited)
1. NATURE OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the Company or OncoGenex) is committed to the development and
commercialization of new therapies that address treatment resistance in cancer patients. The
Company was incorporated in the state of Delaware and, together with its subsidiaries, has a
facility in Bothell, Washington and an office in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).
The unaudited financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States for interim financial information and with the
instructions to Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes
required to be presented for complete financial statements. The accompanying unaudited consolidated
financial statements reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring items) which are,
in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim
periods presented. The accompanying consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2010 has been
derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included in the Companys Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year then ended. The consolidated financial statements and related disclosures
have been prepared with the assumption that users of the interim financial information have read or
have access to the audited consolidated financial statements for the preceding fiscal year.
Accordingly, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated
financial statements and the related notes thereto included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2010 and filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) on March 10, 2011.
The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of OncoGenex and our wholly owned
subsidiary, OncoGenex Technologies Inc. (OncoGenex Technologies). All intercompany
balances and transactions have been eliminated.
2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Recently Adopted Accounting Policies
In April 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued ASU No. 2010 17
Revenue Recognition Milestone Method (Topic 605): Milestone Method of Revenue Recognition. This
standard provides guidance on defining a milestone and determining when it may be appropriate to
apply the milestone method of revenue recognition for certain research and development
transactions. Under this new standard, a company can recognize consideration that is contingent
upon achievement of a milestone as revenue in the period in which the milestone is achieved as long
as the milestone is considered substantive according to the criteria set forth in this new
standard. The Company adopted this standard on a prospective basis beginning in the quarter ended
March 31, 2011. The adoption of this standard did not have a significant impact on our financial
position or results of operations.
In January 2010, the FASB issued amended guidance on fair value measurements and disclosures. The
new guidance requires additional disclosures regarding fair value measurements, amends disclosures
about post-retirement benefit plan assets, and provides clarification regarding the level of
disaggregation of fair value disclosures by investment class. This guidance is effective for
interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009, except for certain Level 3
activity disclosure requirements that are effective for reporting periods beginning after December
15, 2010. Accordingly, we adopted this amendment in the quarter ended March 31, 2010, while the
additional Level 3 requirements were adopted
in the quarter ended March 31, 2011. The adoption of this standard did not have a significant
impact on our financial position or results of operations.
6
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In May 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement. This ASU clarifies the
concepts related to highest and best use and valuation premise, blockage factors and other premiums
and discounts, the fair value measurement of financial instruments held in a portfolio and of those
instruments classified as a component of shareowners equity. The guidance includes enhanced
disclosure requirements about recurring Level 3 fair value measurements, the use of nonfinancial
assets, and the level in the fair value hierarchy of assets and liabilities not recorded at fair
value. The provisions of this ASU are effective prospectively for interim and annual periods
beginning on or after December 15, 2011. Early application is prohibited. We are currently
evaluating the impact of this new ASU.
In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-05, Comprehensive Income. This ASU intends to enhance
comparability and transparency of other comprehensive income components. The guidance provides an
option to present total comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of
other comprehensive income in a single continuous statement or two separate but consecutive
statements. This ASU eliminates the option to present other comprehensive income components as part
of the statement of changes in shareowners equity. The provisions of this ASU will be applied
retrospectively for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Early application
is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of this new ASU.
3. COLLABORATION AGREEMENT
On December 20, 2009, the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, OncoGenex Technologies,
entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., or Teva, for the
development and global commercialization of custirsen (and related compounds), a pharmaceutical
compound designed to inhibit the production of clusterin, a protein we believe is associated with
cancer treatment resistance, or the Licensed Product. Under the Collaboration Agreement, Teva paid
the Company upfront payments in the aggregate amount of $50 million and has agreed to pay up to
$370 million upon the achievement of developmental and commercial milestones and royalties at
percentage rates ranging from the mid-teens to mid-twenties on net sales, depending on aggregate
annual net sales of the Licensed Product.
On the same date, the Company and Teva also entered into a stock purchase agreement, or Stock
Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which Teva made an additional $10 million equity investment in the
Company at a 20% premium to a thirty-day average closing price, resulting in the issuance of
267,531 of our common shares purchased at a price of $37.38 per share. The 20% share premium was
included as consideration for the custirsen license and has been included in collaboration revenue.
In connection with the Collaboration Agreement and pursuant to the terms of agreements between the
Company and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Isis, relating to custirsen, the Company paid Isis $10
million which was recorded as research and development expense in 2009. The Company also paid
approximately $333,333 to the University of British Columbia, or UBC, pursuant to the terms of
their license agreement relating to custirsen, which has been recorded as research and development
expense in 2009. Pursuant to the terms of the agreements, the Company anticipates that it would be
required to pay third parties 31% of any milestone payments that are not based on a percentage of
net sales of the Licensed Product. Pursuant to the terms of these agreements, the Company
anticipates it will pay royalties to third-parties of 4.88% to 8.00% of net sales, unless the
Companys royalties are adjusted for competition from generic compounds, in which case royalties to
third parties will also be subject to adjustment on a country-by-country basis. Certain third-party
royalties are tiered based on the royalty rate received by the Company. Minimum royalty rates
payable by the Company assume certain third-party royalties are not paid at the time that the
Licensed Product is marketed due to the expiration of patents held by such third parties. Maximum
royalty rates assume all third-party royalty rates currently in effect continue in effect at the
time the Licensed Product is marketed.
7
Teva has the exclusive worldwide right and license to develop and commercialize products containing
custirsen and related compounds. The Company has an option to co-promote any Licensed Product in
the United States and Canada.
Teva is responsible for all costs relating to product commercialization including costs incurred in
relation to the Companys co-promotion option, except for start-up costs in advance of
commercialization.
Teva and the Company have developed a Clinical Development Plan under which three phase 3 clinical
trials will be initiated:
|
|
|
The ongoing phase 3 clinical trial, referred to as the Synergy trial, or SYNERGY, to
evaluate a survival benefit for custirsen in combination with first-line docetaxel
treatment in patients with castrate resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC. Results from the
survival primary endpoint for the custirsen SYNERGY phase 3 clinical trial are expected
during the fourth quarter of 2013. During discussions regarding the Prostate Cancer SATURN
trial, or SATURN, Special Protocol Assessment, or SPA, amendment, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, or FDA, stated that an application supported primarily by the results of
SYNERGY alone would be acceptable for submission. We expect to enroll at least 800
patients in SYNERGY.
|
|
|
|
An ongoing phase 3 clinical trial, referred to as SATURN, to evaluate a durable pain
palliation benefit for custirsen in combination with cabazitaxel or docetaxel as
second-line chemotherapy in approximately 300 patients with CRPC. An amendment to the
SATURN phase 3 SPA was completed with the FDA to include cabazitaxel as a second-line
chemotherapy option and expand the criteria for patient enrollment in the third quarter of
2011. The SATURN study is designed to evaluate a durable pain palliation benefit of
custirsen in patients who had disease progression while receiving or after completing
1st-line docetaxel-based treatment. Patient accrual will continue to be closely monitored
to determine the impact of the amendment on SATURNs previously reported accrual
challenges. Expected timing of results for the pain palliation primary endpoint is
projected to be the fourth quarter of 2013.
|
|
|
|
A phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate a survival benefit for custirsen in combination
with first-line chemotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. The
initiation of the phase 3 clinical trial evaluating custirsen in patients with NSCLC has
been delayed as we determine the optimal chemotherapeutic combination based on safety
considerations and the current and evolving standard of care. We believe NSCLC is a
promising indication and remain committed to the advancement of custirsen in NSCLC.
|
Teva will be responsible for conducting any other studies and development work necessary to obtain
required regulatory approvals. The Company may assume some of these activities if assigned by the
joint steering committee. Teva will be responsible for all such costs. The joint steering committee
will oversee the development and regulatory approval of any Licensed Product. The Company may
terminate its participation in the joint steering committee at any time.
Funding responsibilities for the Clinical Development Plan will be allocated as follows:
|
|
|
The Company will be required to spend $30 million in direct and indirect development
costs, and
|
|
|
|
Teva will fund all other expenses under the Clinical Development Plan.
|
8
The Collaboration Agreement will remain in effect, on a country-by-country basis, until the
expiration of the obligation of Teva to pay royalties on sales of the Licensed Product in such
country (or earlier termination under its terms). After the completion of all three phase 3
clinical trials set forth in the Clinical Development Plan, or upon early termination due to a
material adverse change in the Companys patent rights related to custirsen or safety issues or
futility as defined in the Collaboration Agreement, Teva may terminate the Collaboration
Agreement at its sole discretion upon three months notice if notice is given prior to regulatory
approval of a Licensed Product and upon six months notice if notice is given after such regulatory
approval. If Teva terminates the Collaboration Agreement for any reasons other than an adverse
change in custirsen patent rights, safety issues or futility determination as previously
described, it will remain responsible for paying for any remaining costs of all three phase 3
clinical trials, except for specified development expenses that are the responsibility of the
Company. Either party may terminate the Collaboration Agreement for an uncured material breach by
the other party or upon the bankruptcy of either party. If the Collaboration Agreement is
terminated by the Company for other than an uncured material breach by Teva, the Company will pay
Teva a royalty on sales of Licensed Products. The percentage rates of such royalties (which are in
the single digits) vary depending on whether termination occurs prior to the first regulatory
approval in the United States or a primary European Market or after one of these approvals. These
royalties would expire on a country-by-country basis on the earlier of ten years after the first
commercial sale of a Licensed Product or certain thresholds related to generic competition.
In the event of a change of control of the Company, within 90 days of the change of control, Teva
may terminate the joint steering committee at its sole discretion, terminate the co-promotion
option at its sole discretion if the option has not been exercised by the Company or, if exercised,
but not yet executed by the Company, or terminate the co-promotion option if in its commercially
reasonable opinion co-promotion with the Companys successor would be materially detrimental to
Tevas interests.
Upon entering into the Collaboration Agreement, the Company assessed whether withholding taxes were
owed to the Israeli Tax Authority, or ITA, resulting from the Collaboration Agreement. It was the
Companys position that withholdings taxes were not owed, and a claim was issued to the ITA
accordingly. For accounting purposes, management concluded that the withholdings tax claim was an
uncertain tax position, and $3 million, which represented the potential withholdings tax
obligation, once received from Teva was initially recorded as restricted cash pending the ITA
review of our claim and a corresponding liability of $3 million was included in accounts payable
and accrued liabilities. In June 2010, the Company received approval from the ITA for our request
for a withholdings tax exemption on amounts received from Teva in relation to the Collaboration
Agreement. Following receipt of this approval from the ITA the $3 million was released to the
Company from escrow. Subsequently, the Company released the $3 million liability and recorded a $3
million income tax recovery in the second quarter of 2010.
Revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 was $1.2 million and $4.3 million
respectively, which consists of partial recognition of deferred collaboration revenue representing
OncoGenexs contribution to the custirsen phase 3 development plan under our Collaboration
Agreement with Teva and custirsen manufacturing costs incurred by OncoGenex in the year ended
December 31, 2010 that are reimbursable from Teva. At September 30, 2011, a remaining balance of
$19.0 million of the up-front payment was recorded in deferred collaboration revenue. There was
$4.9 million and $11.3 million in revenue recorded in the three and nine months ended September 30,
2010 as a result of the Collaboration Agreement with Teva.
4. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
With the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, 820 Fair Value Measurements and
Disclosures, beginning January 1, 2008, assets and liabilities recorded at fair value in the
balance sheets are categorized based upon the level of judgment associated with the inputs used to
measure their fair value. For certain of the Companys financial instruments, including cash and
cash equivalents, amounts receivable and accounts payable, the carrying values approximate fair
value due to their short-term nature.
9
ASC 820 specifies a hierarchy of valuation techniques based on whether the inputs to those
valuation techniques are observable or unobservable. In accordance with ASC 820, these inputs are
summarized in the three broad levels listed below:
|
|
|
Level 1 Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities;
|
|
|
|
Level 2 Other significant observable inputs that are observable through
corroboration with market data (including quoted prices in active markets for similar
securities); and
|
|
|
|
Level 3 Significant unobservable inputs that reflect managements best estimate of
what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
|
As quoted prices in active markets are not readily available for certain financial instruments, the
Company obtains estimates for the fair value of financial instruments through third party pricing
service providers.
In determining the appropriate levels, the Company performed a detailed analysis of the assets and
liabilities that are subject to ASC 820.
The Company invests its excess cash in accordance with investment guidelines that limit the credit
exposure to any one financial institution other than securities issued by the U.S. Government. Our
securities are not collateralized and mature within one year.
A description of the valuation techniques applied to the Companys financial instruments measured
at fair value on a recurring basis follows.
Financial Instruments
Cash
Significant amounts of cash are held on deposit with large, well established Canadian and U.S.
financial institutions.
Government and Agency Securities
Government Securities
U.S. and Canadian Government securities are valued using quoted
market prices. Valuation adjustments are not applied. Accordingly, U.S. and Canadian Government
securities are categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.
U.S. Agency Securities
U.S. agency securities are comprised of two main categories
consisting of callable and non-callable agency-issued debt securities. Non-callable agency-issued
debt securities are generally valued using quoted market prices. Callable agency issued debt
securities are valued by benchmarking model-derived prices to quoted market prices and trade data
for identical or comparable securities. Actively traded non-callable agency issued debt securities
are categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. Callable agency issued debt securities are
categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.
Corporate and Other Debt
Corporate Bonds and Commercial Paper
The fair value of corporate bonds and commercial
paper is estimated using recently executed transactions, market price quotations (where
observable), bond spreads or credit default swap spreads adjusted for any basis difference between
cash and derivative instruments. The spread data used are for the same maturity as the bond. If the
spread data does not reference the issuer, then data that reference a comparable issuer are used.
When observable price quotations are not available, fair value is determined based on cash flow
models with yield curves, bond or single name credit default swap spreads and recovery rates based
on collateral values as significant inputs. Corporate bonds and
commercial paper are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy; in instances
where prices, spreads or any of the other aforementioned key inputs are unobservable, they are
categorized in Level 3 of the hierarchy.
10
The following table presents information about our assets and liabilities that are measured at fair
value on a recurring basis, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques we
utilized to determine such fair value:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(in thousands)
|
|
Level 1
|
|
|
Level 2
|
|
|
Level 3
|
|
|
2011
|
|
Assets
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
|
|
$
|
1,367
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
1,367
|
|
Money market securities
|
|
$
|
11,931
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
11,931
|
|
Government securities
|
|
$
|
1,026
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
1,026
|
|
Corporate bonds and commercial paper
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
55,309
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
55,309
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$
|
14,324
|
|
|
$
|
55,309
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
69,633
|
|
Liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Warrants
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
6,248
|
|
|
$
|
6,248
|
|
Marketable securities consist of the following:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross
|
|
|
Gross
|
|
|
|
|
(in thousands)
|
|
Amortized
|
|
|
Unrealized
|
|
|
Unrealized
|
|
|
Estimated
|
|
2011
|
|
Cost
|
|
|
Gain
|
|
|
Loss
|
|
|
Fair Value
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
|
|
$
|
1,367
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
1,367
|
|
Money market
securities
|
|
$
|
11,554
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
11,554
|
|
Government
securities
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
Corporate bonds and
commercial paper
|
|
$
|
2,802
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
2,802
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash
equivalents
|
|
$
|
15,723
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
15,723
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Money market
securities
|
|
$
|
377
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
377
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Restricted cash
|
|
$
|
377
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
377
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Government
securities
|
|
$
|
1,026
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
1,026
|
|
Corporate bonds and
commercial paper
|
|
$
|
52,619
|
|
|
$
|
8
|
|
|
$
|
(120
|
)
|
|
$
|
52,507
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Short-term
investments
|
|
$
|
53,645
|
|
|
$
|
8
|
|
|
$
|
(120
|
)
|
|
$
|
53,533
|
|
All securities included in cash, and cash equivalents have maturities of 90 days or less at the
time of purchase. All securities included in short-term investments have maturities of within one
year of the balance sheet date.
11
There were no significant realized or unrealized gains or losses on the sales of marketable
securities in the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and no significant unrealized gains or
losses are included in accumulated other comprehensive income as at September 30, 2011. Realized
gains and losses are transferred out of accumulated other comprehensive income into interest income
using the specific identification method.
All of the marketable securities held as of September 30, 2011 had maturities of one year or less.
The Company only invests in A (or equivalent) rated securities with maturities of one year or less.
Given the quality of the investment portfolio, its short-term nature, and subsequent proceeds
collected on sale of securities that reached maturity, the Company does not believe that there are
any other than temporary impairments related to its investments in marketable securities at
September 30, 2011.
The Company has recorded a $6,248,000 warrant liability as of September 30, 2011. The Company
reassesses the fair value of the common stock warrants at each reporting date utilizing a
Black-Scholes pricing model. Inputs used in the pricing model include estimates of stock price
volatility, expected warrant life and risk-free interest rate. The computation of expected
volatility was based on the historical volatility of comparable companies from a representative
peer group selected based on industry and market capitalization. See note 5(d) in the Notes to
Financial Statements for further details on the inputs used in the Black-Scholes pricing model used
to recalculate the warrant liability.
The following table presents the changes in fair value of the Companys total Level 3 financial
liabilities for the nine months ended September 30, 2011:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remaining
|
|
|
|
Liability at
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liability at
|
|
|
|
December 31,
|
|
|
Gain (loss) on
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
(In thousands)
|
|
2010
|
|
|
warrants
|
|
|
2011
|
|
Warrant liability
|
|
$
|
15,269
|
|
|
$
|
9,021
|
|
|
$
|
6,248
|
|
5. COMMON STOCK
[a] Authorized
25,000,000 authorized common shares, par value of $0.001, and 5,000,000 preferred shares, par value
of $0.001.
[b] Issued and Outstanding Shares
During the nine month period ended September 30, 2011 the Company issued 54,761 common shares
(period ended September 30, 2010 156,472) to satisfy stock option exercises.
[c] Stock options
2010 Performance Incentive Plan
At the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the Company held on May 26, 2011, stockholders of the
Company approved an amendment to the Companys 2010 Performance Incentive Plan. As a result of this
amendment, the 2010 Plan was amended to provide for an increase in the total shares of common stock
available for issuance under the 2010 Plan from 450,000 to 1,050,000. As at September 30, 2011 the
Company has reserved, pursuant to various plans, 1,567,974 common shares for issuance upon exercise
of stock options by employees, directors, officers and consultants of the Company, of which 762,441
are reserved for options currently outstanding, and 805,533 are available for future option grants.
12
Stock Option Summary
Options vest in accordance with terms as determined by the board of directors of the Company, or
the Board, typically over four years for employee grants and one to three years for Board option
grants. The expiry date for each option is set by the Board, which is typically seven to ten years.
The exercise price of the options is determined by the Board, but generally will be at least equal
to the fair value of the share at the grant date.
Stock option transactions and the number of stock options outstanding are summarized below:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
of
|
|
|
Weighted
|
|
|
|
Optioned
|
|
|
Average
|
|
|
|
Common
|
|
|
Exercise
|
|
|
|
Shares
|
|
|
Price
|
|
|
|
#
|
|
|
$
|
|
Balance, December 31, 2010
|
|
|
744,913
|
|
|
|
8.73
|
|
Option grants
|
|
|
95,600
|
|
|
|
15.15
|
|
Option expirations/cancellations
|
|
|
(6,320
|
)
|
|
|
13.93
|
|
Option exercises
|
|
|
(54,761
|
)
|
|
|
3.90
|
|
Option forfeitures
|
|
|
(16,991
|
)
|
|
|
17.82
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance, September 30, 2011
|
|
|
762,441
|
|
|
|
9.64
|
|
The fair value of each stock award is estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes
option-pricing model based on the weighted-average assumptions noted in the following table:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nine months ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
Risk-free interest rates
|
|
|
2.16
|
%
|
|
|
2.36
|
%
|
Expected dividend yield
|
|
|
0
|
%
|
|
|
0
|
%
|
Expected life
|
|
|
6
|
years
|
|
|
6
|
years
|
Expected volatility
|
|
|
76
|
%
|
|
|
75
|
%
|
The expected life was calculated based on the simplified method as permitted by the SECs Staff
Accounting Bulletin 110, Share-Based Payment. The computation of expected volatility was based on
the historical volatility of comparable companies from a representative peer group selected based
on industry and market capitalization. The Company considers the use of these methods of
calculating expected term and volatility appropriate because of the lack of sufficient historical
exercise data following the reverse takeover of Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Sonus. The
risk-free interest rate was based on a U.S. Treasury instrument whose term is consistent with the
expected life of the stock options. In addition to the
assumptions above, as required under ASC 718, management made an estimate of expected forfeitures
and is recognizing compensation costs only for those equity awards expected to vest.
13
The results for the periods set forth below included share-based compensation expense in the
following expense categories of the consolidated statements of loss:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months
|
|
|
Nine Months
|
|
|
|
Ended
|
|
|
Ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
(In thousands)
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
Research and development
|
|
|
181
|
|
|
|
88
|
|
|
|
493
|
|
|
|
231
|
|
General and administrative
|
|
|
131
|
|
|
|
61
|
|
|
|
373
|
|
|
|
231
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total share-based compensation
|
|
|
312
|
|
|
|
149
|
|
|
|
866
|
|
|
|
462
|
|
As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 the total unrecognized compensation expense related
to stock options granted is $2,949,627 and $2,962,000 respectively, which is expected to be
recognized into expense over a period of approximately four years.
As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 a total of 2,042,510 and 2,332,214 options and
warrants, respectively, have not been included in the calculation of potential common shares as
their effect on diluted per share amounts would have been anti-dilutive.
[d] Stock Warrants
As of September 30, 2011, there were exercisable warrants outstanding to purchase
1,587,301 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $20 per share, expiring in
October 2015. No warrants were exercised during the nine months ended September 30, 2011
or nine months ended September 30, 2010.
The estimated fair value of warrants issued is reassessed at each balance sheet date
using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The following assumptions were used to
value the warrants on the following balance sheet dates:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nine months ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
Risk-free interest rates
|
|
|
0.71
|
%
|
|
|
|
|
Expected dividend yield
|
|
|
0
|
%
|
|
|
|
|
Expected life
|
|
|
4.06
|
years
|
|
|
|
|
Expected volatility
|
|
|
76
|
%
|
|
|
|
|
6. RESTRUCTURING ACTIVITIES
On August 21, 2008, Sonus completed a transaction, or the Arrangement, with OncoGenex
Technologies whereby Sonus acquired all of the outstanding preferred shares, common shares and
convertible debentures of OncoGenex Technologies. Sonus then changed its name to OncoGenex
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to the Arrangement, Sonus entered into a non-cancellable lease
arrangement for office space located in Bothell, Washington, which is considered to be in excess of
the Companys current requirements. The
Company is currently in the process of evaluating opportunities to exit or sublet portions of the
leased space and recorded an initial restructuring charge of $2,084,000 on August 21, 2008 as part
of the purchase price allocation. The liability is computed as the present value of the difference
between the remaining lease payments due less the estimate of net sublease income and expenses and
has been accounted for in accordance with the then effective EITF No. 95-3, Recognition of
Liabilities in Connection with a Purchase Business Combination. This represents the Companys best
estimate of the liability. Subsequent changes in the liability due to changes in estimates of
sublease assumptions are recognized as adjustments to restructuring charges.
14
In June 2009, the Company revised its sublease income assumptions used to estimate the excess lease
facility liability. These assumptions were subsequently revised again in December 2009 and
September 2010. These changes in estimate resulted in increases in the value of the excess lease
liability of $494,000, $3,457,000, and $4,038,000 and a corresponding expense recorded in June
2009, December 2009, and September 2010, respectively, to reflect these changes in estimate. The
estimated value of the liability remaining with respect to excess facilities was $7,467,000 as of
December 31, 2010. In the nine months ended September 30, 2011, with respect to excess facilities,
$252,000 was amortized into income resulting in a remaining liability of $7,215,000 at September
30, 2011.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remaining
|
|
|
|
Remaining
|
|
|
Amortization
|
|
|
Additional
|
|
|
Liability
|
|
|
|
Liability at
|
|
|
of excess
|
|
|
Liability
|
|
|
at September 30,
|
|
(In thousands)
|
|
December 31, 2010
|
|
|
lease facility
|
|
|
Recorded
|
|
|
2011
|
|
Current portion of
excess lease
facility
|
|
$
|
1,303
|
|
|
$
|
(74
|
)
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
1,377
|
|
Long-term portion
of excess lease
facility
|
|
$
|
6,164
|
|
|
$
|
326
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
5,838
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
$
|
7,467
|
|
|
$
|
252
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
|
$
|
7
,215
|
|
7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Under the Collaboration Agreement, Teva made upfront payments in the aggregate amount of $50
million, may make up to $370 million in additional payments upon the achievement of developmental
and commercial milestones and may be required in the future to pay royalties at percentage rates
ranging from the mid-teens to mid-twenties on net sales. The Company is required to contribute $30
million in direct and indirect costs towards the Clinical Development Plan. As of September 30,
2011, $11.0 million of these costs have been incurred by OncoGenex, resulting in a remaining
funding responsibility of $19.0 million which has been recorded under Deferred collaboration
revenue and Deferred collaboration revenue, less current portion as of September 30, 2011. Teva
will fund all other expenses under the Clinical Development Plan. See note 3 in the Notes to
Consolidated Financial Statements for further details on our Collaboration Agreement with Teva.
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and University of British Columbia
To facilitate the execution and performance of the Collaboration Agreement with Teva, OncoGenex and
Isis agreed to amend the Isis License Agreement and the Company and UBC agreed to amend the UBC
License Agreement, in each case, effective December 19 and December 20, 2009, respectively.
15
The amendment to the Isis License Agreement provides, among other things, that if the Company is
the subject of a change of control with a third party, where the surviving company immediately
following such
change of control has the right to develop and sell the product, then (i) a milestone payment of
$20 million will be due and payable to Isis 21 days following the first commercial sale of the
product in the United States; and (ii) unless such surviving entity had previously sublicensed the
product and a royalty rate payable to Isis by the Company has been established, the applicable
royalty rate payable to Isis will thereafter be the maximum amount payable under the Isis License
Agreement. Any non-royalty milestone amounts previously paid will be credited toward the $20
million milestone if not already paid. As a result of the $10 million milestone payment payable to
Isis in relation to the Collaboration Agreement, the remaining amount owing in the event of change
of control discussed above is a maximum of $10 million. As the Company has now licensed the product
to Teva and established a royalty rate payable to Isis, no royalty rate adjustments would apply if
Teva acquires the Company and is the surviving company. If the $30 million in advanced
reimbursement of development activities has not been spent by OncoGenex prior to the third
anniversary of the Collaboration Agreement between OncoGenex and Teva, OncoGenex will pay Isis an
amount equal to 30% of any un-spent portion less $3.5 million.
In addition, we are required to pay to Isis 30% of all Non-Royalty Revenue we receive on custirsen
sales, as defined in the Amended Isis License Agreement. Isis has disclosed in its SEC filings that
it is entitled to receive 30% of the up to $370 million in milestone payments we may receive from
Teva as part of the Collaboration Agreement; however, we believe that certain of the milestone
payments related to sales targets may qualify as Royalty Revenue, as defined in the Amended Isis
License Agreement, and therefore be subject to the lesser payment obligations. No assurance can be
provided that we will be entitled to receive these milestone payments or, if we are, that the
applicable amount payable to Isis will be less than 30%.
Pursuant to license agreements the Company has with the UBC and Isis, the Company is obligated to
pay milestone payments of up to CAD $1.6 million and USD $7.75 million, respectively, upon the
achievement of specified product development milestones related to OGX-427 and OGX-225 and
royalties on future product sales. We paid UBC and Isis CAD $100,000 and USD $750,000,
respectively, in 2010 upon the initiation of a phase 2 clinical trial of OGX-427 in patients with
CRPC. We do not anticipate making any royalty payments to Isis in 2011.
Unless otherwise terminated, the Isis agreements for custirsen and OGX-427 will continue for each
product until the later of 10 years after the date of the first commercial product sale, or the
expiration of the last to expire of any patents required to be licensed in order to use or sell the
product, unless OncoGenex Technologies abandons either custirsen or OGX-427 and Isis does not elect
to unilaterally continue development. The Isis agreement for OGX-225 will continue into perpetuity
unless OncoGenex Technologies abandons the product and Isis does not elect to unilaterally continue
development.
We are also obligated to pay to UBC certain patent costs and annual license maintenance fees for
the extent of the patent life of CAD $8,000 per year relating to custirsen, OGX-427 and OGX-225.
The UBC agreements have effective dates ranging from November 1, 2001 to April 5, 2005 and each
agreement expires upon the later of 20 years from its effective date or the expiry of the last
patent licensed thereunder, unless otherwise terminated.
Bayer HealthCare LLC
On August 7, 2008, Sonus completed an exclusive in-licensing agreement with Bayer HealthCare LLC,
or Bayer, for the right to develop, commercialize or sublicense a family of compounds known as
caspase activators presently in pre-clinical research. Under terms of the agreement, Sonus was
granted exclusive rights to develop two core compounds for all prophylactic and therapeutic uses in
humans. Additionally, Sonus was granted rights to all other non-core compounds covered under the
patents for use in oncology.
16
Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer received an upfront license fee of $450,000. OncoGenex will
make annual payments to Bayer on the anniversary dates, which are referred to as Anniversary
Payments, with an initial payment of $100,000 paid in 2008. The payments increase by $25,000 each
year until the
initiation of the first phase 3 clinical trial, at which point the Anniversary Payments reset to
$100,000 each year and increase by $25,000 until the Company achieves either the first New Drug
Application, or NDA, filing in the United States or the European Union. OncoGenex is obligated to
pay royalties on net future product sales in addition to aggregate milestone payments of up to
$14,000,000 for clinical development and regulatory milestones. No milestone payments are triggered
prior to the initiation of a phase 3 clinical trial. OncoGenex has the option to terminate this
contract upon 60 days written notice to Bayer.
Lease Arrangements
The Company has an operating lease agreement for office space in Vancouver, Canada, which expires
in September 2014.
Future minimum annual lease payments under the Vancouver lease are as follows (in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CAD
|
|
2011
|
|
$
|
27
|
|
2012
|
|
$
|
107
|
|
2013
|
|
$
|
107
|
|
2014
|
|
$
|
80
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
$
|
321
|
|
In November 2006, prior to the Arrangement, Sonus entered into a non-cancellable operating
lease agreement for office space in Bothell, Washington, expiring in 2017 (note 6). In connection
with the lease, Sonus was required to provide a cash security deposit of approximately $497,000,
which is included in Other Long Term Assets. In addition, a standby letter of credit for $377,000
is deposited in a restricted money market account as collateral. The Company is currently in the
process of evaluating opportunities to exit or sublet portions of the leased space and has recorded
a liability in the excess facilities lease charge of $7,215,000 as at September 30, 2011 (note 6).
If the Company is unable to exit or sublet portions of this leased space, the future minimum annual
lease payments are as follows (in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
$
|
514
|
|
2012
|
|
$
|
2,117
|
|
2013
|
|
$
|
2,180
|
|
2014
|
|
$
|
2,246
|
|
2015
|
|
$
|
2,313
|
|
Remainder
|
|
$
|
4,837
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
$
|
14,207
|
|
Consolidated rent expense relating to both the Vancouver, Canada and Bothell, Washington
offices in use periods ended September 30, 2011 and 2010 was $1,971,000 and $1,715,000
respectively.
Guarantees and Indemnifications
OncoGenex indemnifies its officers and directors for certain events or occurrences, subject to
certain limits, while the officer or director is or was serving at our request in such capacity.
The term of the indemnification period is equal to the officers or directors lifetime.
The maximum amount of potential future indemnification is unlimited; however, we have obtained
director and officer insurance that limits our exposure and may enable us to recover a portion of
any future amounts paid. We believe that the fair value of these indemnification obligations is
minimal. Accordingly, we have not recognized any liabilities relating to these obligations as of
September 30, 2011.
17
We have certain agreements with certain organizations with which we do business that contain
indemnification provisions pursuant to which we typically agree to indemnify the party against
certain types of third-party claims. We accrue for known indemnification issues when a loss is
probable and can be reasonably estimated. There were no accruals for or expenses related to
indemnification issues for any period presented.
8. COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (INCOME)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months
|
|
|
Nine Months
|
|
|
|
Ended
|
|
|
Ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
(In thousands)
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
Loss (income) for the period
|
|
|
(4,470
|
)
|
|
|
6,894
|
|
|
|
5,104
|
|
|
|
9,784
|
|
Unrealized gain on cash
equivalents and marketable
securities
|
|
|
8
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
8
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
Unrealized loss on cash
equivalents and short-term
investments
|
|
|
120
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
120
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive loss (income)
|
|
|
(4,358
|
)
|
|
|
6,894
|
|
|
|
5,216
|
|
|
|
9,784
|
|
9. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company has performed an evaluation of events occurring subsequent to September 30, 2011. Based
on our evaluation, no material events have occurred requiring financial statement disclosure.
18
|
|
|
Item 2.
|
|
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
|
INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. We caution readers that any forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future
performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statement. These statements are based on current expectations of future events.
Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating
results, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, costs and expenses, interest rates,
outcome of contingencies, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, business
strategies, cost savings, objectives of management and other statements that are not historical
facts. You can find many of these statements by looking for words like believes, expects,
anticipates, estimates, may, should, will, could, plan, intend, or similar
expressions in this document or in documents incorporated by reference into this document . We
intend that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby.
Examples of these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
|
|
|
progress and preliminary and future results of clinical trials conducted by us or our
collaborators;
|
|
|
|
|
anticipated regulatory filings, requirements and future clinical trials conducted by us
or our collaborators;
|
|
|
|
|
our anticipated future capital requirements and the terms of any capital financing
agreements;
|
|
|
|
|
timing and amount of future contractual payments, product revenue and operating
expenses;
|
|
|
|
|
market acceptance of our products and the estimated potential size of these markets;
and
|
|
|
|
|
our anticipated future capital requirements and the terms of any capital financing
agreements.
|
These forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of our
management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove
inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from
current expectations and projections. The following factors, among others, could cause actual
results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements:
|
|
|
uncertainty relating to the timing, feasibility and results of clinical trials;
|
|
|
|
|
dependence on Tevas ongoing commitment and ability to develop and commercialize
custirsen;
|
|
|
|
|
dependence on the development and commercialization of our product candidates,
particularly on custirsen;
|
|
|
|
|
the risk that research or previous clinical trial results may not be indicative of
results in humans or in future studies;
|
|
|
|
|
uncertainties regarding the safety and effectiveness of our product candidates and
technologies;
|
|
|
|
|
the timing, expense and uncertainty associated with the development and regulatory
approval process for our product candidates;
|
|
|
|
|
uncertainties regarding our future operating results, and the risk that our product
candidates will not obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to commercialize or that the
future sales of our product candidates may be less than expected or nil;
|
|
|
|
|
future capital requirements and uncertainty of obtaining additional funding through
debt or equity financings on terms acceptable to us;
|
|
|
|
|
acceptance of our products by the medical community;
|
|
|
|
|
the uncertainty associated with exiting or subleasing our excess office and laboratory
space;
|
|
|
|
|
our ability to build out our product candidate pipeline through product in-licensing,
acquisition activities, or otherwise;
|
19
|
|
|
changes in the treatment landscape, general competitive conditions within the drug
development and pharmaceutical industry and new developments or therapies that may not
work in combination with our product candidates;
|
|
|
|
|
the potential for product liability issues and related litigation;
|
|
|
|
|
our dependence on key employees;
|
|
|
|
|
proper management of our operations;
|
|
|
|
|
the potential inability to successfully protect and enforce our intellectual property
rights;
|
|
|
|
|
the reliance on third parties who license intellectual property rights to us to comply
with the terms of such agreements and to enforce, prosecute and defend such intellectual
property rights;
|
|
|
|
|
the reliance on third parties to manufacture and supply our product candidates;
|
|
|
|
|
the effect of current, pending or future legislation, regulations and legal actions in
the United States, Canada and elsewhere affecting the pharmaceutical and healthcare
industries;
|
|
|
|
|
volatility in the value of our common stock; and
|
|
|
|
|
general economic conditions.
|
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only
as of the date of this document or, in the case of documents referred to or incorporated by
reference, the date of those documents.
All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting
on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or
referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions
to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under
applicable U.S. securities law. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no
inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other
forward-looking statements.
MD&A Overview
In Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, we
explain the general financial condition and the results of operations for our Company, including:
|
|
|
an overview of our business;
|
|
|
|
results of operations and why those results are different from the prior year; and
|
|
|
|
capital resources we currently have and possible sources of additional funding for
future capital requirements.
|
Overview of the Company
OncoGenex is a biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of new
cancer therapies that address treatment resistance in cancer patients. We have four product
candidates in our pipeline, custirsen, OGX-427, OGX-225, and CSP-9222, each of which has a distinct
mechanism of action and represents a unique opportunity for cancer drug development. Of the product
candidates in our pipeline, custirsen and OGX-427 are clinical-stage assets.
Our product candidates custirsen, OGX-427, and OGX-225 focus on mechanisms of treatment resistance
in cancer patients and are designed to block the production of specific proteins that we believe
promote survival of tumor cells and are over-produced in response to a variety of cancer
treatments. Our aim in targeting these particular proteins is to disable the tumor cells adaptive
defenses, thereby rendering the tumor cells more susceptible to attack with a variety of cancer
therapies, including chemotherapy. We believe this approach will increase survival time and improve
the quality of life for cancer patients. Product
candidate CSP-9222 is the lead compound from a family of caspase activators that have been
in-licensed from Bayer and demonstrate activation of programmed cell death in pre-clinical models.
20
Product Candidate Custirsen
As discussed above, in December 2009, we announced our entry into the Collaboration Agreement with
Teva for the development and global commercialization of custirsen (and related compounds targeting
clusterin, excluding OGX-427 and OGX-225).
Teva and the Company have developed a Clinical Development Plan under which two phase 3 clinical
trials have been initiated and one additional phase 3 clinical trial is planned to be initiated:
|
|
|
The ongoing phase 3 clinical trial, referred to as the Synergy trial, or SYNERGY, to
evaluate a survival benefit for custirsen in combination with first-line docetaxel
treatment in patients with castrate resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC. During discussions
regarding the Prostate Cancer SATURN trial, or SATURN, Special Protocol Assessment, or
SPA, amendment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, stated that an application
supported primarily by the results of SYNERGY alone would be acceptable for submission. We
expect to enroll at least 800 patients in SYNERGY. Expected timing of results for the
survival primary endpoint is projected to be the fourth quarter of 2013.
|
|
|
|
An ongoing phase 3 clinical trial, referred to as SATURN, to evaluate a durable pain
palliation benefit for custirsen in combination with cabazitaxel or docetaxel as
second-line chemotherapy in approximately 300 patients with CRPC. An amendment to the
SATURN phase 3 SPA was completed with the FDA to include cabazitaxel as a second-line
chemotherapy option and expand the criteria for patient enrollment in the third quarter of
2011. The SATURN study is designed to evaluate a durable pain palliation benefit of
custirsen in patients who had disease progression while receiving or after completing
1st-line docetaxel-based treatment. Patient accrual will continue to be closely monitored
to determine the impact of the amendment on SATURNs previously reported accrual
challenges. Expected timing of results for the pain palliation primary endpoint is
projected to be the fourth quarter of 2013.
|
|
|
|
A phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate a survival benefit for custirsen in combination
with first-line chemotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. The
initiation of the phase 3 clinical trial evaluating custirsen in patients with NSCLC has
been delayed as we determine the optimal chemotherapeutic combination. We believe NSCLC is
a promising indication and remain committed to the advancement of custirsen in NSCLC.
|
For detailed information regarding our relationship with Teva and the Collaboration Agreement,
refer to the discussion under the heading BusinessLicense and Collaboration AgreementsTeva
Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. included in our 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 10,
2011.
Custirsen received Fast Track designations from the FDA for the treatment of progressive metastatic
prostate cancer in combination with docetaxel for both first- and second-line docetaxel treatment.
The FDA has agreed on the design of two phase 3 registration trials, each in CRPC, via the SPA
process. The SYNERGY trial design investigates overall survival as the primary endpoint for
custirsen in combination with first-line chemotherapy, whereas the SATURN trial investigates pain
palliation as the primary endpoint for custirsen in combination with second-line
chemotherapy.
We have also received written, scientific advice from the European Medicines Agency, or EMA,
on our development plan for custirsen for treating patients with CRPC in combination with
docetaxel, which advice corresponded with our development plan regarding the proposed pre-clinical
studies and both the study designs and analyses for the phase 3 trials. In addition, the Committee
for Medicinal Products for
Human Use, or CHMP, agreed that the intended safety database would enable a sufficient qualified
risk-benefit assessment for market approval.
21
Our phase 3 registration trials have been designed based on our phase 2 clinical results,
including:
|
|
|
A randomized phase 2 trial evaluating the benefit of combining custirsen with
first-line docetaxel, the final results of which were published in the September 20, 2010
issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Analyses indicating a survival benefit in
patients treated with custirsen in combination with first-line docetaxel compared to
docetaxel alone, the latter being the current standard of care for patients with advanced,
progressive metastatic prostate cancer requiring initial chemotherapy, are described in
our 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 10, 2011 under the heading
BusinessOur Product CandidatesCustirsen Summary of Final Results of Custirsen Phase
2 Clinical Trial in Patients With CRPC Receiving Custirsen and Docetaxel as First-Line
Chemotherapy. Due to the results of the phase 2 trial, the SYNERGY trial will evaluate
the survival benefit of custirsen in patients treated with first-line chemotherapy.
|
|
|
|
Durable pain palliation, defined as pain palliation of 12 weeks or greater, which has
been observed in another phase 2 trial evaluating patients with metastatic CRPC who
progressed while receiving, or within six months of completing, first-line docetaxel
treatment. Of the patients on this trial who had pain or were on opioids for pain control
and were retreated with docetaxel as second-line treatment in combination with custirsen,
approximately 50% had durable pain palliation. This is favorable even when compared to the
35% pain responses of three weeks or greater observed in the phase 3 trial, which
supported the registration of docetaxel as first-line chemotherapy in patients with CRPC,
and when compared to the pain responses for cabazitaxel of 9.2% and for mitoxantrone of
7.7% observed in the phase 3 TROPIC trial. As of August 13, 2010, the estimated median
over survival duration for the custirsen plus mitoxantrone arm was 11.5 months for the
custirsen plus docetaxel re-treatment arm, the median overall survival was estimated at
15.8 months for the 20 randomized patients and 12.8 months for the 45 combined patients
which included 25 additional patients with high serum clusterin levels at enrolment beyond
the 20 randomized patients. Due to the results of our phase 2 trial, the SATURN trial is
evaluating the durable pain palliation benefit of custirsen in patients treated with
cabazitaxel or docetaxel as second-line chemotherapy. We expect the SATURN trial will
enroll patients who have previously responded to first-line docetaxel therapy, but who
subsequently experienced disease progression involving prostate cancer-related pain
despite opioid usage.
|
|
|
|
A phase 2 trial evaluating 81 patients with advanced NSCLC who received custirsen in
combination with gemcitabine and a platinum chemotherapy (cisplatin or carboplatin) as
first-line chemotherapy. The median overall survival was 14.1 months and 54% of patients
survived at least one year. Thirty percent of patients who received custirsen with
first-line chemotherapy survived at least two years. For comparison, published studies
using a platinum-based regimen plus gemcitabine as first-line chemotherapy for advanced
NSCLC reported median survivals of 8 to 11 months and one-year survival rates of 33% to
43%. Market approval for Roches Avastin plus paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy for
NSCLC was based on results showing a median survival of 12.3 months compared to 10.3
months for patients treated with chemotherapy alone. Survival rates for Avastin plus
chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone were reported as 51% versus 44% at one year and 23%
versus 15% at two years, respectively. The protocol for the custirsen phase 3 registration
trial in advanced, unresectable NSCLC has yet to be finalized. Recent non-clinical studies
and drug-to-drug interaction studies have given conflicting results regarding the effect
of custirsen on the enzymes which break down paclitaxe1, one of the chemotherapeutic
agents intended for use in this trial. Based on the above, both OncoGenex and Teva believe
it is unlikely that a phase 3 trial will be initiated in 2011.
|
22
Product Candidate OGX-427
OGX-427 is a product candidate that, in pre-clinical experiments, inhibits production of Hsp27, a
cell survival protein found at elevated levels in many human cancers, including prostate, lung,
breast, ovarian, bladder, renal, pancreatic, multiple myeloma and liver cancer. Many anti-cancer
therapies are known to further elevate Hsp27 levels. For example, Hsp27 levels increased four-fold
in prostate cancer patients after treatment with chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Increased levels
of Hsp27 in some human cancers are associated with metastases, poor prognosis and resistance to
radiation or chemotherapy.
OGX-427 has been evaluated in a phase 1 trial in patients with bladder, breast, prostate, ovarian,
or NSCLC who have failed potentially curative treatments or for which a curative treatment does not
exist. Final results of this phase 1 trial were presented during an oral presentation at the
American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, 2010 annual meeting. The phase 1 trial evaluated 36
patients treated with OGX-427 as a single agent and 12 patients with OGX-427 in combination with
docetaxel who had failed up to six prior chemotherapy treatments. OGX-427 as a single agent
administered weekly was evaluated at doses from 200 mg up to 1000 mg in five cohorts of
approximately six patients in each cohort. Two further cohorts tested OGX-427 at the 800 and 1000
mg doses combined with docetaxel. Patients could receive up to ten 21-day cycles.
OGX-427 was well tolerated both as a monotherapy and in combination with docetaxel. Most adverse
events were mild (grade 1 or 2) and mainly occurred during the three loading doses given over
nine days prior to weekly dosing. The majority of adverse events potentially related to OGX-427
consisted of grade 1 or 2 fever, chills, itching, or flushing (associated with the infusion of
OGX-427) and fatigue. Despite evaluating OGX-427 at very high doses, a maximum tolerated dose for
OGX-427 was not reached in this trial.
Of particular interest was the decrease at all doses and in all diseases evaluated in the trial for
both total circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and CTCs which were positive for Hsp27, Hsp27(+) CTCs.
Recent studies have shown that the presence of CTCs in peripheral blood may be of prognostic
significance for patients with solid tumors and patients with values of ≤ 5 CTCs are generally
considered to have a more favorable prognosis.
When OGX-427 was used as monotherapy, 3 of 17 evaluable patients had a decrease in measurable
disease of 20% or greater. In this heavily pretreated patient population, 2 of 4 patients with
ovarian cancer had a decrease of 25% or greater in CA-125 (an ovarian tumor marker) and 3 of 15
patients with prostate cancer had a decrease of 30% or greater in PSA (a prostate tumor marker).
Hsp27 (+) CTC decreases were noted in 89% of evaluable patients and were observed at all dose
levels and in all diseases evaluated. In 9 of 26 (31%) patients with ≥ 5 Hsp27 (+) CTCs at
baseline, Hsp27 (+) CTCs had decreased to ≤ 5 CTCs. In addition, serum Hsp27 protein levels were
decreased by 30% or greater over a period of at least six weeks in approximately 25% of patients at
the 800 and 1000 mg doses.
When OGX-427 was combined with docetaxel, 5 of 10 patients had a decrease in measurable disease of
20% or greater. Five of 9 patients with prostate cancer had a decrease of 30% or greater in PSA.
Again, decreases in both total CTCs and Hsp27 (+) CTCs were observed. Hsp27 (+) CTCs were decreased
in 71% of evaluable patients. In 4 of 7 patients with ≥ 5 Hsp (+) CTCs at baseline, Hsp (+) CTCs
had decreased to ≦ 5 CTCs. Serum Hsp27 protein levels were decreased by 30% or greater over a time
period of at least six weeks in approximately 35% of patients.
An investigator-sponsored phase 1 clinical trial evaluating OGX-427 when administered directly into
the bladder in patients with superficial or muscle-invasive bladder cancer was initiated in August
2009. The investigators are in the process of accruing patients for this trial, in which they will
enroll up to 36 patients. The trial is designed to determine the safety and potential benefit of
OGX-427 administered directly into the bladder using a catheter, which is known as intravesical
instillation. In addition, the trial will measure the direct effect of OGX-427 on expression of
Hsp27 in bladder tumor cells, as well as determine the
pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of OGX-427 when delivered by intravesical instillation. This
investigator-sponsored trial is funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada. An abstract
reporting preliminary clinical results from this trial has been submitted to the ASCO 2012
Genitourinary Cancers Symposium to be held in February.
23
In September 2010, we announced the initiation of a separate investigator-sponsored, randomized
phase 2 clinical trial evaluating OGX-427 when administered as a monotherapy to patients with CRPC.
The randomized, controlled phase 2 trial will enroll up to 72 patients who have minimally
symptomatic or asymptomatic advanced prostate cancer and who have not yet received chemotherapy. It
is designed to determine the potential benefit of OGX-427 by evaluating the number of patients who
are without disease progression at 12 weeks post-trial treatment with or without OGX-427. This
phase 2 trial will also measure the direct effect of OGX-427 on PSA levels, time to progression by
PSA or measurable disease, numbers of CTCs and other relevant secondary endpoints. An abstract
reporting preliminary clinical results from this trial has been submitted to the ASCO 2012
Genitourinary Cancers Symposium to be held in February.
We initiated a phase 2 clinical trial of OGX-427 in patients with metastatic bladder cancer in the
fourth quarter of 2011. The trial design is a three-arm, randomized phase 2 in combination with
gemcitabine and cisplatin in the first-line metastatic setting. Each arm would enroll approximately
60 patients and the trial would be initiated in sites throughout the United States, Canada and
Europe. This trial will complement the phase 2 clinical trial in prostate cancer, and phase 1
clinical trial in patients with superficial or muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The trial will be
conducted as an event-driven trial such that the final analysis will have 80% power to show a
critical hazard ratio of approximately 0.66 to 0.71. This type of Phase 2 trial will allow us to
better predict the potential size of and success for a Phase 3 trial where a survival benefit will
be the primary endpoint.
We are currently evaluating various alternatives, including partnering, which would allow us to
expand the OGX-427 development plan beyond the ongoing bladder cancer and CRPC trials and the
planned randomized phase 2 bladder cancer trial.
Product Candidates OGX-225 and CSP-9222
OGX-225, an inhibitor of insulin growth factor binding proteins 2 and 5, and CSP-9222 are in
pre-clinical development.
Collaboration Revenue
We recorded $4.3 million of collaboration revenue in connection with our Collaboration Agreement
with Teva in the nine months ended September 30, 2011, as compared to $11.3 million in the nine
months ended September 30, 2010. At September 30, 2011, an aggregate of $19.0 million of the
upfront payment was included in the balance sheet line items Deferred collaboration revenue and
Deferred collaboration revenue, net of current, which we are recognizing as we perform our
deliverables under the Collaboration Agreement. Management currently expects this performance
period to end in the fourth quarter of 2013. Further, we are eligible to receive payments of up to
$370 million upon the achievement of developmental and commercial milestones. At present, we are
unable to predict the timing or likelihood of such milestone payments, although we do not expect to
receive any milestone payments from Teva in the year ending December 31, 2011. Moreover, Isis has
disclosed in its Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, filings that it is entitled to receive
30% of the up to $370 million in milestone payments we may receive from Teva as part of the
Collaboration Agreement. We disagree with their assessment but believe there may be some lesser
payment obligation. See note 3 in the Notes to Financial Statements for further details on our
collaboration with Teva.
24
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development, or R&D, expenses consist primarily of costs for milestone payments to
third parties, clinical trials, materials and supplies, facilities, personnel, including salaries
and benefits, regulatory activities, pre-clinical studies, and allocations of other R&D-related
costs. External R&D expenses include fees paid to universities, hospitals and other entities that
conduct certain R&D activities and that manufacture our product candidates for use in our clinical
trials. Currently, we manage our clinical trials through independent medical investigators at their
sites and at hospitals and expect this practice to continue.
Until July 2, 2008, we and Isis co-developed custirsen and R&D expenses for custirsen were shared
65% by us and 35% by Isis. On July 2, 2008, we and Isis amended the License Agreement to provide
for our unilateral development of custirsen. In connection with the Collaboration Agreement and
pursuant to the terms of agreements between us and Isis relating to custirsen, we paid $10 million
to Isis in the first quarter of 2010, which was included in R&D expenses in 2009. We also paid
$333,333 to UBC in the first quarter of 2010 pursuant to the terms of the license agreement
relating to custirsen, which was also included in R&D expenses in 2009.
Under the Collaboration Agreement with Teva, we are required to spend $30 million towards
development of custirsen, which will include our personnel costs for certain development
activities. Teva will fund all other expenses incurred pursuant to the Clinical Development Plan.
Costs that we incurred totaling $3.5 million in 2009, $4.9 million in 2010, and $2.6 million in the
nine months ended September 30, 2011 have been applied against our $30 million funding commitment,
resulting in a remaining funding commitment of $19.0 million at September 30, 2011. We expect
aggregate full-time equivalent reimbursement of between $1.5 and $2.5 million annually from 2011 to
2012, which will be applied against our funding commitment, or reimbursed to us from Teva on a cash
basis. We currently expect that we will incur all remaining costs associated with the Clinical
Development Plan by the fourth quarter of 2013.
Several of our clinical trials have been and are being supported by grant funding that was received
directly by the hospitals and/or clinical investigators conducting the clinical trials, thereby
allowing us to complete these clinical trials at a lower cost to us.
Since our drug candidates are in the early stages of development, we cannot estimate completion
dates for development activities or when we might receive material net cash inflows from our R&D
projects, if ever.
Our projects or intended R&D activities may be subject to change from time to time as we evaluate
our R&D priorities and available resources.
We expect our R&D expenses to increase in 2011 and into the future, likely significantly, as we
further expand development of custirsen, OGX-427 and our other programs. Our programs or
anticipated programs may be subject to change from time to time as we evaluate our R&D priorities
and available resources.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative, or G&A, expenses consist primarily of salaries and related costs for
our personnel in executive, business development, human resources, external communications, finance
and other administrative functions, as well as consulting costs, including market research and
business consulting, and intellectual property. Other costs include professional fees for legal and
auditing services, insurance and facility costs. We believe that G&A resources are sufficient to
carry on existing development activities. We anticipate that G&A expenses will increase in the
future as we continue to expand our operating activities.
Restructuring Activities
On August 21, 2008, Sonus entered into the Arrangement with OncoGenex Technologies whereby Sonus
acquired all of the outstanding preferred shares, common shares and convertible debentures of
OncoGenex Technologies. Sonus then changed its name to OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to the
Arrangement, Sonus entered into a non-cancellable lease arrangement for office space located in
Bothell, Washington, which is considered to be in excess of the Companys current requirements. The
Company is currently in the process of evaluating opportunities to exit or sublet portions of the
leased space and recorded an initial restructuring charge of $2,084,000 on August 21, 2008 as part
of the purchase price allocation. The liability is computed as the present value of the difference
between the remaining lease payments due less the estimate of net sublease income and expenses and
has been accounted for in accordance with the then effective EITF No. 95-3, Recognition of
Liabilities in Connection with a Purchase Business Combination. This represents the Companys best
estimate of the liability. Subsequent changes in the liability due to changes in estimates of
sublease assumptions are recognized as adjustments to restructuring charges.
25
In June 2009, the Company revised its sublease income assumptions used to estimate the excess lease
facility liability. These assumptions were subsequently revised again in December 2009 and
September 2010. These changes in estimate resulted in increases in the value of the excess lease
liability of $494,000, $3,457,000, and $4,038,000 and a corresponding expense recorded in June
2009, December 2009, and September 2010, respectively, to reflect these changes in estimate. The
estimated value of the liability remaining with respect to excess facilities was $7,467,000 as of
December 31, 2010. In the nine months ended September 30, 2011, with respect to excess facilities,
$252,000 was amortized into income resulting in a remaining liability of $7,215,000 at September
30, 2011.
Results of Operations
Three Months Ended September 30, 2011 Compared to the Three Months Ended September 30, 2010
Revenue
Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2011 decreased to $1.2 million, from $4.9 million
for the three months ended September 30, 2010. The decrease in 2011 as compared to 2010 was due to
lower clinical development activities associated with the SATURN trial, and therefore lower revenue
earned through our strategic collaboration with Teva. Collaboration revenue for the three months
ended September 30, 2011 includes recognition of $0.9 million from the $30.0 million upfront
payment, as well as $0.3 million earned through collaborative research, which has been reimbursed
to us on a cash basis. At September 30, 2011, $19.0 million of the upfront payment received from
Teva in December 2009 was included on our consolidated balance sheet as Deferred collaboration
revenue and Deferred collaboration revenue, net of current, which we are recognizing as we perform
our deliverables under the Collaboration Agreement with Teva. Management currently expects this
performance period to end in the fourth quarter of 2013. See Note 3 of Notes to Consolidated
Financial Statements included elsewhere in this document for further details on our collaboration
with Teva.
Research and Development Expenses
Our research and development expenses for our clinical development programs are as follows (in
thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three months ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinical development programs:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
custirsen
|
|
$
|
561
|
|
|
$
|
5,062
|
|
OGX-427
|
|
$
|
1,501
|
|
|
$
|
220
|
|
Other research and development
|
|
$
|
1,752
|
|
|
$
|
1,441
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total research and development expenses
|
|
$
|
3,814
|
|
|
$
|
6,723
|
|
26
Costs for clinical development programs include external direct expenses such as patient treatment
costs, clinical trial site costs, clinical research organization costs and contract manufacturing
fees incurred for preclinical, clinical, manufacturing and regulatory activities associated with
preparing the compounds for submissions of NDAs or similar regulatory filings to the FDA, EMA or
other regulatory agencies outside the United States and Europe. Other research and development
includes indirect operating costs such as our personnel and occupancy expenses associated with our
clinical development programs and other research and development costs associated with the
development of our other product candidates. Our internal resources, employees, and infrastructure
are not directly tied to any individual research project and are typically deployed across multiple
projects. Through our clinical development programs, we are developing each of our product
candidates in parallel for multiple disease indications. Due to the number of ongoing projects and
our ability to utilize resources across several projects, we do not record or maintain information
regarding the indirect operating costs incurred for our research and development programs on a
program-specific basis. In addition, we believe that allocating costs on the basis of time incurred
by our employees does not accurately reflect the actual costs of a project. The majority of our
costs incurred prior to 2010 were related to the development of custirsen.
R&D expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2011 decreased to $3.8 million from $6.7
million in the three months ended September 30, 2010. The decrease in 2011 as compared to 2010 was
due primarily to lower custirsen phase 3 clinical trial costs associated with the SATURN trial,
partially offset by higher clinical trial and manufacturing costs for OGX-427, and higher employee
expenses including stock based compensation. Certain costs for the custirsen phase 3 clinical
trials are applied against the non-refundable upfront payments received from Teva in December 2009,
while costs unassociated with the SATURN trial, such as manufacturing costs and compensation for
work performed by our employees on the SYNERGY trial are reimbursable from Teva on a cash basis. We
expect R&D expenses to increase as we further develop our proprietary product candidates.
General and Administrative Expenses
G&A expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $1.5 million from $1.1
million in the three months ended September 30, 2010. Higher employee expenses, including
stock-based compensation expenses incurred in the three months ended September 30, 2011 were
partially offset by lower legal fees, as compared to the same period in 2010.
Interest Income / (Expense)
Interest income for the three months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $49,000 from $25,000 for
the three months ended September 30, 2011 due to higher balances of interest-bearing securities in
2011 as compared to 2010.
Other Income / (Expense)
Other expense for the three months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $62,000 from $28,000 in
income for the three months ended September 30, 2011. The expense in the three months ended
September 30, 2011 relates to foreign exchange losses, while the income in the three months ended
September 30, 2010 relates to foreign exchange gains and gains on the sales of equipment.
Gain on Warrants
We recorded an $8.5 million gain on revaluation of the warrants at September 30, 2011 which is
included on our consolidated statement of loss (income) as Gain on warrants. We revalue the
warrants at each balance sheet date to fair value. If unexercised, the warrants will expire in
October 2015. There was no comparable charge in 2010.
27
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2011 Compared to the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2010
Revenue
Revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 decreased to $4.3 million, from $11.3 million
for the nine months ended September 30, 2010. The decrease in 2011 as compared to 2010 was due to
lower reimbursement revenue earned through our strategic collaboration with Teva resulting from
manufacturing costs now being paid directly by Teva and lower clinical trial costs associated with
the SATURN trial. Collaboration revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 includes
recognition of $2.6 million from the $30.0 million upfront payment, as well as $1.7 million earned
through collaborative research, which has been reimbursed to us on a cash basis. At September 30,
2011, $19.0 million of the upfront payment received from Teva in December 2009 was included on our
consolidated balance sheet as Deferred collaboration revenue and Deferred collaboration revenue,
net of current, which we are recognizing as we perform our deliverables under the Collaboration
Agreement. Management currently expects this performance period to end in the fourth quarter of
2013. See Note 3 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this document
for further details on our collaboration with Teva.
Research and Development Expenses
Our research and development expenses for our clinical development programs are as follows (in
thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nine months ended
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
|
Clinical development programs:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
custirsen
|
|
$
|
3,288
|
|
|
$
|
11,338
|
|
OGX-427
|
|
$
|
5,083
|
|
|
$
|
660
|
|
Other research and development
|
|
$
|
5,705
|
|
|
$
|
4,184
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total research and development expenses
|
|
$
|
14,076
|
|
|
$
|
16,182
|
|
R&D expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 decreased to $14.1 million from $16.2
million in the nine months ended September 30, 2010. The decrease in 2011 as compared to 2010 was
due primarily to lower custirsen manufacturing costs, as these costs are now being paid directly by
Teva, and lower SATURN clinical trial costs, partially offset by higher OGX-427 clinical trial and
manufacturing costs, and higher employee expenses, including stock based compensation. Certain
costs for the custirsen phase 3 clinical trials are applied against the non-refundable upfront
payments received from Teva in December 2009, while costs unassociated with the SATURN trial, such
as manufacturing costs and compensation for work performed by our employees on the SYNERGY trial,
are reimbursable from Teva on a cash basis. We expect R&D expenses to increase as we further
develop our proprietary product candidates.
General and Administrative Expenses
G&A expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $4.5 million from $3.9
million for the nine months ended September 30, 2010. The increase in 2011 was due primarily to
higher employee expenses, including stock-based compensation expenses, partially offset by lower
severance related charges and legal fees.
28
Interest Income / (Expense)
Interest income for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $168,000 from $44,000 for
the nine months ended September 30, 2011 due to higher balances of interest-bearing securities in
2011 as compared to 2010.
Other Income / (Expense)
Other income for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 increased to $22,000 from $2,000 in the
nine months ended September 30, 2010. The income in the nine months ended September 30, 2011
relates to foreign exchange gains, while the income in the nine months ended September 30, 2010
relates to gains on the sales of equipment partially offset by foreign exchange losses.
Gain on Warrants
We recorded a $9.0 million gain on revaluation of the warrants at September 30, 2011 which is
included on our consolidated statement of loss (income) as Gain on warrants. We revalue the
warrants at each balance sheet date to fair value. If unexercised, the warrants will expire in
October 2015. There was no comparable charge in 2010.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have incurred an accumulated deficit of $71.2 million through September 30, 2011, and we expect
to incur substantial and increasing additional losses in the future as we expand our R&D activities
and other operations, as more fully described below. We have not generated any revenue from product
sales to date, and we do not expect to generate product sales revenue for several years, if ever.
In the nine months ended September 30, 2011, we generated $4.3 million in collaboration revenue
from the Collaboration Agreement with Teva.
All of our operations to date have been funded through the sale of our equity securities, and
payments received from Teva. As of September 30, 2011, our cash, cash equivalents, and short-term
investments decreased to $69.3 million in the aggregate from $85.1 million as of December 31, 2010.
As of September 30, 2011, we do not have any borrowing or credit facilities. Based on our current
expectations, we believe our capital resources at September 30, 2011 will be sufficient to fund our
currently planned operations into 2014. Our currently planned operations are set forth below under
the heading Operating Capital and Capital Expenditure Requirements.
Cash Flows
Cash Used in Operations
For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, net cash used in operating activities decreased to
$15.8 million, from $23.1 million in cash used in operations in the nine months ended September 30,
2010. The decrease in cash used in operations is primarily attributable to payments made to Isis
and UBC in the first quarter of 2010 resulting from the Collaboration Agreement with Teva and lower
custirsen manufacturing
costs, as these costs are now being paid directly by Teva, partially offset by higher OGX-427
clinical and manufacturing costs in 2011.
29
Cash Provided by Financing Activities
For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, net cash provided by financing activities decreased
to $0.2 million from $0.7 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2010. All net cash
provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and September 30, 2010
was the result of proceeds from the issuance of common shares on stock option exercises.
Cash Used/Provided by Investing Activities
Net cash provided by investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was $7.9
million compared with $27.8 million in cash used in investment activities the nine months ended
September 30, 2010. Net cash used in or provided by investing activities in the nine months ended
September 30, 2011 and September 30, 2010 were due to transactions involving marketable securities
in the normal course of business.
Operating Capital and Capital Expenditure Requirements
We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to fund
our currently planned operations into 2014, including:
|
|
|
completing the SYNERGY trial, a phase 3 clinical trial that is evaluating a survival
benefit for custirsen in combination with docetaxel as first-line chemotherapy patients
with CRPC
|
|
|
|
|
completing the SATURN trial, a phase 3 clinical trial that is evaluating a durable pain
palliation benefit for custirsen in combination with second-line chemotherapy in patients
with CRPC;
|
|
|
|
|
completing an investigator-sponsored phase 2 clinical trial evaluating OGX-427
treatment in patients with prostate cancer;
|
|
|
|
|
completing a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating OGX-427 in combination with standard
first-line chemotherapy in approximately 180 patients with metastatic bladder cancer; and
|
|
|
|
|
completing an investigator-sponsored phase 1 clinical trial evaluating OGX-427
treatment in patients with superficial or muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
|
As of September 30, 2011, we have a remaining commitment to fund $19.0 million towards the three
phase 3 trials of custirsen, while Teva is required to fund all additional expenses under the
clinical development plan. The final results from any or all of the phase 3 trials may be released
at a date that is beyond the period for which we currently project we have available cash
resources. In addition, if we desire to conduct development activities with respect to our other
product candidates beyond those development activities mentioned in the list above, we will require
additional funding to support such operations. If we need to extend our cash availability, or to
conduct any such currently unplanned development activities, we would seek such necessary funding
through the licensing or sale of certain of our product candidates, by executing a partnership or
collaboration agreement, or through private or public offerings of our equity or debt.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
|
|
|
timing, costs and results of clinical trials, preclinical development and regulatory
approvals;
|
|
|
|
|
success of custirsen and achieving milestones and royalties;
|
|
|
|
|
maintaining our relationship with Teva and Tevas ongoing level of focus and efforts to
develop custirsen;
|
|
|
|
|
timing, costs and results of drug discovery and R&D;
|
|
|
|
|
entering into new collaborative or product license agreements for products in our
pipeline;
|
|
|
|
|
our ability to obtain additional funding through a partnership or collaboration
agreement with a third party or licenses of certain of our product candidates, or through
private or public offerings of our equity or debt; and
|
|
|
|
|
costs related to obtaining, defending and enforcing patents.
|
30
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any off-balance sheet financing arrangements at September 30, 2011.
Inflation
We do not believe that inflation has had a material impact on our business and operating results
during the periods presented.
Contingencies and Commitments
We previously disclosed certain contractual obligations and contingencies and commitments relevant
to the Company within the financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2010, as filed with the SEC on March 10, 2011. There have been no significant changes to our
Contractual Obligations table in Part II, Item 7, Managements Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations of our 2010 Form 10-K. For more
information regarding our current contingencies and commitments, see note 7 to the financial
statements included above, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Material Changes in Financial Condition
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
September 30,
|
|
|
December 31,
|
|
|
|
2011
|
|
|
2010
|
|
(In thousands)
|
|
$
|
|
|
$
|
|
Total assets
|
|
|
74,680
|
|
|
|
89,918
|
|
Total liabilities
|
|
|
34,655
|
|
|
|
45,793
|
|
Shareholders equity
|
|
|
40,025
|
|
|
|
44,125
|
|
The decrease in assets from December 31, 2010 primarily relates to decreased cash, cash equivalents
and marketable securities as these assets have been used to fund operations. The decrease in
liabilities from December 31, 2010 relates predominantly to the revaluation of the warrant
liability, amortization of restructuring-related liabilities, and the recognition of deferred
collaboration revenue.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make
estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and related disclosures. We have discussed
those estimates that we believe are critical and require the use of complex judgment in their
application in our 2010 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2011. Since the date of our 2010
Form 10-K, there have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies or the
methodologies or assumptions we apply under them.
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New Accounting Standards
See Note 2, Accounting Policies, of the consolidated financial statements for information related
to the adoption of new accounting standards in 2011, none of which had a material impact on our
financial statements, and the future adoption of recently issued accounting standards, which we do
not expect to have a material impact on our financial statements.
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Item 3.
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Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
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Interest Rate Risk
Interest rate risk is the risk that the fair values and future cash flows of financial instruments
will fluctuate because of the changes in market interest rates. We invest our cash in a variety of
financial instruments, primarily in short-term bank deposits, money market funds, and domestic and
foreign commercial paper and government securities. These investments are denominated in U.S.
dollars, and our exposure to interest rate changes is monitored. We have very limited interest rate
risk due to the few assets or liabilities subject to fluctuations in interest rates. Our investment
portfolio includes only marketable securities with active secondary or resale markets to help
ensure portfolio liquidity. Due to the nature of our highly liquid marketable securities, a change
in interest rates would not materially change the fair market value.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
We are exposed to risks associated with foreign currency transactions on certain contracts and
payroll expenses related to our Canadian subsidiary, OncoGenex Technologies, denominated in
Canadian dollars and we have not hedged these amounts. As our unhedged foreign currency
transactions fluctuate, our earnings might be negatively affected. Accordingly, changes in the
value of the U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar might have an adverse effect on our
reported results of operations and financial condition, and fluctuations in exchange rates might
harm our reported results and accounts from period to period. We have estimated the effect on our
reported results of operations of a hypothetical increase of 10 percent in the exchange rate of the
Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar to be $100,000 for the quarterly period ended September 30,
2011.
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Item 4.
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Controls and Procedures
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Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that material
information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed or submitted under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed,
summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SECs rules and forms. Our
disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that information required to be
disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act are accumulated and communicated
to our management, including its principal executive officer and principal financial officer as
appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
During the quarter ended September 30, 2011, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision
and with the participation of our management, including the principal executive officer and the
principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure
controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based
upon that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded
that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective, as of the end of the period covered by
this report.
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Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have not made any changes to our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule
13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended September 30, 2011 that
have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over
financial reporting.
PART II.
OTHER INFORMATION
Risks Related to Our Business
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the
risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in
this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, before deciding to invest in our common stock. If any of the
following risks materialize, our business, financial condition, results of operation and future
prospects will likely be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our
common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business
We have a limited operating history, have incurred losses since inception and anticipate that we
will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We have never had any products available
for commercial sale and we may never achieve or sustain profitability.
We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We are not
profitable and have incurred losses in each year since our inception. We have never had any
products available for commercial sale and we have not generated any revenue from product sales nor
do we anticipate that we will generate revenue from product sales in the foreseeable future. Our
only revenue to date has been collaboration revenue under our Collaboration Agreement with Teva. We
have not yet submitted any products for approval by regulatory authorities and we continue to incur
research and development and general and administrative expenses related to our operations. We
expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to
increase as we continue our research activities and conduct development of, and seek regulatory
approvals for, our product candidates, and prepare for and begin to commercialize any approved
products. If our product candidates fail in clinical trials or do not gain regulatory approval, or
if our product candidates do not 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.
Our clinical trials may be suspended or terminated at any time, including by the FDA, other
regulatory authorities, the Institutional Review Board overseeing the clinical trial at issue, by a
clinical trial site or investigator, by Teva in the case of custirsen, or by us. Any failure or
significant delay in completing clinical trials for our product candidates could materially harm
our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates.
We do not know whether any of our currently planned clinical trials for custirsen or OGX-427 will
proceed or be completed on schedule, if at all, or, with respect to our other product candidates,
whether we will be able to initiate any future pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, as
applicable, beyond those currently planned. The completion or commencement of future pre-clinical
studies or clinical trials could be substantially delayed or prevented by several factors,
including:
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limited number of, and competition for, suitable patients with the particular types of
cancer required for enrollment in our clinical trials;
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limited number of, and competition for, suitable sites to conduct clinical trials;
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decrease in Tevas level of focus and efforts to develop custirsen;
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introduction of new product candidates to the market in therapeutic areas similar to
those that we are developing our product candidates;
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concurrent evaluation of new investigational product candidates in therapeutic areas
similar to those that we are developing our product candidates;
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delay or failure to obtain the FDAs or non-U.S. regulatory agencies approval or
agreement to commence a clinical trial, including our phase 3 or registration clinical
trials or amendment of those trials under an SPA;
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delay or failure to obtain required future additional funding, when needed, through
private or public offerings of our equity securities, debt financings, or the execution of
a licensing, partnership or collaboration agreement with a third party for any of our
product candidates;
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delay or failure to obtain sufficient manufacturing supply of custirsen;
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delay or failure to obtain sufficient supplies of the product candidate for our
clinical trials;
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delay or failure to reach agreement on acceptable clinical trial agreement terms or
clinical trial protocols with prospective sites or investigators; and
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delay or failure to obtain the approval of the Institutional Review Board to conduct a
clinical trial at a prospective site.
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The completion of our clinical trials currently in progress could also be substantially delayed or
prevented by several factors, including:
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slower than expected rates of patient recruitment and enrollment;
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failure of patients to complete the clinical trial;
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unforeseen safety issues;
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lack of efficacy evidenced during clinical trials;
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termination of our clinical trials by one or more clinical trial sites or
investigators;
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inability or unwillingness of patients or medical investigators to follow clinical
trial protocols;
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inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment;
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introduction of competitive products that may impede our ability to retain patients in
clinical trials;
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delay or failure to obtain sufficient manufacturing supply of custirsen; and
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delay or failure to obtain future additional funding through private or public
offerings of our equity securities, debt financings, or the execution of a licensing,
partnership or collaboration agreement with a third party for any of our product
candidates in the event of material unforeseen costs relating to our clinical trials
currently in progress.
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We depend on our collaborative relationship with Teva to further develop and commercialize
custirsen, and if our relationship is not successful or is terminated, we may not be able to
effectively develop and/or commercialize custirsen, which would have a material adverse effect on
our business.
We depend on Teva to collaborate with us to develop and globally commercialize custirsen.
Furthermore, under the Collaboration Agreement, we and Teva must agree on any changes to the
Clinical Development Plan for custirsen. As a result of our dependence on Teva, the eventual
success or commercial viability of custirsen is largely beyond our control. The financial returns
to us, if any, under the Collaboration Agreement depend in large part on the achievement of
development and commercialization milestones, plus a share of any revenue from sales. Therefore,
our success, and any associated financial returns to us and our investors, will depend in large
part on Tevas performance under the Collaboration Agreement. We are subject to a number of
additional specific risks associated with our dependence on our collaborative relationship with
Teva, including:
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adverse decisions by Teva or the Joint Steering Committee regarding the development and
commercialization of custirsen;
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possible disagreements as to the timing, nature and extent of our development plans,
including clinical trials or regulatory approval strategy;
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loss of significant rights if we fail to meet our obligations under the Collaboration
Agreement;
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our limited control over clinical trials of custirsen;
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changes in key management personnel at Teva that are members of the Joint Steering
Committee; and
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possible disagreements with Teva regarding the Collaboration Agreement, sharing of
costs for clinical trials or ownership of proprietary rights.
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If we and Teva are unable to reach an agreement under the Clinical Development Plan, or if either
we or Teva fail to perform our respective obligations or effectively manage our relationship, any
clinical trial, regulatory approval or development progress could be significantly delayed or
halted, could result in costly or time-consuming litigation or arbitration and could have a
material adverse effect on our business.
Decisions by Teva to either reduce or eliminate its participation in the oncology field, to
emphasize other competitive agents currently in its portfolio, or to add additional competitive
agents to its portfolio could result in a decision to terminate the Collaboration Agreement, in
which event, among other things, we may be responsible for paying any remaining costs of all three
phase 3 clinical trials. Any such termination could adversely affect the timing and extent of our
development and commercialization activities, which could cause significant delays and funding
shortfalls for those activities and seriously harm our business.
We are highly dependent on the success of our lead product candidate, custirsen, and we cannot give
any assurance that custirsen, or any of our other product candidates, will receive regulatory
approval or will be successfully commercialized.
Custirsen has been evaluated in five phase 2 clinical trials, the results of which were previously
disclosed. If competitive products developed by third parties show significant benefit in the
cancer indications in which we are developing our product candidates, any planned supportive or
primary registration trials may be delayed, altered or not initiated and custirsen may never
receive regulatory approval. In order to market custirsen, we and Teva must, among other things,
conduct additional clinical trials, including phase 3 or registration clinical trials, to
demonstrate safety and efficacy. We have initiated two registration trials with custirsen in CRPC.
A third registration trial in NSCLC is also planned. OGX-427 has been evaluated in humans, although
we have very limited safety data and have not yet established efficacy in humans. Additional
clinical trials will be required for OGX-427 to establish the safety and efficacy of this product
candidate. Neither OGX-225 nor CSP-9222 has been tested in humans. Our pre-clinical testing of
these product candidates may not be successful and we may not be able to clinically evaluate them.
Our clinical development programs for our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval
either if such product candidates fail to demonstrate that they are safe and effective in clinical
trials and consequently fail to obtain necessary approvals from the FDA, or similar non-U.S.
regulatory agencies, or if we have inadequate financial or other resources to advance these product
candidates through the clinical trial process. Any failure to obtain regulatory approval of
custirsen or our other product candidates could have a material and adverse effect on our business.
Clinical trials may not demonstrate a clinical benefit of our product candidates.
Positive results from pre-clinical studies and early clinical trials, including those results from
the custirsen or OGX -427 clinical trials conducted to date, should not be relied on as evidence
that later-stage or large-scale clinical trials will succeed. We will be required to demonstrate
with substantial evidence through well-controlled clinical trials that our product candidates are
safe and effective for use in a diverse population before we can seek regulatory approvals for
their commercial sale. Success in early clinical trials does not mean that future clinical trials
will be successful because product candidates in later-stage clinical trials may fail to
demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA and other non-U.S.
regulatory authorities despite having progressed through initial clinical trials.
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Even after the completion of our planned phase 3 clinical trials, the FDA or other non-U.S.
regulatory authorities may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data,
and may require us to conduct additional clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy of our product
candidates.
If our competitors develop and market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive
than our future product candidates, our clinical trials and commercial opportunities will be
negatively affected.
The life sciences industry is highly competitive, and we face significant competition from many
pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are researching and marketing
products designed to address cancer indications for which we are currently developing products or
for which we may develop products in the future. For example, cabazitaxel and abiraterone were
recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with CRPC. We are aware of several other
companies which are developing therapeutics that seek to promote tumor cell death. Any products we
may develop in the future are also likely to face competition from other drugs and therapies. Many
of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing and drug
development resources than we do. Large pharmaceutical companies, in particular, have extensive
experience in clinical testing and in obtaining regulatory approvals for drugs. These companies
also have significantly greater research and marketing capabilities than we do. In addition, many
universities and private and public research institutes are, or may become, active in cancer
research, which products may directly compete with ours. If our competitors market products that
are more effective, safer or less expensive than our future product candidates, if any, or that
reach the market sooner than our future product candidates, if any, we may not achieve commercial
success.
We rely, in part, on third parties to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates and plan
to rely on third parties to conduct future clinical trials. If these third parties do not
successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may be unable to
obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our current and future product candidates.
To implement our product development strategies, we rely on third parties, such as collaborators,
contract research organizations, medical institutions, clinical investigators and contract
laboratories, to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates. In particular, we will have
limited control over the two custirsen phase 3 trials over which Teva will have primary oversight.
Although we rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials, we are responsible for ensuring
that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with our investigational plan and
protocol. Moreover, the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities require us to comply with
regulations and standards, commonly referred to as Good Clinical Practices, or GCPs, for
conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the
data and results are scientifically credible and accurate and that the clinical trial subjects are
adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials. Our reliance on
third parties does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. If the third parties
conducting our clinical trials do not perform their contractual duties or obligations, do not meet
expected deadlines or need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they
obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to GCPs or for any other reason, we may need to
enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties and our clinical trials may be extended,
delayed or terminated. In addition, a failure by such third parties to perform their obligations in
compliance with GCPs may cause our clinical trials to fail to meet regulatory requirements, which
may require us to repeat our clinical trials.
We rely on third parties to manufacture and supply our product candidates and other agents used in
our clinical trials.
We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities, and we depend on third-party contract
manufacturers for production of our product candidates and rely on other companies and their
manufacturers for other agents used in our clinical trials. We lack the resources and the
capability to manufacture any of our product candidates ourselves. To date, our product candidates
have been manufactured in limited quantities for pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. All
active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, for custirsen has been manufactured for us by Isis or
Avecia Biotechnology Inc., and all drug product has been manufactured for us by Formatech, Inc.,
Pyramid Laboratories, Inc. and Laureate Biopharmaceutical Services, Inc., in each case pursuant to
a purchase order or short-term contract that has been fulfilled. Avecia Biotechnology
Inc. is our contract manufacturer for additional quantities of custirsen to complete our phase 3
clinical trials.
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All API for OGX-427 for IND-enabling toxicology studies and initial clinical trials has been
manufactured for us by Avecia Biotechnology Inc. and all drug product has been manufactured for us
by Laureate Biopharmaceutical Services, Inc., in each case pursuant to a purchase order or
short-term contract which has been fulfilled.
If, in the future, one of our product candidates is approved for commercial sale, we, or a
pharmaceutical partner that has licensed such product candidate, will need to manufacture that
product candidate in commercial quantities. We cannot provide assurance that the third-party
manufacturers with which we have contracted in the past will have sufficient capacity to satisfy
our future manufacturing needs, that we will be able to negotiate additional purchases of API or
drug product from these or alternative manufacturers on terms favorable to us, if at all, or that a
pharmaceutical partner that has licensed such product candidate will have sufficient capacity or
expertise to satisfy future needs.
Third-party manufacturers may fail to perform under their contractual obligations, or may fail to
deliver the required commercial quantities of bulk API or finished drug product on a timely basis
and at commercially reasonable prices. We have experienced manufacturing quality issues resulting
in an unusable lot of product candidate. Any performance failure on the part of our contract
manufacturers could delay clinical development or regulatory approval of our product candidates or
commercialization of our future product candidates, depriving us of potential product revenue and
resulting in additional losses. If we are required to identify and qualify an alternate
manufacturer, we may be forced to delay or suspend our clinical trials, regulatory submissions,
required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates, which may cause us to incur
higher costs and could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates successfully. If we
are unable to find one or more replacement manufacturers capable of production at a reasonably
favorable cost, in adequate volumes, of adequate quality, and on a timely basis, we would likely be
unable to meet demand for our product candidates and our clinical trials could be delayed or we
could lose potential revenue. Our ability to replace an existing API manufacturer may be difficult
because the number of potential manufacturers is limited to approximately five manufacturers, and
the FDA must inspect any replacement manufacturer and review information related to product
produced at the manufacturer before they can begin manufacturing our product candidates. It may be
difficult or impossible for us to identify and engage a replacement manufacturer on acceptable
terms in a timely manner, if at all. We expect to continue to depend on third-party contract
manufacturers for the foreseeable future.
Our product candidates require precise, high-quality manufacturing. Any of our contract
manufacturers will be subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and non-U.S.
regulatory authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP, and other applicable government
regulations and corresponding standards. If our contract manufacturers fail to achieve and maintain
high manufacturing standards in compliance with cGMP regulations, we may experience manufacturing
errors resulting in patient injury or death, product recalls or withdrawals, delays or
interruptions of production or failures in product testing or delivery, delay or prevention of
filing or approval of marketing applications for our product candidates, cost overruns or other
problems that could seriously affect our business.
Significant manufacturing scale-up may require additional validation studies, which the FDA must
review and approve. Additionally, any third-party manufacturers we retain to manufacture our
product candidates on a commercial scale must pass an FDA pre-approval inspection for conformance
to cGMP regulations before we can obtain approval of our product candidates. If we are unable to
successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for a product candidate in conformance with cGMP
regulations, the regulatory approval or commercial launch of any related products may be delayed or
there may be a shortage in supply.
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We also rely on third-parties for the provision of other agents used in our clinical trials, and in
some circumstances these agents are provided to us at no cost. We have no assurance that these
third-parties will continue to provide their products to us at no cost.
If new therapies become broadly used, we may need to conduct clinical trials of our product
candidates in combination with these new therapies to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the
combination. Additional trials will delay the development of our product candidates and increase
our costs. The failure of certain of our product candidates to work in combination with these new
therapies would have an adverse effect on our business.
Our intention is to combine certain of our product candidates with therapies that are broadly used
by clinicians and considered highly effective. As new therapies are developed, we will need to
assess these therapies to determine whether to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates in
combination with them to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the combination. If we determine that
it is appropriate to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates in combination
with these new therapies, the development of our product candidates will be delayed and our costs
will be increased. If these clinical trials generate safety concerns or lack of efficacy, our
business would be adversely affected.
If our product candidates are approved in combination with a specific therapy that is broadly used
and that therapy is displaced by another product, the market for our product candidate may
decrease.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable and potentially serious side effects during clinical
trials that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or commercialization.
Custirsen was administered to 294 patients with various types of cancer in phase 1 and phase 2
clinical trials. Some patients experienced various adverse events, the majority of which are
associated with other treatments in the protocol and the disease. The majority of adverse events
were mild and the most common adverse events associated with custirsen consisted of flu-like
symptoms. The most common serious adverse events associated with custirsen were neutropenia,
vomiting, dehydration, pyrexia, pleural effusion and difficulty breathing (also known as
dyspnea), which occurred in greater than 2% of patients.
OGX-427 was administered to 59 patients with various types of cancer in a phase 1 clinical trial.
Enrollment is complete in five cohorts with dose-escalation of OGX-427 as monotherapy and in two
cohorts in which docetaxel was administered in combination with OGX-427. There was only one
dose-limiting toxicity; thus, the maximum tolerated dose was not reached. Of the 46 patients
presented at the ASCO 2010 annual meeting, the majority of the adverse events were infusion
reactions, which were documented in 72% of patients and increased in incidence with increasing
dose. The majority (93%) were grade 1 or 2. Grade 3/4 laboratory events, which occurred in
decreasing frequency, were lymphopenia, prolonged PTT, neutropenia, hyponatremia, anemia, elevated
creatinine and thrombocytopenia. During monotherapy and when OGX-427 was administered as
combination therapy, there was evidence of decreases in tumor markers (CA-125 and PSA), decreases
in Hsp27 (+) CTCs, and reduction of serum Hsp27 protein levels.
Since patients in our clinical trials have advanced stages of cancer, we expect that additional
adverse events, including serious adverse events, will occur.
Undesirable side effects caused by any of our product candidates could cause us or regulatory
authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in the denial of
regulatory approval by the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities for any or all targeted
indications. This, in turn, could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates and
generating revenue from their sale. In addition, if our product candidates receive marketing
approval and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by the product:
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Teva may elect to terminate the ongoing clinical trials and cease development of
custirsen;
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regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the product;
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we may be required to recall the product, change the way the product is administered,
conduct additional clinical trials or change the labeling of the product;
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a product may become less competitive and product sales may decrease; and
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our reputation may suffer.
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Any one or a combination of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market
acceptance of the affected product or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of
commercializing the product, which in turn could delay or prevent us from generating significant
revenue from the sale of the product. Recent events have raised questions about the safety of
marketed drugs and may result in increased cautiousness by the FDA in reviewing new drugs based on
safety, efficacy or other regulatory considerations and may result in significant delays in
obtaining regulatory approvals, additional clinical trials being required, or more stringent
product labeling requirements. Any delay in obtaining, or the inability to obtain, applicable
regulatory approvals would prevent us from commercializing our product candidates.
Because we depend on financing from third parties for our operations, our business may fail if such
financing becomes unavailable or is not available on commercially reasonable terms.
To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of our equity securities and
from the upfront payment we received pursuant to the Collaboration Agreement with Teva. We believe
that our existing capital resources and interest on such resources, including the financing we
completed in October 2010, will be sufficient to meet our current operating requirements into 2014.
If, however, the Collaboration Agreement with Teva were to terminate or if Teva fails to fulfill
its obligations under the Collaboration Agreement, or if the trials proceed slower than expected or
are initiated later than expected, or if we change our development plans, acquire rights to new
product candidates or cannot find third-party collaborators for our other product candidates, we
may need additional capital sooner than we expect. Our future capital requirements will depend on
many factors, including, without limitation:
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maintaining our partnership with Teva and Tevas ongoing commitment to develop
custirsen in a timely manner;
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whether we experience delays in our pre-clinical and clinical development programs, or
slower-than-anticipated product development;
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the scope and results of our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials;
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whether opportunities to acquire additional product candidates arise and the costs of
acquiring and developing those product candidates;
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whether we are able to enter into additional third-party collaborative partnerships to
develop and/or commercialize any of our other product candidates on terms that are
acceptable to us;
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the timing and requirements of, and the costs involved in, conducting studies required
to obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates from the FDA and comparable
foreign regulatory agencies;
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the availability of third parties to perform the key development tasks for our product
candidates, including conducting pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and
manufacturing our product candidates to be tested in those studies and trials and the
associated costs of those services; and
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the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending the
validity of and enforcing patent claims and other costs related to patent rights and other
intellectual property rights, including litigation costs and the results of such
litigation.
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If we are unable to raise funds on acceptable terms when it becomes necessary to do so, we may not
be able to continue developing our product candidates, acquire or develop additional product
candidates or respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated requirements. For these reasons,
any inability to raise additional funds when we require it could have a material adverse effect on
our business.
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Even if we or Teva receive regulatory approval to market our product candidates, the market may not
be receptive to our products.
Even if our product candidates obtain regulatory approval, they may not gain market acceptance
among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and/or the medical community. We believe that the
degree of market acceptance will depend on a number of factors, including:
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timing of market introduction of competitive products;
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safety and efficacy of our products;
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prevalence and severity of any side effects;
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potential advantages or disadvantages over alternative treatments;
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strength of marketing and distribution support;
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price of our products, both in absolute terms and relative to alternative treatments;
and
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availability of coverage and reimbursement from government and other third-party
payors.
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If our future product candidates fail to achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to generate
significant revenue or achieve or sustain profitability.
Although we have entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Teva for custirsen, we have not yet
partnered with third-party collaborators with respect to any of our other product candidates, and
we cannot control whether we will be able to do so on favorable terms, if at all.
Our business strategy relies in part on potentially partnering successful product candidates with
larger companies to complement our internal development and commercialization efforts. While we
have successfully entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Teva with respect to custirsen, it
may be difficult for us to find third parties that are willing to enter into a collaboration on
acceptable economic terms, if at all, with respect to our other product candidates. We also will be
competing with many other companies as we seek partners for our other product candidates and may
not be able to compete successfully against those companies. If we are not able to enter into
collaboration arrangements for our other product candidates, we would be required to undertake and
fund further development, clinical trials, manufacturing and commercialization activities solely at
our own expense and risk. If we are unable to finance and/or successfully execute those expensive
activities, our business could be materially and adversely affected, and we may be forced to
discontinue clinical development of these product candidates.
If we were to be successfully sued related to our products or operations, we could face substantial
liabilities that may exceed our resources.
We may be held liable if any of our products or operations cause injury or death or are found
otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. These risks are
inherent in the development of pharmaceutical products. We currently maintain Commercial General
and Umbrella Liability policies with combined limits of $10 million per occurrence and in the
aggregate, in addition to a $10 million per claim and annual aggregate product liability insurance
policy related to our clinical trials consistent with industry standards. When necessary for our
products, we intend to obtain additional product liability insurance. Insurance coverage may be
prohibitively expensive, may not fully cover potential liabilities or may not be available in the
future. Inability to obtain sufficient insurance coverage at an acceptable cost or otherwise to
protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization
of our products. If we were to be sued for any injury caused by or associated with our products or
operations, the litigation could consume substantial time and attention of our management, and the
resulting liability could exceed our total assets.
40
If we fail to acquire and develop products or product candidates at all or on commercially
reasonable terms, we may be unable to grow our business.
We currently do not have internal discovery capabilities and depend on pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies and other researchers to sell or license products or product candidates to
us. To date, three of our product candidates have been derived from technologies discovered by the
Vancouver Prostate Centre and licensed to us by UBC, and one candidate has been in-licensed from
Bayer. We intend to continue to rely on the Vancouver Prostate Centre, UBC and other research
institutions and other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies as sources of product candidates.
We cannot guarantee that the Vancouver Prostate Centre or UBC will continue to develop new product
candidate opportunities, that we will continue to have access to such opportunities or that we will
be able to purchase or license these product candidates on commercially reasonable terms, if at
all. If we are unable to purchase or license new product candidates from the Vancouver Prostate
Centre or UBC, we will be required to identify alternative sources of product candidates.
The success of our product pipeline strategy depends on our ability to identify, select and acquire
pharmaceutical product candidates. Proposing, negotiating and implementing an economically viable
product acquisition or license is a lengthy and complex process. We compete for partnering
arrangements and license agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic
research institutions. Our competitors may have stronger relationships with third parties with whom
we are interested in collaborating and/or may have more established histories of developing and
commercializing products. As a result, our competitors may have a competitive advantage in entering
into partnering arrangements with such third parties. In addition, even if we find promising
product candidates, and generate interest in a partnering or strategic arrangement to acquire such
product candidates, we may not be able to acquire rights to additional product candidates or
approved products on terms that we find acceptable, if at all. If we fail to acquire and develop
product candidates from others, we may be unable to grow our business.
We expect that any product candidate that we acquire rights to will require additional development
efforts prior to commercial sale, including extensive clinical evaluation and approval by the FDA
and non-U.S. regulatory authorities. All product candidates are subject to the risks of failure
inherent in pharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that the product
candidate will not be shown to be sufficiently safe and effective for approval by regulatory
authorities. Even if the product candidates are approved, we can make no assurance that we would be
capable of economically producing the product or that the product would be commercially successful.
We will need to retain additional personnel and expand our other resources in order to promote
custirsen in the event we exercise our co-promotion option and develop our other product
candidates. If we fail to effectively expand our operations, including attracting and retaining key
management and scientific personnel, we may be unable to successfully develop or commercialize our
product candidates and our business may be materially adversely affected.
We will need to expand and effectively manage our managerial, operational, financial, development
and other resources in order to successfully pursue our research, development and commercialization
efforts for our existing and future product candidates. Our success depends on our continued
ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified personnel, such as management,
pre-clinical and clinical personnel, including our executive officers Michelle Burris, Scott
Cormack, and Cindy Jacobs. In addition, although we have entered into employment agreements with
each of Ms. Burris, Mr. Cormack, and Dr. Jacobs, such agreements permit the executive to terminate
his or her employment with us at any time, subject to providing us with advance written notice.
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Should custirsen receive marketing approval in the United States and Canada, or should we exercise
our co-promotion option, which is unlikely without sufficient funds, we would need to hire a
substantial number of specialized personnel, including field-based medical affairs representatives.
In turn, we would need to
increase our administrative headcount to support such expanded development and commercialization
operations with respect to our product candidates. Our ability to attract and retain qualified
personnel in the future is subject to intense competition for qualified personnel among
biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses and our current financial position. The loss of
the services of any of our senior management could delay or prevent the development and
commercialization of our product candidates, or have other adverse effects on our business for an
indefinite term. In particular, if we lose any members of our current senior management team, we
may not be able to find suitable replacements in a timely fashion, if at all and our business may
be harmed as a result. If any of such events were to occur, among other things, we may not be able
to comply with our contractual obligations to Teva under our Collaboration Agreement or advance our
product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We have scientific and clinical advisors who assist us in formulating our development and clinical
strategies. These advisors are not our employees and may have commitments to, or consulting or
advisory contracts with, other entities that may limit their availability to us. In addition, our
advisors may have arrangements with other companies to assist those companies in developing
products or technologies that may compete with ours.
We may encounter difficulties in managing our expected growth and in expanding our operations
successfully.
As we advance our product candidates custirsen, OGX-427, OGX-225, and CSP-9222 through development
and clinical trials, we will need to develop or expand our development, regulatory, manufacturing,
marketing and sales capabilities or contract with third parties to provide these capabilities for
us. Maintaining additional relationships and managing our future growth will impose significant
added responsibilities on members of our management. We must be able to manage our development
efforts effectively, manage our clinical trials effectively, hire, train and integrate additional
management, development, administrative and sales and marketing personnel, improve our managerial,
development, operational and finance systems, and expand our facilities, all of which may impose a
strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure.
Under the Collaboration Agreement, Teva is responsible for the commercialization costs associated
with custirsen; however, if we were to exercise our co-promotion option, which we do not anticipate
having sufficient funds to do, we would need to expand our marketing and sales capabilities. In
addition, as we have primary responsibility for the oversight of the second-line trial in CRPC, we
must be able to manage our development responsibilities effectively, which may impose a strain on
our administrative and operational infrastructure.
Furthermore, we may acquire additional businesses, products or product candidates that complement
or augment our existing business. Integrating any newly acquired business, product or product
candidate could be expensive and time-consuming. We may not be able to integrate any acquired
business, product or product candidate successfully or operate any acquired business profitably.
Our future financial performance will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth
effectively and our ability to integrate any acquired businesses. We may not be able to accomplish
these tasks, which failure could prevent us from successfully growing our business.
We may be adversely affected if our controls over external financial reporting fail or are
circumvented.
We regularly review and update our internal controls, disclosure controls and procedures, and
corporate governance policies. In addition, we are required under the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 to
report annually on our internal control over financial reporting. If it were to be determined that
our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, such shortcoming could have an
adverse effect on our business and financial results and the price of our common stock could be
negatively affected. This reporting requirement could also make it more difficult or more costly
for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance,
and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and
coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. Any system of
internal controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and
can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurances that the objectives of the system are met.
Any failure or circumvention of the controls and procedures or failure to comply with regulation
concerning control and procedures could have a material effect on our business, results of
operation and financial condition. Any of these events could result in an adverse reaction in the
financial marketplace due to a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial
statements, which ultimately could negatively affect the market price of our shares, increase the
volatility of our stock price and adversely affect our ability to raise additional funding. The
effect of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified
persons to serve on our Board and our board committees and as executive officers.
42
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our proprietary rights may not adequately protect our technologies and product candidates.
Our commercial success will depend on our ability to obtain patents and/or regulatory exclusivity
and maintain adequate protection for our technologies and product candidates in the United States
and other countries. We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by
third parties only to the extent that our proprietary technologies and future product candidates
are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets.
We and our collaborators, including Teva, intend to apply for additional patents covering both our
technologies and product candidates, as we deem appropriate. We or our collaborators may, however,
fail to apply for patents on important technologies or product candidates in a timely fashion, if
at all. Our existing patents and any future patents we or our collaborators obtain may not be
sufficiently broad to prevent others from practicing our technologies or from developing competing
products and technologies. In addition, we do not always control the patent prosecution of subject
matter that we license from others. Accordingly, we are sometimes unable to exercise a significant
degree of control over such intellectual property as we would over our own. Moreover, the patent
positions of biopharmaceutical companies are highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual
questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. As a result, the validity and
enforceability of our patents cannot be predicted with certainty. In addition, we cannot guarantee
that:
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we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions covered by each of our issued
patents and pending patent applications;
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we or our licensors were the first to file patent applications for these inventions;
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others will not independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate
any of our technologies;
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any of our or our licensors pending patent applications will result in issued patents;
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any of our or our licensors patents will be valid or enforceable;
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any patents issued to us or our licensors and collaboration partners will provide us
with any competitive advantages, or will not be challenged by third parties; and
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we will develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable, or the patents
of others will not have an adverse effect on our business.
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The actual protection afforded by a patent varies on a product-by-product basis, from country to
country and depends on many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the
availability of regulatory related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular
country and the validity and enforceability of the patents. Our ability or the ability of our
collaborators to maintain and solidify our proprietary position for our product candidates will
depend on our success in obtaining effective claims and enforcing those claims once granted. Our
issued patents and those that may issue in the future, or those licensed to us or our
collaborators, may be challenged, invalidated, unenforceable or circumvented, and the rights
granted under any issued patents may not provide us with proprietary protection or competitive
advantages against competitors with similar products. Due to the extensive amount of time required
for the development, testing and regulatory review of a potential product, it is possible that,
before any of our product candidates can be commercialized, any related patent may expire or remain
in force for only a short period following commercialization, thereby reducing any advantage of the
patent.
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We and our collaborators, including Teva, also rely on trade secrets to protect some of our
technology, especially where it is believed that patent protection is appropriate or obtainable.
However, trade secrets are difficult to maintain. While we use reasonable efforts to protect our
trade secrets, our or our collaboration partners employees, consultants, contractors or scientific
and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our proprietary information to
competitors. Enforcement of claims that a third party has illegally obtained and is using trade
secrets is expensive, time consuming and uncertain. In addition, non-U.S. courts are sometimes less
willing than U.S. courts to protect trade secrets. If our competitors independently develop
equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how, we would not be able to assert our trade secrets
against them and our business could be harmed.
We and our collaborators, including Teva, may not be able to protect our intellectual property
rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on all of our product candidates and products, when and
if we have any, in every jurisdiction would be prohibitively expensive. Competitors may use our
technologies in jurisdictions where we or our licensors have not obtained patent protection to
develop their own products. These products may compete with our products, when and if we have any,
and may not be covered by any of our or our licensors patent claims or other intellectual property
rights.
The laws of some non-U.S. countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent
as the laws of the United States, and many companies have encountered significant problems in
protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain
countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and
other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology and/or
pharmaceuticals, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents.
Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost
and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.
The intellectual property protection for our product candidates depends on third parties.
With respect to custirsen, OGX-427 and OGX-225, we have exclusively licensed from UBC certain
issued patents and pending patent applications covering the respective antisense sequences
underlying these product candidates and their commercialization and use and we have licensed from
Isis certain issued patents and pending patent applications directed to product compositions and
chemical modifications used in product candidates for commercialization, use and the manufacturing
thereof, as well as some alternative antisense sequences. We have also received a sublicense from
Isis under certain third-party patent portfolios directed to such modifications. We have entered
into an exclusive in-licensing agreement with Bayer for development of caspase activators that are
presently being evaluated in pre-clinical studies.
The patents and pending patent applications underlying our licenses do not cover all potential
product candidates, modifications and uses. In the case of patents and patent applications licensed
from Isis, we do not have and have not had any control over the filing, prosecution or enforcement
of these patents or patent applications. In the case of patents and patent applications licensed
from Bayer, we did not have any control over the filing of the patents and patent applications
before the effective date of the Bayer license, and have had control over the filing and
prosecution of these patents and patent applications after the effective date of the Bayer license.
Under certain circumstances, we also have the right to enforce patents and patent applications
licensed from Bayer. We cannot be certain that such prosecution efforts have been or will be
conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and
enforceable patents. We also cannot be assured that our licensors or their respective licensing
partners will agree to enforce any such patent rights at our request or devote sufficient efforts
to attain a desirable result. Any failure by our licensors or any of their respective licensing partners to properly protect the
intellectual property rights relating to our product candidates could have a material adverse
effect on our financial condition and results of operation.
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We may become involved in disputes with Teva or potential future collaborators over intellectual
property ownership, and publications by our research collaborators and scientific advisors could
impair our ability to obtain patent protection or protect our proprietary information, which, in
either case, could have a significant effect on our business.
Inventions discovered under research, material transfer or other such collaborative agreements,
including our Collaboration Agreement with Teva, may become jointly owned by us and the other party
to such agreements in some cases and the exclusive property of either party in other cases. Under
some circumstances, it may be difficult to determine who owns a particular invention, or whether it
is jointly owned, and disputes could arise regarding ownership of those inventions. These disputes
could be costly and time consuming and an unfavorable outcome could have a significant adverse
effect on our business if we were not able to protect or license rights to these inventions. In
addition, our research collaborators and scientific advisors generally have contractual rights to
publish our data and other proprietary information, subject to our prior review. Publications by
our research collaborators and scientific advisors containing such information, either with our
permission or in contravention of the terms of their agreements with us, may impair our ability to
obtain patent protection or protect our proprietary information, which could significantly harm our
business.
The patent protection for our product candidates or products may expire before we are able to
maximize their commercial value, which may subject us to increased competition and reduce or
eliminate our opportunity to generate product revenue.
The patents for our product candidates have varying expiration dates and, when these patents
expire, we may be subject to increased competition and we may not be able to recover our
development costs. For example, certain of the U.S. patents directed to custirsen and its use that
have been licensed from UBC are scheduled to expire in 2020 and 2021. In some of the larger
economic territories, such as the United States and Europe, patent term extension/restoration may
be available to compensate for time taken during aspects of the product candidates regulatory
review. We cannot, however, be certain that an extension will be granted or, if granted, what the
applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded during any extended period will
be. In addition, even though some regulatory agencies may provide some other exclusivity for a
product candidate under its own laws and regulations, we may not be able to qualify the product
candidate or obtain the exclusive time period.
If we are unable to obtain patent term extension/restoration or some other exclusivity, we could be
subject to increased competition and our opportunity to establish or maintain product revenue could
be substantially reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, we may not have sufficient time to recover our
development costs prior to the expiration of our U.S. and non-U.S. patents.
We may incur substantial costs as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to patent
and other intellectual property rights and we may be unable to protect our rights to, or use of,
our technology.
If we choose to go to court to stop someone else from using the inventions claimed in our patents
or our licensed patents, that individual or company has the right to ask the court to rule that
these patents are invalid and/or should not be enforced against that third party. These lawsuits
are expensive and would consume time and other resources even if we were successful in stopping the
infringement of these patents. In addition, there is a risk that the court will decide that these
patents are invalid or unenforceable and that we do not have the right to stop the other party from
using the inventions. There is also the risk that, even if the validity or unenforceability of
these patents is upheld, the court will refuse to stop the other party on the grounds that such
other partys activities do not infringe our rights.
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If we wish to use the technology or compound claimed in issued and unexpired patents owned by
others, we will need to obtain a license from the owner, enter into litigation to challenge the
validity or enforceability of the patents or incur the risk of litigation in the event that the
owner asserts that we infringed its patents. The failure to obtain a license to technology or the
failure to challenge an issued patent that we may require to discover, develop or commercialize our
product candidates may have a material adverse effect on us.
If a third party asserts that we infringed its patents or other proprietary rights, we could face a
number of risks that could seriously harm our results of operations, financial condition and
competitive position, including:
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patent infringement and other intellectual property claims, which would be costly and
time consuming to defend, whether or not the claims have merit, and which could delay the
regulatory approval process and divert managements attention from our business;
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substantial damages for past infringement, which we may have to pay if a court
determines that our product candidates or technologies infringe a competitors patent or
other proprietary rights;
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a court prohibiting us from selling or licensing our technologies or future drugs
unless the third party licenses its patents or other proprietary rights to us on
commercially reasonable terms, which it is not required to do; and
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if a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties
or lump-sum payments or grant cross licenses to our patents or other proprietary rights to
obtain that license.
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The biotechnology industry has produced a proliferation of patents, and it is not always clear to
industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of
use. The coverage of patents is subject to interpretation by the courts, and the interpretation is
not always uniform. If we are sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrate that our
product candidates or methods of use either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant
patent, and/or that the patent claims are invalid, and/or that the patent is unenforceable and we
may not be able to do this. Proving invalidity, in particular, is difficult since it requires a
showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued
patents.
U.S. patent laws as well as the laws of some foreign jurisdictions provide for provisional rights
in published patent applications beginning on the date of publication, including the right to
obtain reasonable royalties, if a patent subsequently issues and certain other conditions are met.
Because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the
patents are issued, because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions
are typically not published until 18 months after filing, and because publications in the
scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have
not filed patent applications for technology covered by our licensors issued patents or our
pending applications or our licensors pending applications, or that we or our licensors were the
first to invent the technology.
Patent applications filed by third parties that cover technology similar to ours may have priority
over our or our licensors patent applications and could further require us to obtain rights to
issued patents covering such technologies. If another party files a U.S. patent application on an
invention similar to ours, we may elect to participate in or be drawn into an interference
proceeding declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention in
the United States. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that
such efforts would be unsuccessful, resulting in a loss of our U.S. patent position with respect to
such inventions. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent
litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In
addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could
have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our
operations. We cannot predict whether third parties will assert these claims against us or against
the licensors of
technology licensed to us, or whether those claims will harm our business. If we are forced to
defend against these claims, whether they are with or without any merit and whether they are
resolved in favor of or against us or our licensors, we may face costly litigation and diversion of
managements attention and resources. As a result of these disputes, we may have to develop costly
non-infringing technology, or enter into licensing agreements. These agreements, if necessary, may
be unavailable on terms acceptable to us, if at all, which could seriously harm our business or
financial condition.
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If we breach any of the agreements under which we license rights to our product candidates or
technology from third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.
Certain of our license agreements may not provide an adequate remedy for a breach by the licensor.
We license the development and commercialization rights for most of our product candidates,
including custirsen, OGX-427, OGX-225 and CSP-9222, and we expect to enter into similar licenses in
the future. Under such licenses, we are subject to various obligations such as sublicensing,
royalty and milestone payments, annual maintenance fees, limits on sublicensing, insurance
obligations and the obligation to use commercially reasonable best efforts to develop and exploit
the licensed technology. If we fail to comply with any of these obligations or otherwise breach
these agreements, our licensors may have the right to terminate the license in whole or in part or
to terminate the exclusive nature of the license. Loss of any of these licenses or the exclusivity
rights provided by the licenses could harm our financial condition and results of operations. In
addition, certain of our license agreements with UBC eliminate our ability to obtain money damages
in respect of certain claims against UBC.
Under the terms of our Collaboration Agreement with Teva, we are required to use commercially
reasonable efforts to maintain and not to breach in any material manner certain of our third-party
license agreements relating to custirsen. If we breach any of these agreements in a material
manner, we would be in breach of the Collaboration Agreement, which would allow Teva to terminate
the Collaboration Agreement.
We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we, or our employees or consultants, have
wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of third parties.
Many of our employees were previously employed, and certain of our consultants are currently
employed, at universities or biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors
or potential competitors. Although we have not received any claim to date, we may be subject to
claims that these employees or consultants or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed
trade secrets or other proprietary information of these current or former employers. Litigation may
be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to
paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. We may be
subject to claims that employees of our partners or licensors of technology licensed by us have
inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of
their former employers. We may become involved in litigation to defend against these claims. If we
fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable
intellectual property rights or personnel.
Risks Related to our Common Stock and Other Securities
The price for our common stock is volatile.
The market prices for our common stock and that of emerging growth companies generally have
historically been highly volatile. Future announcements concerning us or our competitors may have a
significant effect on the market price of our common stock. The stock markets also experience
significant price and volume fluctuation unrelated to the operating performance of particular
companies. These market fluctuations may also adversely affect the market price of our common
stock.
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An increase in the market price of our common stock, which is uncertain and unpredictable, may be
the sole source of gain from an investment in our common stock. An investment in our common stock
may not be appropriate for investors who require dividend income. We have never declared or paid
cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital
stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future
earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if
any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for stockholders for the foreseeable
future. Accordingly, an investment in our common stock may not be appropriate for investors who
require dividend income.
If we raise additional financing, the terms of such transactions may cause dilution to existing
stockholders or contain terms that are not favorable to us.
To date, our sources of cash have been limited primarily to proceeds from the private or public
placement of our securities and proceeds from the Collaboration Agreement with Teva. In the future,
we may seek to raise additional financing through private placements or public offerings of our
equity or debt securities. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on
acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that we raise additional financing by issuing equity
securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution. Any debt financing, if available,
may involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional
indebtedness, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and
other operating restrictions that could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.
We are at risk of securities class action litigation.
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following
a decline in the market price of its securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because
our stock price and those of other biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies have experienced
significant stock price volatility in recent years. If we face such litigation, it could result in
substantial costs and a diversion of managements attention and resources, which could harm our
business.
Anti-takeover provisions in our stockholder rights plan, our charter documents and under Delaware
law could make a third-party acquisition of us difficult.
We have a stockholder rights plan that may have the effect of discouraging unsolicited takeover
proposals. Specifically, the rights issued under the stockholder rights plan could cause
significant dilution to a person or group that attempts to acquire us on terms not approved in
advance by our Board. In addition, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions
that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their
best interests. These provisions include the ability of our Board to designate the terms of and
issue new series of preferred stock and the ability of our Board to amend our bylaws without
stockholder approval. In addition, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to Section 203 of the
Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in
any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years following the
date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless certain specific requirements
are met as set forth in Section 203. Collectively, these provisions could make a third-party
acquisition of us difficult or could discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment
of a premium over prevailing market prices for our common stock.
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Risks Related to Our Industry
The regulatory approval process is expensive, time consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from
obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our product candidates.
The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, selling, marketing and distribution of
drug products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities,
which regulations differ from country to country. We are not permitted to market our product
candidates in the
United States until we receive approval of a NDA from the FDA. We have not submitted an application
for or received marketing approval for any of our product candidates. Obtaining approval of an NDA
can be a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process. In addition, failure to comply with FDA,
non-U.S. regulatory authorities or other applicable United States and non-U.S. regulatory
requirements may, either before or after product approval, if any, subject us to administrative or
judicially imposed sanctions, including:
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restrictions on the products, manufacturers or manufacturing process;
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warning letters;
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civil and criminal penalties;
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injunctions;
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suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals;
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product seizures, detentions or import bans;
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voluntary or mandatory product recalls and publicity requirements;
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total or partial suspension of production;
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imposition of restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing
requirements; and
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refusal to approve pending NDAs or supplements to approved NDAs.
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Regulatory approval of an NDA or NDA supplement is not guaranteed, and the approval process is
expensive and may take several years. The FDA also has substantial discretion in the drug approval
process. Despite the time and expense exerted, failure can occur at any stage, and we could
encounter problems that could cause us to abandon clinical trials or to repeat or perform
additional pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. The number of pre-clinical studies and
clinical trials that will be required for FDA approval varies depending on the drug candidate, the
disease or condition that the drug candidate is designed to address, and the regulations applicable
to any particular drug candidate. The FDA can delay, limit or deny approval of a drug candidate for
many reasons, including:
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a drug candidate may not be deemed safe or effective;
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the FDA may not find the data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials sufficient;
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the FDA might not approve our third-party manufacturers processes or facilities;
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the FDA may change its approval policies or adopt new regulations; and
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third-party products may enter the market and change approval requirements.
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Even if we obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates, the terms of approvals and
ongoing regulation of our product candidates may limit how we manufacture and market our product
candidates, which could materially affect our ability to generate revenue.
If any of our product candidates are approved, the approved product and its manufacturer will be
subject to continual review. Any regulatory approval that we receive for a product candidate is
likely to be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the end product may be
marketed, or include requirements for potentially costly post-approval follow-up clinical trials.
In addition, if the FDA and/or non-U.S. regulatory authorities approve any of our product
candidates, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising and promotion
for the end product will be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. We and the manufacturers
of our products, when and if we have any, will also be required to comply with cGMP regulations,
which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance, as well as the
corresponding maintenance of records and documentation. Further, regulatory agencies must approve
these manufacturing facilities before they can be used to manufacture our products, when and if we
have any, and these facilities are subject to ongoing regulatory inspection. If we fail to comply
with the regulatory requirements of the FDA and other non-U.S. regulatory authorities, or if
previously unknown problems with our products, when and if we have any, manufacturers or
manufacturing processes are discovered, we could be subject to administrative or judicially imposed
sanctions, including:
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restrictions on the products, manufacturers or manufacturing process;
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warning letters;
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civil or criminal penalties or fines;
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injunctions;
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product seizures, detentions or import bans;
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49
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voluntary or mandatory product recalls and publicity requirements;
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suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals;
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total or partial suspension of production;
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imposition of restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing
requirements; and
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refusal to approve pending NDAs or supplements to approved NDAs.
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In addition, the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities may change their policies and additional
regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product
candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may
arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States, Canada or
abroad. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we would likely not be permitted to
market our future product candidates and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
There is a high risk that our drug development activities will not result in commercial products.
Our product candidates are in various stages of development and are prone to the risks of failure
inherent in drug development. We will need to complete significant additional clinical trials
before we can demonstrate that our product candidates are safe and effective to the satisfaction of
the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities. Clinical trials are expensive and uncertain processes
that take years to complete. Failure can occur at any stage of the process, and successful early
clinical trials do not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful. Product candidates in
later-stage clinical trials may fail to show desired efficacy and safety traits despite having
progressed through initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry
have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising
results in earlier clinical trials. In addition, a clinical trial may prove successful with respect
to a secondary objective, but fail to demonstrate clinically significant benefits with respect to a
primary objective. Failure to satisfy a primary objective in a phase 3 clinical trial (registration
trial) would generally mean that a product candidate would not receive regulatory approval.
If government and third-party payors fail to provide coverage and adequate reimbursement rates for
our product candidates, our revenue and potential for profitability will be reduced.
In the United States and elsewhere, our product revenue will depend principally on the
reimbursement rates established by third-party payors, including government health administration
authorities, managed-care providers, public health insurers, private health insurers and other
organizations. These third-party payors are increasingly challenging the price, and examining the
cost-effectiveness, of medical products and services. In addition, significant uncertainty exists
as to the reimbursement status, if any, of newly approved drugs, pharmaceutical products or product
indications. We may need to conduct post-marketing clinical trials in order to demonstrate the
cost-effectiveness of our products, if any. Such clinical trials may require us to commit a
significant amount of management time and financial and other resources. If reimbursement of such
product is unavailable or limited in scope or amount or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels,
our revenue could be reduced.
In some countries other than the United States, particularly the countries of the European Union
and Canada, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In
these countries, obtaining pricing approval from governmental authorities can take six to 12 months
or longer after the receipt of regulatory marketing approval of a product for an indication. To
obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a
clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of one of our product candidates to other
available therapies. If reimbursement of such
product candidate is unavailable or limited in scope or amount or if pricing is set at
unsatisfactory levels, our revenue could be reduced.
50
Domestic and foreign governments continue to propose and pass legislation designed to reduce the
cost of healthcare, including drugs. In the United States, there have been, and we expect that
there will continue to be, federal and state proposals to implement similar governmental control.
In addition, increasing emphasis on managed care in the United States will continue to put pressure
on the pricing of pharmaceutical products. For example, the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement
and Modernization Act of 2003 reforms the way Medicare will cover and reimburse pharmaceutical
products. The legislation expands Medicare coverage for drug purchases by the elderly and
eventually will introduce a new reimbursement methodology based on average sales prices for certain
drugs. In addition, the new legislation provides authority for limiting the number of outpatient
drugs that will be covered in any therapeutic class. As a result of the new legislation and the
expansion of federal coverage of drug products, we expect that there will be additional pressure to
contain and reduce costs. The Medicaid program and state healthcare laws and regulations may also
be modified to change the scope of covered products and/or reimbursement methodology. Cost control
initiatives could decrease the established reimbursement rates that we receive for any products in
the future, which would limit our revenue and profitability. Legislation and regulations affecting
the pricing of pharmaceutical products, including custirsen, may change at any time, which could
further limit or eliminate reimbursement rates for custirsen or other product candidates.
Failure to obtain regulatory approval outside of the United States and Canada would prevent us or
Teva from marketing our product candidates abroad.
We intend to market certain of our existing and future product candidates outside of the United
States and Canada. In order to market our existing and future product candidates in the European
Union and many other non-North American markets, we must obtain separate regulatory approvals. We
have had limited interactions with non-North American regulatory authorities. Approval procedures
vary among countries and can involve additional testing, and the time required to obtain approval
may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. Approval by the FDA or other regulatory
authorities does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by
one or more non-North American regulatory authorities does not ensure approval by regulatory
authorities in other countries or by the FDA. The non-North American regulatory approval process
may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. We may not obtain non-North
American regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. We may not be able to file for
non-North American regulatory approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize
our existing and future product candidates in any market.
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Item 5.
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Other Information
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Our 2010 Performance Incentive Plan, or the 2010 Plan, was amended on November 1, 2011 to authorize
the award of restricted stock units, or RSUs, in addition to stock options and restricted stock
awards, stock appreciation rights, and stock bonuses. Restricted stock units represent the right
to receive shares of our common stock at a specified date in the future, subject to forfeiture of
such right due to termination of employment or failure to achieve certain performance conditions.
If the restricted stock unit has not been forfeited, then on the date specified in the RSU
agreement, we will deliver to the holder of the restricted stock unit whole shares of our common
stock (which may be subject to additional restrictions), cash or a combination of our common stock
and cash.
Awards granted under the 2010 Plan may be granted pursuant to performance factors. Our compensation
committee may select from among the performance factors specified in the 2010 Plan, including, for
example, earnings per share, return on equity, total stockholder return, drug development
milestones, and company-specific operational metrics. In no event can RSUs for more than 1,050,000
shares of our common stock that are subject to performance-based vesting conditions be granted to
any participant in a single fiscal year.
51
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Exhibit
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Number
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Description
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10.1
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OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2010 Performance Incentive Plan, as amended
and restated
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10.2
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Form of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2010 Restricted Stock Unit Agreement
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31.1
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Certification of President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule
13a-14(a) or 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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31.2
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Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) or
15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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32.1
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Certification of President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18
U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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32.2
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Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section
1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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101.INS
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XBRL Instance Document.
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101.SCH
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
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101.CAL
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
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101.LAB
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
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101.PRE
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused
this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
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ONCOGENEX PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
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Date: November 3, 2011
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By:
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/s/ Michelle Burris
Michelle Burris
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Chief Financial Officer
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(Principal Financial Officer)
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52
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Exhibit
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Number
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Description
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10.1
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OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2010 Performance Incentive Plan, as amended
and restated
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10.2
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Form of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2010 Restricted Stock Unit Agreement
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31.1
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Certification of President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule
13a-14(a) or 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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31.2
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Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) or
15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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32.1
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Certification of President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18
U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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32.2
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Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section
1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
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101.INS
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XBRL Instance Document.
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101.SCH
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
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101.CAL
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
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101.LAB
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
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101.PRE
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XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
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53
Exhibit 10.1
ONCOGENEX PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
2010 PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE PLAN
This 2010 PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE PLAN (the Plan) established by OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., a Delaware corporation (the Company), was adopted by its Board of Directors on March 24,
2010 (the Effective Date) and approved by the Companys stockholders at the 2010 Annual Meeting
of Stockholders (the Approved Date). The amendment and restatement of the Plan was approved by
the Board and the Compensation Committee of the Board on March 22, 2011 to be effective on the date
of the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders assuming the Plan is approved by the Companys
stockholders at such meeting. The Plan was amended on November 1, 2011 by action of the Board.
ARTICLE 1
PURPOSES OF THE PLAN
1.1 Purposes
. The purposes of the Plan are (a) to enhance the ability of the Company and its
Affiliated Companies to attract and retain the services of officers, qualified employees, directors
and outside consultants and service providers to the Company, upon whose judgment, initiative and
efforts the successful conduct and development of the Companys businesses largely depends, and (b)
to provide additional incentives to such persons to devote their utmost effort and skill to the
advancement and betterment of the Company, by providing them an opportunity to participate in the
ownership of the Company and thereby have an interest in the success and increased value of the
Company that coincides with the financial interests of the Companys stockholders.
ARTICLE 2
DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this Plan, in addition to other capitalized terms defined herein, the
following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
2.1 Administrator.
Administrator means the Board, subject to the Boards authority to
delegate responsibility for any matter to the Committee or to the Chief Executive Officer of the
Company as set forth in Section 8.1 of the Plan.
2.2 Affiliated Company.
Affiliated Company means any parent corporation or subsidiary
corporation of the Company, whether now existing or hereafter created or acquired, as those terms
are defined in Sections 424(e) and 424(f) of the Code, respectively.
2.3 Award.
Award means an Option, Restricted Share or Restricted Stock Unit issued to a
Participant under the Plan.
2.4 Award Agreement.
Award Agreement means an Option Agreement or Stock Purchase Agreement
issued to a Participant pursuant to the Plan.
2.5 Board.
Board means the Board of Directors of the Company.
2.6 Cause.
Cause means, with respect to the termination of a Participants employment,
termination of such employment by the Company for any of the following reasons:
(a)
The continued refusal or omission by the Participant to perform any material duties
required of him by the Company if such duties are consistent with duties customary for the
position held with the Company;
(b)
Any material act or omission by the Participant involving malfeasance or gross
negligence in the performance of Participants duties to, or material deviation from any of
the policies or directives of, the Company;
(c)
Conduct on the part of Participant which constitutes the breach of any statutory or
common law duty of loyalty to the Company; or
(d)
Any illegal act by Participant which materially and adversely affects the business
of the Company or any felony committed by Participant, as evidenced by conviction thereof,
provided that the Company may suspend Participant with pay while any allegation of such
illegal or felonious act is investigated.
2.7 Change in Control.
Change in Control shall mean the occurrence of any of the following
events:
(a)
The acquisition, directly or indirectly, in one transaction or a series of related
transactions, by any person or group (within the meaning of Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange
Act) of the beneficial ownership of securities of the Company possessing more than fifty
percent (50%) of the total combined voting power of all outstanding securities of the
Company;
(b)
A merger or consolidation of the Company with any other entity, whether or not the
Company is the surviving entity in such transaction, except for a transaction in which the
holders of the outstanding voting securities of the Company immediately prior to such merger
or consolidation hold as a result of holding Company securities prior to such transaction,
in the aggregate, securities possessing more than fifty percent (50%) of the total combined
voting power of all outstanding voting securities of the Company or of the surviving entity
(or the parent of the surviving entity) immediately after such merger or consolidation;
(c)
The sale, transfer or other disposition (in one transaction or a series of related
transactions) of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company; or
(d)
The approval by the stockholders of a plan or proposal for the liquidation or
dissolution of the Company.
2.8 Code.
Code means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time.
2
2.9 Committee.
Committee means a committee of two or more members of the Board appointed to
administer the Plan, as set forth in Section 8.1 hereof.
2.10 Common Stock.
Common Stock means the Common Stock of the Company, $0.001 par value,
subject to adjustment pursuant to Section 4.2 hereof.
2.11 Consultant.
Consultant means any consultant or advisor if: (i) the consultant or
advisor renders bona fide services to the Company or any Affiliated Company; (ii) the services
rendered by the consultant or advisor are not in connection with the offer or sale of securities in
a capital-raising transaction and do not directly or indirectly promote or maintain a market for
the Companys securities; and (iii) the consultant or advisor is a natural person who has
contracted directly with the Company or any Affiliated Company to render such services.
2.12 Disability.
Disability means permanent and total disability as defined in Section
22(e)(3) of the Code. The Administrators determination of a Disability or the absence thereof
shall be conclusive and binding on all interested parties.
2.13 DRO.
DRO means a domestic relations order as defined in the Code or Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or the regulations thereunder.
2.14 Employee.
Employee means any officer or other employee (as defined in accordance with
Section 3401(c) of the Code) of the Company, or any Affiliated Company.
2.15 Effective Date.
Effective Date means the date on which the Plan is adopted by the
Board, as set forth on the first page hereof.
2.16 Exchange Act.
Exchange Act means the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
2.17 Exercise Price.
Exercise Price means the purchase price per share of Common Stock
payable upon exercise of an Option.
2.18 Fair Market Value.
Fair Market Value on any given date means the value of one share of
Common Stock, determined as follows:
(a)
If the Common Stock is then listed or admitted to trading on a Nasdaq market system
or a stock exchange which reports closing sale prices, the Fair Market Value shall be the
closing sale price on the date of valuation on such Nasdaq market system or principal stock
exchange on which the Common Stock is then listed or admitted to trading, or, if no closing
sale price is reported on such day, then the Fair Market Value shall be the closing sale
price of the Common Stock on such Nasdaq market system or such exchange on the next
preceding day for which a closing sale price is reported.
(b)
If the Common Stock is not then listed or admitted to trading on a Nasdaq market
system or a stock exchange which reports closing sale prices, the Fair Market Value shall be
the average of the closing bid and asked prices of the Common Stock in the over-the-counter
market on the date of valuation.
3
(c)
If neither clause (a) nor (b) of this Section 2.18 is applicable as of the date of
valuation, then the Fair Market Value shall be determined by the Administrator in good faith
using any reasonable method of valuation, which determination shall be conclusive and
binding on all interested parties.
2.19 FINRA Dealer.
FINRA Dealer means a broker-dealer that is a member of the Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.
2.20 Incentive Option.
Incentive Option means any Option so designated by the Administrator
and intended to qualify as an incentive stock option as defined in Section 422 of the Code.
2.21 Incentive Option Agreement.
Incentive Option Agreement means an Option Agreement with
respect to an Incentive Option.
2.22 Nonqualified Option.
Nonqualified Option means any Option that is not an Incentive
Option. To the extent that any Option designated as an Incentive Option fails in whole or in part
to qualify as an Incentive Option, including, without limitation, for failure to meet the
limitations applicable to a 10% Stockholder or because it exceeds the annual limit provided for in
Section 5.6 below, it shall to that extent constitute a Nonqualified Option.
2.23 Nonqualified Option Agreement.
Nonqualified Option Agreement means an Option Agreement
with respect to a Nonqualified Option.
2.24 Option.
Option means any option to purchase Common Stock granted pursuant to the Plan.
2.25 Option Agreement.
Option Agreement means the written agreement entered into between
the Company and the Optionee with respect to an Option granted under the Plan.
2.26 Optionee.
Optionee means a Participant who holds an Option.
2.27 Participant.
Participant means an individual or entity that holds an Award under the
Plan.
2.28 Purchase Price.
Purchase Price means the purchase price per Restricted Share.
2.29 Restricted Shares.
Restricted Shares means shares of Common Stock issued pursuant to
Article 6 hereof, subject to any restrictions and conditions as are established pursuant to such
Article 6.
2.30 Restricted Stock Unit.
Restricted Stock Unit means an award made pursuant to Article 7
hereof, subject to any restrictions and conditions as are established pursuant to such Article 7.
4
2.31 Rule 16b-3 Covered Person.
Rule 16b-3 Covered Person means any key Employee or member
of the Board designated by the Administrator with respect to which any transaction involving Common
Stock may be eligible for the exemption from Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act set forth in Rule
16b-3.
2.32
Section 162(m)
Covered Employee.
Section 162(m) Covered Employee means (i) an employee
of the Company if, as of the close of the taxable year, such employee is the Principal Executive
Officer of the Company (or an individual acting in such a capacity) and the three (3) officers of
the Company (other than the Principal Financial Officer and the Principal Executive Officer) for
whom total compensation is required to be reported to stockholders under the Exchange Act by reason
of such individuals being among the three (3) highest compensated officers for the relevant taxable
year and (ii) any other key Employee designated by the Administrator as a key Employee whose
compensation for the fiscal year in which the key Employee is so designated or a future fiscal year
may be subject to the limit on deductible compensation imposed by Section 162(m) of the Code.
2.33 Service Provider.
Service Provider means a Consultant, Employee, member of the Board
or other natural person the Administrator authorizes to become a Participant in the Plan and who
provides services to (i) the Company, (ii) an Affiliated Company, or (iii) any other business
venture designated by the Administrator in which the Company (or any entity that is a successor to
the Company) or an Affiliated Company has a significant ownership interest.
2.34 Stock Purchase Agreement.
Stock Purchase Agreement means the written agreement entered
into between the Company and a Participant with respect to the purchase of Restricted Shares under
the Plan.
2.35 10% Stockholder.
10% Stockholder means a person who, as of a relevant date, owns or is
deemed to own (by reason of the attribution rules applicable under Section 424(d) of the Code)
stock possessing more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the
Company or of an Affiliated Company.
ARTICLE 3
ELIGIBILITY
3.1 Incentive Options.
Only Employees of the Company or of an Affiliated Company (including
officers of the Company and members of the Board if they are Employees of the Company or of an
Affiliated Company) are eligible to receive Incentive Options under the Plan.
3.2 Nonqualified Options and Restricted Shares.
Employees of the Company or of an Affiliated
Company, officers of the Company and members of the Board (whether or not employed by the Company
or an Affiliated Company), and Service Providers are eligible to receive Nonqualified Options or
acquire Restricted Shares.
3.3
Section 162(m)
Limitation for Options.
The aggregate number of shares of Common Stock
with respect to which Options may be granted to any Employee shall not exceed 1,050,000 shares of
Common Stock during any calendar year. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in connection with his or her
initial service to the Company, the aggregate number of shares of Common Stock with respect to
which Options may be granted to any Employee shall not exceed 1,050,000 shares of Common Stock
during the calendar year which includes such individuals initial service to the Company. Any
shares subject to an Option granted during a calendar year to an Employee that can no longer under
any circumstances be exercised or purchased for any reason under the Plan shall continue to count
against the applicable limitations set forth above for such Employee during such calendar year.
5
ARTICLE 4
GRANTING OF AWARDS
4.1 Shares Subject to the Plan.
The shares of stock available as a basis for Awards shall be
Common Stock. Such shares may be issued from either previously authorized but unissued shares or
treasury shares, subject to adjustment as to the number and kind of shares pursuant to Section 4.2
hereof. Subject to the foregoing, a total of 1,050,000 shares of Common Stock may be issued under
the Plan. Notwithstanding the limitation described in the preceding sentence, if an option granted
pursuant to an equity compensation plan of the Company other than the Plan is outstanding as of the
Approved
Date and such option subsequently terminates or expires in accordance with its terms, the
shares of Common Stock underlying such option which remain unexercised and unissued at the time of
such termination or expiration, shall become available for grant or issuance under the Plan,
subject to adjustment pursuant to Section 4.2 hereof. In no event will there be available greater
than 1,050,000 shares of Common Stock for purposes of the issuance of Incentive Options under the
Plan, subject to adjustment pursuant to Section 4.2 hereof.
(a)
Cancelled or Forfeited Awards other than Restricted Shares
. For purposes of the
limitation set forth in this Section 4.1, if all or any portion of any Award, other than Restricted
Shares, granted or offered under the Plan can no longer under any circumstances be exercised or
purchased due to the forfeiture or cancellation of all or any portion of such Award, then the
shares of Common Stock allocable to such unexercised or forfeited portions of such Award shall not
count against such limitation and shall again become available for grant or issuance under the
Plan.
(b)
Non-Replenishment of Reacquired Shares; Awards other than Restricted Shares for
Reasons other than Cancellation or Forfeiture of Award
. For purposes of the limitation set
forth in this Section 4.1, any shares of Common Stock subject to an Award, other than Restricted
Shares, and which are reacquired by the Company for any reason, including without limitation
pursuant to Section 11.1, other than the cancellation or forfeiture of such Award as described in
Section 4.1(a) shall count against such limitation. The Company shall hold all such shares of
Common Stock that it reacquires as treasury shares, which shall not again become available for
grant or issuance under the Plan.
(c)
Replenishment of Reacquired Shares; Awards of Restricted Shares
. For purposes of
the limitation set forth in this Section 4.1, any shares of Common Stock that were initially the
subject of a Stock Purchase Agreement, and which are reacquired by the Company for any reason,
including without limitation pursuant to Section 11.1, shall not count against such limitation and
shall again become available for grant or issuance under the Plan.
6
4.2 Changes in Capital Structure.
In the event that the outstanding shares of Common Stock
are hereafter increased or decreased or changed into or exchanged for a different number or kind of
shares or other securities of the Company by reason of a recapitalization, stock split, reverse
stock split, combination of shares, reclassification, stock dividend, or other similar change in
the capital structure of the Company, then appropriate adjustments shall be made by the
Administrator to the aggregate number and kind of shares issuable thereafter under this Plan, the
number and kind of shares and the price per share subject to outstanding Award Agreements and the
limit on the number of shares under Sections 3.3 and 6.6, all in order to preserve, as nearly as
practical, but not to increase, the benefits to Participants.
4.3 Award Agreement.
Each Award shall be evidenced by an Award Agreement. Award Agreements
evidencing Incentive Options shall contain such terms and conditions as may be necessary to meet
the applicable provisions of Section 422 of the Code.
4.4 Rule 16b-3 Covered Persons.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the Plan, the Plan and
any Award granted or awarded to a Rule 16b-3 Covered Person shall be subject to any additional
limitations set forth in any applicable exemptive rule under Section 16 of the Exchange Act
(including Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act) that are requirements for the application of such
exemptive rule. To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Plan and Awards granted or awarded
hereunder shall be deemed amended to the extent necessary to conform to such applicable exemptive
rule(s).
ARTICLE 5
OPTIONS
5.1 Option Agreement.
Each Option granted pursuant to this Plan shall be evidenced by an
Option Agreement that shall specify the number of shares subject thereto, the Exercise Price per
share, and whether the Option is an Incentive Option or Nonqualified Option. As soon as is
practical following the grant of an Option, an Option Agreement shall be duly executed and
delivered by or on behalf of the Company to the Optionee to whom such Option was granted. Each
Option Agreement shall be in such form and contain such additional terms and conditions, not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Plan, as the Administrator shall, from time to time, deem
desirable, including, without limitation, the imposition of any rights of first refusal and resale
obligations upon any shares of Common Stock acquired pursuant to an Option Agreement. Each Option
Agreement may be different from each other Option Agreement.
5.2 Exercise Price.
The Exercise Price per share of Common Stock covered by each Option shall
be determined by the Administrator, subject to the following: (a) the Exercise Price of an Option
shall not be less than 100% of Fair Market Value on the date the Option is granted and (b) if the
person to whom an Incentive Option is granted is a 10% Stockholder on the date of grant, the
Exercise Price shall not be less than 110% of Fair Market Value on the date the Option is granted.
However, an Option may be granted with an Exercise Price lower than that set forth in the preceding
sentence if such Incentive Option is granted pursuant to an assumption or substitution for another
option in a manner satisfying the provisions of Section 424 of the Code.
7
5.3 Payment of Exercise Price.
Payment of the Exercise Price shall be made upon exercise of
an Option and may be made, in the discretion of the Administrator, subject to any legal
restrictions, by: (a) cash; (b) check; (c) the surrender of shares of Common Stock acquired
pursuant to the exercise of an Option (provided that shares acquired pursuant to the exercise of
Options must have been held by the Optionee for the requisite period necessary to avoid a charge to
the Companys earnings for financial reporting purposes), which surrendered shares shall be valued
at Fair Market Value as of the date of such exercise; (d) the waiver of compensation due or accrued
to the Optionee for services rendered; (e) a same day sale commitment from the Optionee and a
FINRA Dealer whereby the Optionee irrevocably elects to exercise the Option and to sell a portion
of the shares so purchased to pay for the Exercise Price and whereby the FINRA Dealer irrevocably
commits upon receipt of such shares to forward the Exercise Price directly to the Company; or (f)
any combination of the foregoing methods of payment or any other consideration or method of payment
as shall be permitted by applicable law, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended.
5.4 Term and Termination of Options.
The term and provisions for termination of each Option
shall be as fixed by the Administrator, but no Option may be exercisable more than ten (10) years
after the date it is granted. An Incentive Option granted to a person who is a 10% Stockholder on
the date of grant shall not be exercisable more than five (5) years after the date it is granted.
5.5 Vesting and Exercise of Options.
Each Option shall vest and become exercisable in one or
more installments at such time or times and subject to such conditions, including without
limitation the achievement of specified performance goal(s) or objectives, as shall be determined
by the Administrator.
5.6 Annual Limit on Incentive Options.
To the extent required for incentive stock option
treatment under Section 422 of the Code, the aggregate Fair Market Value (determined as of the time
of grant) of the Common Stock, with respect to which Incentive Options granted under this Plan and
any other plan of the Company or any Affiliated Company become exercisable for the first time by an
Optionee during any calendar year, shall not exceed $100,000.
5.7 Nontransferability of Options.
Except as otherwise provided by the Administrator in an
Option Agreement and as permissible under applicable law, no Option shall be assignable or
transferable except by will or the laws of descent and distribution, and during the life of the
Optionee shall be exercisable only by such Optionee unless it has been disposed of with the consent
of the Administrator (which consent may be withheld in the Administrators sole and absolute
discretion) pursuant to a DRO. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no Option shall be assignable or
transferable in exchange for consideration.
5.8 Rights as Stockholder.
An Optionee or permitted transferee of an Option shall have no
rights or privileges as a stockholder with respect to any shares covered by an Option until such
Option has been duly exercised and certificates representing shares purchased upon such exercise
have been issued to such person.
8
ARTICLE 6
RESTRICTED SHARES
6.1 Issuance and Sale of Restricted Shares.
The Administrator shall have the right to grant
Restricted Shares subject to such terms, restrictions and conditions as the Administrator may
determine at the time of grant (Restricted Share Awards). Such conditions shall include the
Purchase Price to be paid by the grantee for such an Award, if any (but not less than the minimum
lawful amount under applicable state law). Such conditions may also include, but are not limited
to, continued employment or the achievement of specified performance goal(s) or objectives.
6.2 Stock Purchase Agreements.
A Participant shall have no rights with respect to the
Restricted Shares covered by a Stock Purchase Agreement until the Participant has paid the full
Purchase Price (if applicable) to the Company in the manner set forth in Section 6.3 hereof and has
executed and delivered to the Company the Stock Purchase Agreement. Each Stock Purchase Agreement
shall be in such form, and shall set forth the Purchase Price and such other terms, conditions and
restrictions of the Restricted Shares, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Plan, as the
Administrator shall, from time to time, deem desirable. Each Stock Purchase Agreement may be
different from each other Stock Purchase Agreement.
6.3 Payment of Purchase Price.
Subject to any legal restrictions, payment of the Purchase
Price, if any, may be made, in the discretion of the Administrator, by: (a) cash; (b) check; (c)
the surrender of shares of Common Stock owned by the Participant that have been held by the
Participant for the requisite period necessary to avoid a charge to the Companys earnings for
financial reporting purposes, which surrendered shares shall be valued at Fair Market Value as of
the date of such acceptance; (d) the waiver of compensation due or accrued to the Participant for
services rendered; or (e) any combination of the foregoing methods of payment or any other
consideration or method of payment as shall be permitted by applicable corporate law, including the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended.
6.4 Rights as a Stockholder.
Upon complying with the provisions of Section 6.2 hereof, a
Participant shall have the rights of a stockholder with respect to the Restricted Shares purchased
pursuant to a Stock Purchase Agreement, including voting and dividend rights, subject to the terms,
restrictions and conditions as are set forth in such Stock Purchase Agreement. Unless the
Administrator shall determine otherwise, certificates evidencing Restricted Shares shall remain in
the possession of the Company until such shares have vested in accordance with the terms of the
Stock Purchase Agreement.
6.5 Restrictions.
Restricted Shares may not be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged or
otherwise encumbered or disposed of except as specifically provided in the Stock Purchase
Agreement. In the event of termination of a Participants employment, service as a director of the
Company or Service Provider status for any reason whatsoever (including death or disability), the
Stock Purchase Agreement may provide, in the discretion of the Administrator, that the Company
shall have the right, exercisable at the discretion of the Administrator, to repurchase, at the
original Purchase Price, any Restricted Shares which have not vested as of the date of termination.
9
6.6 Vesting of Restricted Shares.
Subject to Section 6.5 above, the Stock Purchase Agreement
shall specify the date or dates, the performance goal(s) or objectives that must be achieved, and
any other conditions on which the Restricted Shares may vest. The Administrator may include among
such conditions the requirement that the performance of the Company or a business unit of the
Company for a specified period of one or more fiscal years equal or exceed a target determined in
advance by the Administrator. The Administrator shall determine such performance. Such target
shall be based on one or more of the criteria set forth in
Appendix A
. The Administrator shall
identify such target not later than the 90th day of such period. Subject to adjustment in
accordance with Section 4.2, in no event shall more than 1,050,000 Restricted Shares that are
subject to performance-based vesting conditions be granted to any Participant in a single fiscal
year of the Company, except that 1,050,000 Restricted Shares may be granted to a new Employee in
the fiscal year of the Company in which his or her service as an Employee first commences. A
Restricted Stock Agreement may provide for accelerated vesting in the event of a Change in Control,
the Participants death, disability or retirement or other events.
ARTICLE 7
RESTRICTED STOCK UNITS
7.1 Awards of Restricted Stock Units.
A Restricted Stock Unit (
RSU
) is an award to a
Participant covering a number of shares of Common Stock that may be settled in cash, or by issuance
of those shares of Common Stock (which may consist of Restricted Stock). All RSUs shall be made
pursuant to an Award Agreement. Subject to adjustment in accordance with Section 4.2, in no event
shall RSUs for more than 1,050,000 shares of Common Stock that are subject to performance-based
vesting conditions be granted to any Participant in a single fiscal year of the Company.
7.2 Terms of RSUs.
The Administrator will determine the terms of an RSU including, without
limitation: (a) the number of shares of Common Stock subject to the RSU; (b) the time or times
during which the RSU may be settled; and (c) the consideration to be distributed on settlement, and
the effect of the Participants Termination on each RSU. An RSU may be awarded upon satisfaction
of such performance goals as are set out in advance in the Participants Award Agreement. If the
RSU is being earned upon satisfaction of performance goals or objectives, then the Administrator
will: (x) determine the nature, length and starting date of any performance period for the RSU; (y)
select from among the criteria set forth in
Appendix A
to be used to measure the performance,
if any; and (z) determine the number of shares of Common Stock deemed subject to the RSU.
Performance periods may overlap and participants may participate simultaneously with respect to
RSUs that are subject to different performance periods and different performance goals and other
criteria. The Administrator shall determine such performance. Such target shall be based on one
or more of the criteria set forth in
Appendix A
. The Administrator shall identify such target not
later than the 90th day of such period.
7.3 Form and Timing of Settlement.
Payment of earned RSUs shall be made as soon as
practicable after the date(s) determined by the Administrator and set forth in the Award Agreement.
The Administrator, in its sole discretion, may settle earned RSUs in cash, shares of Common Stock,
or a combination of both. No Purchase Price shall apply to an RSU settled in shares of Common
Stock. The Administrator may also permit a Participant to defer payment under a RSU to a date or
dates after the RSU is earned provided that the terms of the RSU and any deferral satisfy the
requirements of Section 409A of the Code.
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7.4 Termination of Participant.
Except as may be set forth in the Participants Award
Agreement, vesting ceases on such Participants termination of service (unless determined otherwise
by the Administrator).
ARTICLE 8
ADMINISTRATION OF THE PLAN
8.1 Administrator.
Authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the
Plan shall be vested in the Board, which may delegate such responsibilities in whole or in part to
one or more Committees. Members of the Committee may be appointed from time to time by, and shall
serve at the pleasure of, the Board. Without limiting the foregoing, the Board may limit the
composition of the Committee to those persons necessary to comply with the requirements of Section
162(m) of the Code and the regulations promulgated thereunder, and Section 16 of the Exchange Act
and Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act. The Board (or the Committee, as applicable) may delegate to
the Chief Executive Officer of the Company such responsibilities to administer the Plan as it shall
deem advisable and as permitted by applicable law. As used herein, the term Administrator means
the Board or, with respect to any matter as to which responsibility has been delegated to the
Committee or the Chief Executive Officer, the term Administrator shall mean the Committee or the
Chief Executive Officer, as the case may be.
8.2 Powers of the Administrator.
In addition to any other powers or authority conferred upon
the Administrator elsewhere in the Plan or by law, the Administrator shall have full power and
authority: (a) to determine the persons to whom, and the time or times at which, Awards shall be
granted, the number of shares to be represented by each Option, the number of Restricted Shares to
be offered, and the consideration to be received by the Company upon the exercise of or sale of
such Awards; (b) to interpret the Plan; (c) to create, amend or rescind rules and regulations
relating to the Plan; (d) to determine the terms, conditions and restrictions contained in, and the
form of, Award Agreements; (e) to determine the identity or capacity of any persons who may be
entitled to exercise a Participants rights under any Award Agreement under the Plan; (f) to
correct any defect or supply any omission or reconcile any inconsistency in the Plan or in any
Award Agreement; (g) to accelerate the vesting of any Award or release or waive any repurchase
rights of the Company with respect to any Award; (h) to extend the exercise date of any Award or
acceptance date of any Award; (i) to provide
for rights of first refusal and/or repurchase rights; (j) to amend outstanding Award
Agreements to provide for, among other things, any change or modification which the Administrator
could have included in the original Award Agreement or in furtherance of the powers provided for
herein; and (k) to make all other determinations necessary or advisable for the administration of
the Plan, but only to the extent not contrary to the express provisions of the Plan. Any action,
decision, interpretation or determination made in good faith by the Administrator in the exercise
of its authority conferred upon it under the Plan shall be final and binding on the Company and all
Participants. In making any determination or in taking or not taking any action under the Plan, the
Administrator may obtain and rely upon the advice of experts, including advisors to the Company.
11
8.3 Limitation on Liability.
No Employee of the Company or member of the Board or Committee
shall be subject to any liability with respect to duties under the Plan unless the person acts
fraudulently or in bad faith. To the extent permitted by law, the Company shall indemnify each
member of the Board or Committee, and any Employee of the Company with duties under the Plan, who
was or is a party, or is threatened to be made a party, to any threatened, pending or completed
proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of such persons
conduct in the performance of duties under the Plan.
ARTICLE 9
CHANGE IN CONTROL
9.1 Change in Control.
In order to preserve a Participants rights in the event of a Change
in Control of the Company:
(a)
The Administrator shall have the discretion to provide in each Award Agreement the
terms and conditions that relate to (i) vesting of such Award in the event of a Change in
Control, and (ii) assumption of such Awards or issuance of comparable securities under an
incentive program in the event of a Change in Control. The aforementioned terms and
conditions may vary in each Award Agreement.
(b)
If the terms of an outstanding Option Agreement provide for accelerated vesting in
the event of a Change in Control, or to the extent that an Option is vested and not yet
exercised, the Administrator in its discretion may provide, in connection with the Change in
Control transaction, for the purchase or exchange of each Option for an amount of cash or
other property having a value equal to the difference (or spread) between: (x) the value
of the cash or other property that the Participant would have received pursuant to the
Change in Control transaction in exchange for the shares issuable upon exercise of the
Option had the Option been exercised immediately prior to the Change in Control, and (y) the
Exercise Price of the Option.
(c)
Outstanding Options shall terminate and cease to be exercisable upon consummation
of a Change in Control except to the extent that the Options are assumed by the successor
entity (or parent thereof) pursuant to the terms of the Change in Control transaction.
(d)
The Administrator shall cause written notice of a proposed Change in Control
transaction to be given to Participants not less than fifteen (15) days prior to the
anticipated effective date of the proposed transaction.
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ARTICLE 10
AMENDMENT AND TERMINATION OF THE PLAN
10.1 Amendments.
Subject to applicable law, including Nasdaq stockholder approval
requirements, the Board may from time to time alter, amend, suspend or terminate the Plan in such
respects as the Board may deem advisable. No such alteration, amendment, suspension or termination
shall be made which shall substantially affect or impair the rights of any Participant under an
outstanding Award Agreement without such Participants consent. The Board may alter or amend the
Plan to comply with requirements under the Code relating to Incentive Options or other types of
options which give Optionees more favorable tax treatment than that applicable to Options granted
under this Plan as of the date of its adoption. Upon any such alteration or amendment, any
outstanding Option granted hereunder may, if the Administrator so determines and if permitted by
applicable law, be subject to the more favorable tax treatment afforded to an Optionee pursuant to
such terms and conditions.
10.2 Plan Termination.
Unless the Plan shall theretofore have been terminated, the Plan shall
terminate on the tenth (10th) anniversary of the earlier of the Effective Date and the Approved
Date and no Awards may be granted under the Plan thereafter, but Award Agreements then outstanding
shall continue in effect in accordance with their respective terms.
ARTICLE 11
CANCELLATION & RESCISSION
11.1 Non-Competition.
Unless an Option Agreement specifies otherwise, the Administrator may
cancel, rescind, suspend, withhold or otherwise limit or restrict any unexpired, unpaid or deferred
Options at any time if the Participant is not in compliance with all applicable provisions of the
Option Agreement and the Plan or if the Participant engages in any Adverse Activity. For
purposes of this Section 11.1, Adverse Activity shall include: (i) the disclosure to anyone
outside the Company, or the use in other than the Companys business, without prior written
authorization from the Company, of any confidential information or material relating to the
business of the Company, acquired by the Participant either during or after employment with the
Company; (ii) the failure or refusal to disclose promptly and to assign to the Company all right,
title and interest in any invention or idea, patentable or not, made or conceived by the
Participant during employment by the Company, relating in any manner to the actual or anticipated
business, research or development work of the Company; or (iii) activity that results in
termination of the Participants employment for Cause.
11.2 Agreement Upon Exercise.
Upon exercise, payment or delivery pursuant to an Option
Agreement, the Participant shall certify in a manner acceptable to the Company that he or she is in
compliance with the terms and conditions of the Plan. In the event a Participant fails to comply
with the provisions of clauses (i) through (iii) of Section 11.1 hereof prior to, or during the six
(6) months after, any exercise, payment or delivery pursuant to an Option Agreement, such exercise,
payment or delivery may be rescinded within two years thereafter. In the event of any such
rescission, the Participant shall pay to the Company the amount of any gain realized or payment
received as a result of the exercise, payment or delivery, in such manner and on such terms and
conditions as may be required, and the Company shall be entitled to set-off against the amount of
any such gain any amount owed to the Participant by the Company.
13
ARTICLE 12
TAX WITHHOLDING
12.1 Withholding.
The Company shall have the power to withhold, or require a Participant to
remit to the Company in cash, an amount sufficient to satisfy any applicable federal, state, local
or foreign tax withholding requirements with respect to any Options exercised, any Restricted
Shares issued, or any other Award issued under the Plan. To the extent permissible under
applicable tax, securities and other laws, the Administrator may, in its sole discretion and upon
such terms and conditions as it may deem appropriate, permit a Participant to satisfy his or her
obligation to pay any such tax, in whole or in part, in an amount determined on the basis of the
lowest rate of withholding applicable to such Participant, by (a) directing the Company to apply
shares of Common Stock to which the Participant is entitled as a result of the exercise of an Award
or as a result of the purchase of or lapse of restrictions on an Award, or (b) delivering to the
Company shares of Common Stock owned by the Participant. The shares of Common Stock so applied or
delivered in satisfaction of the Participants tax withholding obligation shall be valued at their
Fair Market Value as of the date of withholding based on the minimum statutory withholding rates
for income tax and payroll tax purposes that are applicable to such supplemental taxable income.
ARTICLE 13
MISCELLANEOUS
13.1 Repricings Not Permitted.
Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the
Administrator shall not have the authority to cause the repricing of any outstanding Options either
through an adjustment to the Exercise Price or through the cancellation of an Option and regrant of
a new Option or other Award in exchange for the cancelled Option (a Repricing), unless such
Repricing is approved by a majority of the Companys stockholders entitled to vote on such matter.
13.2 Benefits Not Alienable.
For so long as it is subject to any restrictions pursuant to
this Plan or an Award Agreement, no Award or interest or right therein or part thereof shall be
liable for the debts, contracts, or engagements of the Participant or his or her successors in
interest or shall be subject to disposition by transfer, alienation, anticipation, pledge,
encumbrance, assignment, or any other means whether such disposition be voluntary or involuntary or
by operation of law, by judgment, levy, attachment, garnishment, or any other legal or equitable
proceedings (including bankruptcy), and any attempted disposition thereof shall be null and void
and of no effect; provided, however, that nothing in this Plan shall prevent transfers by will or
the applicable laws of descent and distribution or assignments pursuant to a DRO entered by a court
of competent jurisdiction.
13.3 No Enlargement of Employee Rights.
This Plan is strictly a voluntary undertaking on the
part of the Company and shall not be deemed to constitute a contract between the Company and any
Participant to be consideration for, or an inducement to, or a condition of, the employment of any
Participant. Nothing contained in the Plan shall be deemed to give the right to any Participant to
be retained as an employee of the Company or any Affiliated Company or to interfere with the right
of the Company or any Affiliated Company to discharge any Participant at any time.
14
13.4 Application of Funds.
The proceeds received by the Company from the sale of Common Stock
pursuant to Award Agreements, except as otherwise provided herein, will be used for general
corporate purposes.
13.5 Annual Reports.
During the term of this Plan, the Company will furnish to each
Participant who does not otherwise receive such materials, copies of all reports, proxy statements
and other communications that the Company distributes generally to its stockholders.
13.6 Applicable Law.
The validity, construction, interpretation and effect of this Plan and
all Award Agreements hereunder shall be governed by and determined in accordance with the laws of
the State of Washington except for matters of corporate law, in which case the provisions of the
Delaware General Corporation Law shall govern.
15
Appendix A
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
FOR RESTRICTED SHARES AND RESTRICTED STOCK UNITS
The performance goals that may be used by the Administrator for restricted share awards shall
consist of:
|
|
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Net revenue and/or net revenue growth;
|
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|
|
Earnings per share and/or earnings per share growth;
|
|
|
|
Earnings before income taxes and amortization and/or earnings before income taxes and
amortization growth;
|
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|
|
Operating income and/or operating income growth;
|
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|
|
Net income and/or net income growth;
|
|
|
|
Total stockholder return and/or total stockholder return growth;
|
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Operating cash flow return on income;
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Adjusted operating cash flow return on income;
|
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|
Individual business objectives; and
|
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|
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Company-specific operational metrics.
|
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|
|
appreciation in and/or maintenance of the price of the Shares of the Company;
|
|
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|
reductions in costs; cash flow or cash flow per share (before or after dividends);
|
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drug development milestones;
|
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|
regulatory achievements (including submitting or filing applications or other documents
with regulatory authorities, successfully executing an advisory committee meeting, or
receiving approval of any such applications or other documents and passing pre-approval
inspections and validation of manufacturing processes;
|
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initiation or completion of pre-clinical studies; clinical achievements (including
initiating clinical studies; initiating enrollment, completing enrollment or enrolling
particular numbers of subjects in clinical studies; completing phases of a clinical study
(including the treatment phase); or announcing or presenting preliminary or final data from
clinical studies; in each case, whether on particular timelines or generally);
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implementation, completion or attainment of measurable objectives with respect to
research (including nominating a development candidate or initiating a new full discovery
program), development, manufacturing, commercialization, development candidates, products
or projects, safety, production volume levels;
|
16
To the extent that an award under the Plan is designated as a performance award, but is not
intended to qualify as performance-based compensation under Section 162(m), the performance
criteria can include the achievement of strategic objectives as determined by the Administrator.
Notwithstanding satisfaction of any performance criteria described above, to the extent
specified at the time of grant of an award, the number of shares of Common Stock or other benefits
granted, issued, and/or vested under an award on account of satisfaction of performance criteria
may be reduced by the Administrator on the basis of such further considerations as the
Administrator in its sole discretion determines. To the extent consistent with section 162(m) of
the Code, the Administrator may adjust the results under any performance criterion to exclude any
of the following events that occurs during a performance measurement period: (a) asset write-downs,
(b) litigation, claims, judgments or settlements, (c) the effect of changes in tax law, accounting
principles or other such laws or provisions affecting reported results, (d) accruals for
reorganization and restructuring programs and (e) any extraordinary, unusual or non-recurring
items.
17