RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this prospectus, when evaluating our business and future prospects. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be seriously harmed. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or a portion of the value of your investment in our common stock.

Cardium is a development stage company formed in December 2003. We have incurred losses since inception and expect to incur significant net losses in the foreseeable future and may never become profitable.

Due to the development stage of Cardium’s business, our development and start-up costs, including significant amounts we expect to spend on research and development activities and clinical trials for Generx and other product candidates, and our lack of revenue during our development stage, you should expect we will sustain operating losses, which may be substantial, in the early years of operation. A large portion of our expenses are fixed, including expenses related to facilities, equipment and personnel. As a result, we expect our net losses from operations to continue for at least the next five years. Our ability to generate revenues and become profitable will depend on our ability, alone or with potential collaborators, to timely, efficiently and successfully complete the development of our product candidates, successfully complete pre-clinical and clinical tests, obtain necessary regulatory approvals, manufacture and market our product candidates. There can be no assurance that any such events will occur or that we will ever become profitable.

Even if we do achieve profitability, we cannot predict the level of such profitability. If we sustain losses over an extended period of time, we may be unable to continue our business.

Cardium’s business prospects are difficult to evaluate because it is a new company.

Because Cardium has a short operating history, it may be difficult for you to assess our growth, partnering and earnings potential. It is likely we will face many of the difficulties companies in the early stages of their development often face. These include, among others: limited financial resources; developing and marketing a new product for which a market is not yet established and may never become established; delays in reaching our goals; challenges related to the development, approval and acceptance of a new technology or product; lack of revenues and cash flow; high start-up and development costs; competition from larger, more established companies; and difficultly recruiting qualified employees for management and other positions.

We will likely face these and other difficulties in the future, some of which may be beyond our control. If we are unable to successfully address these difficulties as they arise, our future growth and earnings will be negatively affected. We cannot be certain our business strategy will be successful or we will successfully address any problems that may arise.

We will need substantial additional capital to develop our products and for our future operations. If we are unable to obtain the funds necessary to do so, we may be required to delay, scale back or eliminate our product development or may be unable to continue our business.

To conduct the costly and time-consuming research, pre-clinical and clinical testing necessary to obtain regulatory approvals and bring our products to market will require a commitment of substantial funds in excess of our current capital. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including: the progress of our research and development programs; the progress, scope and results of our pre-clinical and clinical testing; the time and cost involved in obtaining regulatory approvals; the cost of manufacturing our product candidates; the cost of prosecuting, defending and enforcing patent claims and other intellectual property rights; competing technological and market developments; and our ability to establish and maintain collaborative and other arrangements with third parties to assist in bringing our products to market and the cost of such arrangements.

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We will need to raise substantial additional capital to fund our future operations. We cannot be certain that additional financing will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. In recent years, it has been difficult for companies to raise capital due to a variety of factors, which may or may not continue. To the extent we raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities, the ownership position of existing stockholders could be substantially diluted. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of preferred stock or debt securities, these securities are likely to have rights, preferences and privileges senior to our common stock. Fluctuating interest rates could also increase the costs of any debt financing we may obtain.

Our failure to successfully address ongoing liquidity requirements would have a material adverse effect on our business. If we are unable to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms when needed, we may be required to take actions that harm our business and our ability to achieve cash flow in the future, including possibly surrendering our rights to some technologies or product opportunities, delaying our clinical trials or curtailing or ceasing operations.

If our right to use any intellectual property we intend to license or license from third parties is terminated or adversely affected, our financial condition, operations or ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates may be harmed.

We expect to substantially rely on licenses to use certain technologies that are material to our operations. For example, we have licensed patents, patent applications and other intellectual property from New York University for the use of the FGF-4 technology in our product candidates for vascular and cardiovascular disease. We also have obtained licenses from the University of California to use certain patents and patent applications relating to gene therapy delivery methods in connection with the use of FGF-4 and other molecules for gene therapy. We do not own the patents, patent applications and other intellectual property rights that underlie these licenses. We rely on our licensors to properly prosecute and enforce the patents, file patent applications and prevent infringement of those patents and patent applications.

While our licenses and associated agreements provide us with exclusive rights in specified fields, the scope of our rights under these and other licenses may be subject to dispute by our licensors or third parties. In addition, the licenses and technology transfer agreements noted above contain certain milestones that we must meet and certain minimum payments that we must make to maintain the licenses. We can give you no assurance we will be able to meet such milestones or make such payments. Our licenses may be terminated if we fail to meet the applicable milestones or make the applicable payments.

We are an early stage company and currently have no products available for sale or use. Our product candidates require additional research, development, testing and regulatory approvals before marketing. We may be unable to develop, obtain regulatory approval or market any of our product candidates. If our product candidates are delayed or fail, our financial condition will be negatively affected, and we may have to curtail or cease our operations.

We are in the early stage of product development. Currently, we do not sell any products and do not expect to have any products commercially available for several years, if at all. Our product candidates require additional research and development, clinical testing and regulatory clearances before we can market them. There are many reasons that our product candidates may fail or not advance beyond clinical testing, including the possibility that:

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In addition, our product candidates are subject to the risks of failure inherent in the development of gene therapy products based on innovative technologies. As a result, we are not able to predict whether our research, development and testing activities will result in any commercially viable products or applications. If our product candidates are delayed or we fail to successfully develop and commercialize our product candidates, our financial condition may be negatively affected, and we may have to curtail or cease our operations.

We may experience delays in our Generx or other clinical trials that could adversely affect our financial results and our commercial prospects.

To obtain regulatory approvals, we must, among other requirements, complete clinical trials showing that Generx is safe and effective for a particular indication. We plan to submit a protocol to the FDA in 2006 and plan to conduct verbal and written communications with the FDA to continue to evaluate our Generx product candidate. We plan on initiating our clinical trials in 2006 but there is no assurance we will be able to do so as the timing of the commencement of the trial may be dependent on, among other things, FDA reviews and other factors outside of our control. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that our clinical trials will in fact demonstrate that Generx is safe or effective.

Additionally, we may not be able to identify or recruit a significant number of acceptable patients or may experience delays in enrolling patients for our clinical trials for Generx. The FDA or we may suspend our clinical trials at any time if either believes that we are exposing the subjects participating in the trials to unacceptable health risks. The FDA or institutional review boards and/or institutional biosafety committees at the medical institutions and healthcare facilities where we sponsor clinical trials may suspend any trial indefinitely if they find deficiencies in the conduct of the trials.

Product development costs to us and our potential collaborators will increase if we have delays in testing or approvals or if we need to perform more or larger clinical trials than planned. We expect to continue to rely on third party clinical investigators at medical institutions and healthcare facilities to conduct our clinical trials, and, as a result, we may face additional delaying factors outside our control. Significant delays may adversely affect our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates and delay our ability to become profitable.

If we cannot successfully complete the clinical trial process for our product candidates, we will not be able to market them. Even successful clinical trials may not result in a marketable product and may not be entirely indicative of a product’s safety or efficacy.

Generx is the only product candidate currently in the clinical stage. Other product candidates are in the pre-clinical stage and there can be no assurance they will ever advance to clinical trials. For product candidates that advance to clinical testing, we cannot be certain that we or a collaborator will successfully complete the clinical trials necessary to receive regulatory product approvals. This process is lengthy and expensive. To obtain regulatory approvals, we or a collaborative partner must demonstrate through pre-clinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective for use in at least one medical indication.

Many factors, known and unknown, can adversely affect clinical trials and the ability to evaluate a product’s efficacy. For example, clinical trials are often conducted with patients who have the most advanced stages of disease. During the course of treatment, these patients can die or suffer other adverse events for reasons that may or may not be related to the proposed product being tested. For instance, as reported in December 1999, the death of a patient enrolled in the Phase 1/2 trial for Generx, which occurred approximately five months after the one-time product administration, was determined to have been unlikely to be causally related to the therapy. However, even if unrelated to our product, such events can nevertheless adversely impact our clinical trials. As a result, our ability to ultimately develop and market the products and obtain revenues would suffer.

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Deaths and other adverse events that occur in the conduct of clinical trials may result in an increase in governmental regulation or litigation, and could result in delays or halts being imposed upon clinical trials including our own. In addition, patients involved in clinical trials such as ours often have unknown as well as known health risks and pre-existing conditions. An adverse event may therefore appear to have been caused or exacerbated by the administration of study product, even if it was not actually related. Such consequences can also increase the risk that any potential adverse event in our trial could give rise to claims for damages against us, or could cause further delays or halt our clinical trial, any of which results would negatively affect us. In addition, fears regarding the potential consequences of gene therapy trials or the conduct of such trials could dissuade investigators or patients from participating in our trials, which could substantially delay or prevent our product development efforts.

Even promising results in pre-clinical studies and initial clinical trials do not ensure successful results in later clinical trials, which test broader human use of our products. Many companies in our industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, despite promising results in earlier trials. Even successful clinical trials may not result in a marketable product or be indicative of the efficacy or safety of a product. Many factors or variables could affect the results of clinical trials and cause them to appear more promising than they may otherwise be. Product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials could ultimately be found to be unsafe or ineffective.

In addition, our ability to complete clinical trials depends on many factors, including obtaining adequate clinical supplies and having a sufficient rate of patient recruitment. For example, patient recruitment is a function of many factors, including: the size of the patient population; the proximity of patients to clinical sites; the eligibility criteria for the trial; the perceptions of investigators and patients regarding safety; and the availability of other treatment options.

Even if patients are successfully recruited, we cannot be sure that they will complete the treatment process. Delays in patient enrollment or treatment in clinical trials may result in increased costs, program delays or both.

With respect to markets in other countries, we or a partner will also be subject to regulatory requirements governing clinical trials in those countries. Even if we complete clinical trials, we may not be able to submit a marketing application. If we submit an application, the regulatory authorities may not review or approve it in a timely manner, if at all.

Our product candidates may have unacceptable side effects that could delay or prevent product approval.

Possible side effects of gene therapy technologies may be serious and life-threatening. The occurrence of any unacceptable side effects during or after pre-clinical and clinical testing of our product candidates could delay or prevent approval of our products and our revenues would suffer. For example, possible serious side effects of viral vector-based gene transfer include viral infections resulting from contamination with replication-competent viruses and inflammation or other injury to the heart or other parts of the body. In addition, the development or worsening of cancer in a patient may be a perceived or actual side effect of gene therapy technologies such as our own.

Furthermore, there is a possibility of side effects or decreased effectiveness associated with an immune response toward any viral vector or gene used in gene therapy. The possibility of such response may increase if there is a need to deliver the viral vector more than once.

Because we cannot predict whether or when we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates, we cannot predict the timing of any future revenue from these product candidates. To our knowledge, the FDA has not yet approved any gene therapy products.

We cannot commercialize any of our product candidates to generate revenue until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the applications for our product candidates. We cannot assure you that

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the regulatory agencies will complete their review processes in a timely manner or that we will obtain regulatory approval for any product candidate we or our potential collaborators develop. Satisfaction of regulatory requirements typically takes many years, is dependent upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product and requires the expenditure of substantial resources. Regulatory approval processes outside the United States include all or many of the risks associated with the FDA approval process and potentially others as well. In addition, we may experience delays or rejections based upon additional government regulation from future legislation or administrative action or changes in FDA policy during the period of product development, clinical trials and FDA regulatory review.

Our technologies and product candidates are unproven and they may fail to gain market acceptance.

Our future depends on the success of our technologies and product candidates. Gene-based therapy is a new and rapidly evolving medial approach that has not been shown to be effective on a widespread basis. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have successfully developed and commercialized only a limited number of gene-based products to date. In addition, no gene therapy product has received regulatory approval in the United States or internationally. Our product candidates, and the technology underlying them, are new and unproven and there is no guarantee that health care providers or patients will be interested in our products. Our success will depend in part on our ability to demonstrate the clinical benefits, reliability, safety and cost effectiveness of our product candidates and technology, as well as on our ability to continue to develop our product candidates to respond to competitive and technological changes. If the market does not accept our product candidates, when and if we are able to commercialize them, and the technology underlying them, we may never become profitable. It is difficult to predict the future growth of our business, if any, and the size of the market for our product candidates because the market and technology is continually evolving. There can be no assurance that our technologies and product candidates will prove superior to technologies and products that may currently be available or may become available in the future or that our technologies or research and development activities will result in any commercially profitable products.

We may not successfully establish and maintain collaborative and licensing arrangements, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

Our strategy for the development, testing, manufacturing and commercialization of our product candidates generally relies on establishing and maintaining collaborations with corporate partners, licensors and other third parties. For example, we have licenses from New York University and the University of California relating to the use and delivery of our Generx product candidates for the treatment of vascular disease, as well as a relationship with Schering regarding the transfer of information about certain manufacturing and regulatory matters concerning our product candidates. We may not be able to maintain or expand these licenses and collaborations or establish additional licensing and collaboration arrangements necessary to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Even if we are able to maintain or establish licensing or collaboration arrangements, these arrangements may not be on favorable terms and may contain provisions that will restrict our ability to develop, test and market our product candidates. Any failure to maintain or establish licensing or collaboration arrangements on favorable terms could adversely affect our business prospects, financial condition or ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

We expect to rely at least in part on third party collaborators to perform a number of activities relating to the development and commercialization of our product candidates, including the manufacturing of product materials, the design and conduct of clinical trials, and potentially the obtaining of regulatory approvals and marketing and distribution of any successfully developed products. Our collaborative partners may also have or acquire rights to control aspects of our product development and clinical programs. As a result, we may not be able to conduct these programs in the manner or on the time schedule we currently contemplate. In addition, if any of these collaborative partners withdraw support for our programs or product candidates or otherwise impair their development, our business could be negatively affected. To the extent we undertake any of these activities internally, our expenses may increase.

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In addition, our success depends on the performance of our collaborators of their responsibilities under these arrangements. Some potential collaborators may not perform their obligations in a timely fashion or in a manner satisfactory to us.

We will rely on third parties to manufacture our product candidates. There can be no guarantee that we can obtain sufficient and acceptable quantities of our product candidates on acceptable terms, which may delay or impair our ability to develop, test and market such products.

Our business strategy relies on third parties to manufacture and produce our product candidates and the catheters used to deliver the products in accordance with good manufacturing practices established by the FDA. These third party manufacturers are subject to extensive government regulation and must receive FDA approval before they can produce clinical material or commercial product.

Our product candidates may be in competition with other products for access to these facilities and may be subject to delays in manufacture if third parties give other products greater priority than our product candidates. These third parties also may not deliver sufficient quantities of our product candidates, manufacture our product candidates in accordance with specifications, or comply with applicable government regulations. Successful large-scale manufacturing of gene-based therapy products has been shown by very few companies, and it is anticipated that significant process development changes will be necessary for the commercial process.

Additionally, if the manufactured products fail to perform as specified, our business and reputation could be severely impacted. Our product materials will be produced by a third party collaborator, and we expect to enter into a manufacturing agreement for the production of additional product materials for anticipated clinical trials and initial commercial use. If any manufacturing agreement is terminated or any third party collaborator experiences a significant problem that could result in a delay or interruption in the supply of product materials to us, there are very few contract manufacturers who currently have the capability to produce our product candidates on acceptable terms, or on a timely and cost-effective basis. There can be no assurance that manufacturers on whom we will depend will be able to successfully produce our product candidates on acceptable terms, or on a timely or cost-effective basis. There can also be no assurance that manufacturers will be able to manufacture our products in accordance with our product specifications. We must have sufficient and acceptable quantities of our product materials to conduct our clinical trials and to market our product candidates, if and when such products have been approved by the FDA for marketing. If we are unable to obtain sufficient and acceptable quantities of our product material, we may be required to delay the clinical testing and marketing of our products.

If we do not comply with applicable regulatory requirements in the manufacture and distribution of our product candidates, we may incur penalties that may inhibit our ability to commercialize our products and adversely affect our revenue.

Our failure or the failure of our potential collaborators or third party manufacturers to comply with applicable FDA or other regulatory requirements including manufacturing, quality control, labeling, safety surveillance, promoting and reporting may result in criminal prosecution, civil penalties, recall or seizure of our products, total or partial suspension of production or an injunction, as well as other regulatory action against our product candidates or us. Discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, supplier, manufacturer or facility may result in restrictions on the sale of our products, including a withdrawal of such products from the market. The occurrence of any of these events would negatively impact our business and results of operations.

If we are unable to create and maintain sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to perform those functions, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates.

We currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities. Therefore, to commercialize our product candidates, if and when such products have been approved and are ready for marketing, we expect to collaborate with third parties to perform these functions.

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We have no experience in developing, training or managing a sales force and will incur substantial additional expenses if we are forced to market our future products directly. Developing a marketing and sales force is also time consuming and could delay launch of our future products. In addition, we will compete with many companies that currently have extensive and well-funded marketing and sales operations. Our marketing and sales efforts may be unable to compete successfully against these companies.

If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel and advisors, it may adversely affect our ability to obtain financing, pursue collaborations or develop our product candidates.

Our future success depends on our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management and scientific and regulatory personnel and advisors. To pursue our business strategy, we will need to hire or otherwise engage qualified scientific personnel and managers, including personnel with expertise in clinical trials, government regulation and manufacturing. Competition for qualified personnel is intense among companies, academic institutions and other organizations. If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel and advisors, it may negatively affect our ability to successfully develop, test and commercialize our product candidates.

We will use hazardous and biological materials in our business. Any claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of these materials could be time consuming and costly.

Our products and processes will involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of certain hazardous and biological materials and waste products. We and our suppliers and other collaborators are subject to federal, state and local regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of materials and waste products. Even if we and these suppliers and collaborators comply with the standards prescribed by law and regulation, the risk of accidental contamination or injury from hazardous materials cannot be completely eliminated. In the event of an accident, we could be held liable for any damages that result, and any liability could exceed the limits or fall outside the coverage of any insurance we may obtain and exceed our financial resources. We may not be able to maintain insurance on acceptable terms, or at all. We may incur significant costs to comply with current or future environmental laws and regulations.

Future acquisitions could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition.

To remain competitive, we may decide to acquire additional businesses, products and technologies. As we have limited experience in evaluating and completing acquisitions, our ability as an organization to make such acquisitions is unproven. Acquisitions could require significant capital infusions and could involve many risks, including, but not limited to, the following:

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To the extent we enter markets outside the United States, our business will be subject to political, economic, legal and social risks in those markets, which could adversely affect our business.

There are significant regulatory and legal barriers in markets outside the United States that we must overcome to the extent we enter or attempt to enter markets in countries other than the United States. We will be subject to the burden of complying with a wide variety of national and local laws, including multiple and possibly overlapping and conflicting laws. We also may experience difficulties adapting to new cultures, business customs and legal systems. Any sales and operations outside the United States would be subject to political, economic and social uncertainties including, among others:

Any changes related to these and other factors could adversely affect our business to the extent we enter markets outside the United States.

Negative public opinion and increased regulatory scrutiny of gene therapy and genetic research may adversely affect our ability to conduct our business or obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates.

Ethical, social and legal concerns about gene therapy and genetic research could result in additional regulations restricting or prohibiting our products and processes we may use. More restrictive government regulations or negative public opinion may have a negative effect on our business or financial condition and may delay or impair the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

We are subject to significant government regulation with respect to our product candidates. Compliance with government regulation can be a costly and time-consuming process, with no assurance of ultimate regulatory approval. If these approvals are not obtained, we will not be able to sell our product candidates. To our knowledge, the FDA has not yet approved any gene therapy products.

We and our collaborators are subject to extensive and rigorous government regulation in the United States and abroad. The FDA, the National Institute of Health and comparable agencies in foreign countries impose many requirements on the introduction of new pharmaceutical products through lengthy and detailed clinical testing procedures and other costly and time consuming compliance procedures. These requirements vary widely from country to country and make it difficult to estimate when our product candidates will be commercially available, if at all. In addition, DNA-based therapies such as those being developed by us are relatively new and are only beginning to be tested in humans. Regulatory authorities may require us or our potential collaborators to demonstrate that our products are improved treatments relative to other therapies or may significantly modify the requirements governing gene therapies, which could result in regulatory delays or rejections. If we are delayed or fail to obtain required approvals for our product candidates, our operations and financial condition would be damaged. Neither we nor our potential commercialization partners may sell our products without applicable regulatory approvals. Numerous regulations in the United States and abroad also govern the manufacturing, safety, labeling, storage, record keeping, reporting and marketing of our product candidates. Compliance with these regulatory requirements is time consuming and expensive. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements, either before approval or in marketing our products after approval, we could be subject to regulatory or judicial enforcement actions. These actions could result in withdrawal of existing approvals, product recalls, injunctions, civil penalties, criminal prosecution, and enhanced exposure to product liabilities.

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We cannot assure you that our product candidates will prove safe and effective in clinical trials and will meet all of the applicable regulatory requirements needed to receive regulatory approval. We or a partner will need to conduct significant research, pre-clinical testing and clinical trials before we can file product approval applications with the FDA and similar regulatory authorities in other countries. Preclinical testing and clinical trials are long, expensive and uncertain processes. We may spend several years completing our testing for any particular product candidate, and failure can occur at any stage.

Even if we achieve positive results in early clinical trials, these results do not necessarily predict final results. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after achieving positive results in earlier trials. Negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events during a clinical trial could cause the FDA or us to terminate a clinical trial or require that we repeat a clinical trial.

We face intense competition and must cope with rapid technological change, which may adversely affect our financial condition and/or our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates.

Our competitors and potential competitors include large pharmaceutical and medical device companies and more established biotechnology companies. These companies have significantly greater financial and other resources and greater expertise than us in research and development, manufacturing, pre-clinical and clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing. This may make it easier for them to respond more quickly than us to new or changing opportunities, technologies or market needs. Small companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large pharmaceutical companies or through acquisition or development of intellectual property rights. Our larger competitors may be able to devote greater resources to research and development, marketing, distribution and other activities that could provide them with a competitive advantage. Many of these competitors operate large, well-funded research and development programs and have significant products approved or in development. Our potential competitors also include academic institutions, governmental agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for product and clinical development and marketing.

We are engaged in DNA-based therapy. Our industry is characterized by extensive research and development, rapid technological change, frequent innovations and new product introductions, and evolving industry standards. Existing products and therapies to treat vascular and cardiovascular disease, including drugs and surgical procedures, will compete directly with the products that we are seeking to develop and market. In addition, our competitors may develop more effective or more affordable products, or achieve earlier patent protection or product commercialization and market penetration than us. As these competitors develop their technologies, they may develop proprietary positions that prevent us from successfully commercializing our future products. To be successful, we must be able to adapt to rapidly changing technologies by continually enhancing our products and introducing new products. If we are unable to adapt, products and technologies developed by our competitors may render our product candidates uneconomical or obsolete, and we may not be successful in marketing our product candidates against competitors. We may never be able to capture and maintain the market share necessary for growth and profitability and there is no guarantee we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors.

Changes and reforms in the health care system or reimbursement policies may adversely affect the sale of our future products or our ability to obtain an adequate level of reimbursement or acceptable prices for our future products.

We currently have no products approved for marketing. Our ability to earn sufficient returns on our future products, if and when such products are approved and ready for marketing, will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for our products and related treatments will be available from government health

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administration authorities, private health coverage insurers, managed care organizations and other third-party payers. If we fail to obtain appropriate reimbursement, it could prevent us from successfully commercializing our future products.

There have been and continue to be efforts by governmental and third-party payers to contain or reduce the costs of health care through various means, including limiting coverage and the level of reimbursement. We expect that there will continue to be a number of legislative proposals to implement government controls and other reforms to limit coverage and reimbursement. The announcement of these proposals or reforms could impair our ability to raise capital. The adoption of these proposals or reforms could impair our operations and financial condition.

Additionally, third-party payers, including Medicare, are increasingly challenging the price of medical products and services and are limiting the reimbursement levels offered to consumers for these medical products and services. If purchasers or users of our future products are not able to obtain adequate reimbursement from third-party payers for the cost of using these products, they may forego or reduce their use. Significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved health care products, including gene therapy treatments, and whether adequate third-party coverage will be available.

If our product candidates are not effectively protected by valid, issued patents or if we are not otherwise able to protect our proprietary information, it could harm our business.

The success of our operations will depend in part on our ability and that of our licensors to: obtain patent protection for our methods of gene therapy, therapeutic genes and/or gene-delivery methods both in the United States and in other countries with substantial markets; defend patents once obtained; maintain trade secrets and operate without infringing upon the patents and proprietary rights of others; and obtain appropriate licenses upon reasonable terms to patents or proprietary rights held by others that are necessary or useful to us in commercializing our technology, both in the United States and in other countries with substantial markets.

If we are not able to maintain adequate patent protection for our product candidates, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from using our technology or technology that we license.

The patent positions of gene therapy technologies such as those being developed by us and our collaborators involve complex legal and factual uncertainties. As a result, we cannot be certain that we or our collaborators will be able to obtain adequate patent protection for our product candidates. There can be no assurance that (i) any patents will be issued from any pending or future patent applications of ours or our collaborators; (ii) the scope of any patent protection will be sufficient to provide us with competitive advantages; (iii) any patents obtained by us or our collaborators will be held valid if subsequently challenged; or (iv) others will not claim rights in or ownership of the patents and other proprietary rights we or our collaborators may hold. Unauthorized parties may try to copy aspects of our products and technologies or obtain and use information we consider proprietary. Policing the unauthorized use of our proprietary rights is difficult. We cannot guarantee that no harm or threat will be made to our or our collaborators’ intellectual property. In addition, changes in, or different interpretations of, patent laws in the United States and other countries may also adversely affect the scope of our patent protection and our competitive situation.

Due to the significant time lag between the filing of patent applications and the publication of such patents, we cannot be certain that our anticipated licensors were the first to file the patent applications we intend to license or, even if they were the first to file, also were the first to invent, particularly with regards to patent rights in the United States. In addition, a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research and academic institutions have developed technologies, filed patent applications or received patents on various technologies that may be related to our operations. Some of these technologies, applications or patents may conflict with our or our licensors’ technologies or patent applications. A conflict could limit the scope of the patents, if any, that we or our licensors may be able to obtain or result in denial of our or our licensors’ patent applications. If patents that cover our activities are issued to other companies, we may not be able to develop or obtain alternative technology.

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Patents issued and patent applications filed internationally relating to gene therapy are numerous, and we cannot assure you that current and potential competitors or other third parties have not filed or received, or will not file or receive applications in the future for patents or obtain additional proprietary rights relating to products or processes used or proposed to be used by us.

Additionally, there is certain subject matter which is patentable in the United States but not generally patentable outside of the United States. Differences in what constitutes patentable subject matter in various countries may limit the protection we can obtain outside of the United States. For example, methods of treating humans are not patentable in many countries outside of the United States. These and other issues may prevent us from obtaining patent protection outside of the United States, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to costly claims, and, if we are unsuccessful in resolving conflicts regarding patent rights, we may be prevented from developing or commercializing our product candidates.

There has been, and will likely continue to be, substantial litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology industry. As the biotechnology industry expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our processes and product candidates may give rise to claims that they infringe on the patents of others. Others could bring legal actions against us claiming damages and seeking to stop clinical testing, manufacturing and marketing of the affected product or use of the affected process. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our or our licensors’ proprietary rights or to determine the enforceability, scope and validity of proprietary rights of others. If we become involved in litigation, it could be costly and divert our efforts and resources. In addition, if any of our competitors file patent applications in the United States claiming technology also invented by us or our licensors, we may need to participate in interference proceedings held by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention and the right to a patent for the technology. Like litigation, interference proceedings can be lengthy and often result in substantial costs and diversion of resources.

Collateral Therapeutics has assisted the University of California, as the licensor, in one such interference proceeding involving the University of California’s technology for cardiovascular gene therapy and a pending patent application filed by Jeffrey Leiden et al. (a U.S. counterpart of international application PCT/US93/11133, which published as WO94/11506). In a related matter, Collateral Therapeutics successfully opposed a European counterpart to the Leiden PCT application (EP-B-668913), which led to a decision to revoke their patent grant in Europe. However, the patentee, Arch Development Corporation, has appealed from the decision against them. If the interference, opposition or other adverse proceedings were to ultimately be decided adversely, we may be compelled to seek a license to the Leiden technology, which may not be available on terms that we find commercially reasonable. In addition, such proceedings, even if decided in our favor, involve a lengthy process, are subject to appeal, and typically result in substantial costs and diversion of resources.

As more potentially competing patent applications are filed, and as more patents are actually issued, in the field of gene therapy and with respect to component methods or compositions that we may employ, the risk increases that we or our licensors may be subjected to litigation or other proceedings that claim damages or seek to stop our product development or commercialization efforts. Even if such patent applications or patents are ultimately proven to be invalid, unenforceable or non-infringed, such proceedings are generally expensive and time consuming and could consume a significant portion of our resources and substantially impair our product development efforts.

If there were an adverse outcome of any litigation or interference proceeding, we could have a potential liability for significant damages. In addition, we could be required to obtain a license to continue to make or market the affected product or use the affected process. Costs of a license may be substantial and could include ongoing royalties. We may not be able to obtain such a license on acceptable terms, or at all.

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We may not have adequate protection for our unpatented proprietary information, which could adversely affect our competitive position.

We will substantially rely on trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our competitive position. However, others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or disclose our technology. To protect our trade secrets, we may enter into confidentiality agreements with employees, consultants and potential collaborators. However, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection of our trade secrets or adequate remedies in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information. Likewise, our trade secrets or know-how may become known through other means or be independently discovered by our competitors. Any of these events could prevent us from developing or commercializing our product candidates.

We face the risk of product liability claims, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Our operations will expose us to product liability risks that are inherent in the testing, manufacturing and marketing of gene therapy products. Failure to obtain sufficient product liability insurance or otherwise protect against product liability claims could prevent or delay the commercialization of our product candidates or negatively affect our financial condition. Regardless of the merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in withdrawal of product candidates from clinical trials, costs of litigation, damage to our reputation, substantial monetary awards to plaintiffs and decreased demand for products.

Product liability may result from harm to patients using our products, a complication that was either not communicated as a potential side-effect or was more extreme than communicated. We will require all patients enrolled in our clinical trials to sign consents, which explain the risks involved with participating in the trial. The consents, however, provide only a limited level of protection, and product liability insurance will be required. Additionally, we will indemnify the clinical centers and related parties in connection with losses they may incur through their involvement in the clinical trials. We may not be able to obtain or maintain product liability insurance on acceptable terms or with adequate coverage against potential liabilities.

The price of our common stock is expected to be volatile and an investment in our common stock could decline in value.

The market price of our common stock, and the market prices for securities of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in general, are expected to be highly volatile. The following factors, in addition to other risk factors described in this prospectus, and the potentially low volume of trades in our common stock, may have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock, some of which are beyond our control:

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The stock market in general has recently experienced relatively large price and volume fluctuations. In particular, market prices of securities of biotechnology and medical device companies have experienced fluctuations that often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating results of these companies. Continued market fluctuations could result in extreme volatility in the price of the common stock, which could cause a decline in the value of the common stock. Prospective investors should also be aware that price volatility may be worse if the trading volume of the common stock is low