Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risk factors discussed in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and all other information contained in this report, before making an investment decision. If any of the risks discussed in this report actually occur, they may materially harm our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows or growth prospects. As a result, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not yet identified or that we think are immaterial may also materially harm our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows or growth prospects and could result in a complete loss of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and may not be able to achieve profitability.

        We have incurred net losses since our inception in 2003. We had a net loss of $8.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, and $26.6 million and $18.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As of March 31, 2016, we had an accumulated deficit of $131.5 million. To date, we have financed our operations primarily through private placements of our equity securities, certain debt-related financing arrangements and from sales of our approved products. We have devoted substantially all of our resources to research and development of our products, sales and marketing activities and clinical and regulatory initiatives to obtain approvals for our products. Our ability to generate sufficient revenue from our existing products or from any of our product candidates in development, and to transition to profitability and generate consistent positive cash flows is uncertain. We expect that our operating expenses will continue to increase as we continue to build our commercial infrastructure, develop, enhance and commercialize new products and incur additional operational and reporting costs associated with being a public company. As a result, we expect to continue to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve profitability.

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All of our revenue is generated from our PROPEL and PROPEL mini steroid releasing implants and we are completely dependent on the success of these products. If these products fail to gain widespread market acceptance, our business will suffer.

We started selling PROPEL in August 2011 and PROPEL mini in November 2012. We expect that sales of these products will account for substantially all of our revenue for the foreseeable future and therefore our ability to become profitable will depend upon the commercial success of these products. We market these products primarily to ear, nose and throat, or ENT, physicians who may be slow, or fail to adopt our products or who may use our products in only a small percentage of their patients undergoing sinus surgery for a variety of reasons, including, among others:

If we are unable to effectively demonstrate to ENT physicians the benefits of our products when used during sinus surgery and our products fail to achieve market acceptance, our future revenue will be adversely impacted.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with our commercialization efforts, we are unable to predict the extent to which we will continue to generate revenue from our products or the timing for when or the extent to which we will become profitable. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on an ongoing basis.

Pricing pressure from our hospital and ambulatory surgery center customers due to limited coverage and reimbursement for our products may impact our ability to sell our products at prices necessary to support our current business strategies.

Hospital and other healthcare provider customers, including ambulatory surgery centers, that purchase our products typically bill various third-party payors to cover all or a portion of the costs and fees associated with the sinus surgery procedures in which our products are used and bill patients for any deductibles or co-payments. Because there is often no separate reimbursement for supplies used in surgical procedures, the additional cost associated with the use of our steroid releasing implants can impact the profit margin of the hospital or surgery center where the sinus surgery is performed. Some of our target customers may be unwilling to adopt our steroid releasing implants in light of the additional associated cost. Further, any decline in the amount payors are willing to reimburse our customers for sinus surgery procedures could make it difficult for existing customers to continue using, or adopt, our steroid releasing implants and could create additional pricing pressure for us. If we are forced to lower the price we charge for our products, our gross margins will decrease, which will adversely affect our ability to invest in and grow our business.

We are actively seeking new billing codes for our products and the procedure associated with their use, including codes that are established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, and the American Medical Association, or AMA. Our ability to obtain new billing codes will depend, in part, on support from the ENT community and physician acceptance of our technology. Although obtaining billing codes may result in payment amounts that better reflect the costs and resources of our products and related procedure, there is a possibility that they may not do so.

We cannot assure you that we will be successful in garnering the necessary support for new codes from the ENT community or from third-party payors, who are responsible for determining which billing codes are to be used for procedures performed on their insured population. Even if we are able to establish reimbursement codes for our products, we will continue to be subject to significant pricing pressure, which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Our future growth depends on physician awareness and adoption of our steroid releasing implants.

We focus our sales, marketing and education efforts primarily on ENT physicians. We train physicians on the patient population that would benefit from our steroid releasing implants. This patient population is based on those included in our clinical studies and includes, for example, patients with or without polyps as well as patients undergoing either primary or revision surgery. Some physicians may choose to utilize our products on a subset of their patients such as patients with severe polyp disease that they deem at higher risk for postoperative complications. If we are not able to effectively demonstrate to those physicians that our products are beneficial in a broad range of patients on which they operate, their adoption of our products will be limited.

We train our physician customers on the proper techniques in using our devices to achieve the intended outcome. The successful use of our steroid releasing implants depends in large part on the physician’s adherence to the techniques that they are provided in training by our sales representatives. In the event that physicians do not adhere to these techniques or if they perceive that our products are too cumbersome for them to use, we may have difficulty facilitating adoption. Additionally, physicians may develop their own techniques for use of our products during insertion and during the period in which the drug is delivered and is bioabsorbed. For example, we are aware some physicians are removing our steroid releasing implants before all of the drug has been released into the

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surrounding tissue. While physicians were allowed to remove the implant at any time at their discretion in our clinical studies, early removal could lead to suboptimal outcomes. In addition, if physicians utilize our products in a manner that is inconsistent with how they were studied clinically, their outcomes may not be consistent with the outcomes achieved in our clinical studies, which may impact their perception of patient benefit and limit their adoption of our products.

In addition, the initial point of contact for many patients suffering from chronic sinusitis may be primary care physicians or other referring medical professionals who commonly treat patients experiencing sinus-related symptoms or complications. We believe that we must educate these primary care physicians and other referring medical professionals about our steroid releasing implants in order to grow the market beyond the over 3.5 million patients with chronic sinusitis who are currently managed by ENT physicians. If we fail to do so, these primary care physicians and other referring medical professionals may not refer patients to an ENT physician who will perform sinus surgery and use our steroid releasing implants. As a result, those patients may go untreated, attempt to manage their sinusitis through medical management alone or seek alternative surgical procedures. If we are not successful in educating primary care physicians and other referring medical professionals about our steroid releasing implants, our ability to increase our revenue may be impaired.

Our clinical studies were designed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of PROPEL based on FDA requirements and may not be seen as compelling to physicians. Any subsequent clinical studies that are conducted and published may not be positive or consistent with our existing data, which would affect the rate of adoption of PROPEL.

Our success depends on the medical community’s acceptance of our steroid releasing implants as tools that are useful to ENT physicians treating patients with chronic sinusitis. We have sponsored three multicenter, prospective studies of over 200 patients to track outcomes of treatment with our steroid releasing implants, which clinical data has resulted in the highest level of evidence generated for any product used in sinus surgery. The principal safety and efficacy information of our steroid releasing implants is derived from the ADVANCE II study, a prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled, double-blind, pivotal study that was completed in September 2010. We also sponsored the ADVANCE study, a prospective, multicenter, single-cohort, open-label trial completed in December 2009 and the PROPEL Pilot Study, a prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled, double-blind feasibility study completed in April 2009. While the results of these three studies collectively indicate a favorable safety and efficacy profile, the study designs and results may not be viewed as compelling to our physician customers. If physicians do not find our data compelling, they may choose not to use our products or limit their use. Our PROPEL Pilot study and ADVANCE II study incorporated an intra-patient control design comparing PROPEL to a non-drug releasing control version of the implant in order to maintain blinding. Primary efficacy endpoints for these two studies were measured at 30 days after placement as we believe that proper healing in the immediate postoperative period is indicative of long-term outcomes. Additionally, it was important to allow for medical intervention after day 30 given one sinus side of each patient had the control device. Clinical efficacy demonstrated at this short-term endpoint does not guarantee long-term clinical benefits. Our ADVANCE study measured patient symptom improvements out to six months. The long-term effects of sinus surgery in conjunction with our steroid releasing implants beyond six months are not known. Certain ENT physicians, hospitals and surgery centers may prefer to see longer term efficacy data than we have produced. We cannot assure you that any data that we or others generate will be consistent with that observed in these studies or meet the endpoints, nor that the results will be maintained beyond the time points studied. We also cannot assure you that any data that may be collected will be compelling to the medical community because the data may not be scientifically meaningful and may not demonstrate that sinus surgery using our steroid releasing implants is an attractive procedure when compared against data from alternative treatments.

Each ENT physician’s individual experience with our steroid releasing implants will vary, and we believe that physicians will compare actual long-term outcomes in their own practices using our steroid releasing implants against sinus surgery used in conjunction with traditional sinus packing techniques. A long-term, adequately-controlled clinical study comparing sinus surgery performed in conjunction with our steroid releasing implants against sinus surgery performed in conjunction with the variety of traditional sinus packing techniques incorporated by physicians would be expensive and time-consuming and we have not conducted, and are not currently planning to conduct, such a study. If the experience of physicians indicates that the use of our steroid releasing implants in FESS is not as safe or efficacious as other treatment options or does not provide a lasting solution to patients with chronic sinusitis, adoption of our products may suffer and our business would be harmed.

We utilize third-party, single source suppliers and service providers for many of the components, materials and services used in the production of our steroid releasing implants, and the loss of or disruption by any of these suppliers or service providers could harm our business.

        The active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, and a number of our critical components used in our steroid releasing implants are supplied to us from single source suppliers. We rely on single source suppliers for some of our polymer materials, some extrusions and molded components, some off-the-shelf components and for finished goods testing. If a supplier delivers products of insufficient quality, it could lead to lot issues, failures or recalls. Our ability to supply our products commercially and to develop our product candidates depends, in part, on our ability to obtain these components in accordance with regulatory requirements and in sufficient quantities and quality for commercialization and clinical testing. We have entered into manufacturing, supply or quality agreements with a number of our single source suppliers pursuant to which they supply the components we need. We are not certain that our single source suppliers will be able to meet our demand for their products, either because of the nature of our agreements with those suppliers, our limited experience with those suppliers or our relative importance as a customer to those suppliers. It may be difficult for us to assess their ability to timely meet our demand in the future based on past performance. While our suppliers have generally met our demand for their products on a timely basis in the past, they may subordinate our needs in the future to their other customers.

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Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for the API or any of the components or processes used in our products, if required, may not be accomplished quickly. If we are able to find a replacement supplier, the replacement supplier would need to be qualified and may require additional regulatory authority approval, which could result in further delay. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, could require additional supplemental data if we rely upon a new supplier for the API used in PROPEL and PROPEL mini. While we seek to maintain adequate inventory of the single source components and materials used in our products, any interruption or delay in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain components or materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers and cause them to cancel orders.

If our third-party suppliers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of materials, on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices, and we are unable to find one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost in substantially equivalent volumes and quality, and on a timely basis, the continued commercialization of our products and the development of our product candidates would be impeded, delayed, limited or prevented, which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

It is difficult to forecast future performance, which may cause our financial results to fluctuate unpredictably.

Our limited operating history and commercial experience make it difficult for us to predict future performance. As we gain additional commercial experience, a number of factors over which we have limited control may contribute to fluctuations in our financial results, such as seasonal variations in revenue. In the first quarter, our results can be impacted by adverse weather and by resetting of annual patient healthcare insurance plan deductibles, both of which may cause patients to delay elective procedures such as FESS. In the second quarter, demand may be impacted by the seasonal nature of allergies, the resultant onset of sinus-related symptoms and the growth of high deductible insurance plans which may cause patients to delay or decline elective surgery until their deductible is met later in the year. In the third quarter, the number of FESS procedures nationwide is historically lower than other quarters throughout the year, which we believe is attributable to the summer vacations of ENT physicians and their patients. In the fourth quarter, demand may be impacted by the onset of the cold and flu season and related symptoms, as well as the desire of patients to spend their remaining balances in flexible-spending accounts or because they have met their annual deductibles under their health insurance plans. Other factors that may impact our quarterly results include:

In the event our actual revenue and operating results do not meet our forecasts for a particular period, the market price of our common stock may decline substantially.

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Our long-term growth depends on our ability to develop and commercialize additional ENT products.

It is important to our business that we continue to build a more complete product offering within the ENT market. We are using our drug releasing bioabsorbable implant technology to develop new products for use in the physician office setting. Developing additional products is expensive and time-consuming and could divert management’s attention away from our current sinus surgery products and harm our business. Even if we are successful in developing additional products, including those currently in development for use in the physician office setting, the success of any new product offering or enhancement to an existing product will depend on several factors, including our ability to:

If we are unsuccessful in developing and commercializing additional products in other areas of ENT, our ability to increase our revenue may be impaired.

If clinical studies of our future products or product indications do not produce results necessary to support regulatory clearance or approval in the United States or, with respect to our current or future products, elsewhere, we will be unable to commercialize these products.

We will likely need to conduct additional clinical studies in the future to support new product or product indication approvals, or for the approval of the use of our products in some foreign countries. Clinical testing takes many years, is expensive and carries uncertain outcomes. The initiation and completion of any of these studies may be prevented, delayed, or halted for numerous reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:

        Clinical failure can occur at any stage of the testing. Our clinical studies may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical and non-clinical testing in addition to those we have planned. Our failure to adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of any of our devices would prevent receipt of regulatory clearance or approval and, ultimately, the commercialization of that device or indication for use. Even if our future products are approved in the

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United States, commercialization of our products in foreign countries would require approval by regulatory authorities in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Consolidation in the healthcare industry could lead to demands for price concessions, which may impact our ability to sell our products at prices necessary to support our current business strategies.

Healthcare costs have risen significantly over the past decade, which has driven numerous cost reform initiatives by legislators, regulators and third-party payors. A typical FESS procedure is paid at a Medicare rate of approximately $10,000. Private insurer payment rates average 139 percent of Medicare rates nationally. Cost reform has elicited a consolidation trend in the healthcare industry to aggregate purchasing power, which may create more requests for pricing concessions in the future. Additionally, group purchasing organizations, independent delivery networks and large single accounts may continue to use their market power to consolidate purchasing decisions for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. We expect that market demand, government regulation, third-party coverage and reimbursement policies and societal pressures will continue to change the healthcare industry worldwide, resulting in further business consolidations and alliances among our customers, which may exert further downward pressure on the prices of our products and may adversely impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We compete or may compete in the future against other companies, some of which have longer operating histories, more established products and greater resources, which may prevent us from achieving significant market penetration or improved operating results.

Our industry is highly competitive, subject to change and significantly affected by new product introductions and other activities of industry participants. Many of the companies developing or marketing ENT products are publicly traded companies, including Medtronic, Olympus, Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, Smith & Nephew and Entellus. Most of these companies enjoy several competitive advantages, including:

Because of the size of the market opportunity for the treatment of chronic sinusitis, we believe potential competitors have historically dedicated and will continue to dedicate significant resources to aggressively promote their products or develop new products. New product developments that could compete more effectively with our products are possible because of the prevalence of chronic sinusitis and the extensive research efforts and technological progress that exist within the market. Large medical device companies with ENT divisions, such as Medtronic, also have capability in drug releasing stents and smaller companies may develop competing products. Though we are not aware of any such products to date, these or other companies may develop drug releasing products that could compete with our products.

Our commercially available products are designed to be used during sinus surgery. If another company successfully develops an approach for the treatment of chronic sinusitis that would not benefit from the use of our steroid releasing implants, if another company develops a device to treat the inflammation and scarring associated with sinus surgery that is more efficacious than our steroid releasing implants, or if a pharmaceutical company successfully develops a drug that addresses chronic sinusitis without the need for surgical intervention, sales of our products would be significantly and adversely affected.

If physicians treat more patients in their offices instead of performing surgery in the operating room, our ability to sell PROPEL may be harmed

The prevalence of sinus procedures being performed in the office has increased since sinus dilation products for use in the office setting received category one reimbursement codes in 2011. As a result, the number of companies selling sinus dilation products has increased and well-known companies such as Medtronic, Entellus and Johnson & Johnson have begun to sell sinus dilation products. This has led to increased marketing investments to sell these sinus dilation products in an attempt to not only grow the overall sinus procedure market but also to shift procedures from the operating room to the office. If more patients are treated for chronic sinusitis in a physician’s office with a sinus dilation product rather than through FESS procedures in the operating room, the volume of FESS procedures performed may not grow as anticipated and our ability to sell our products may be harmed.

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We face the risk of product liability claims that could be expensive, divert management’s attention and harm our reputation and business. We may not be able to maintain adequate product liability insurance.

Our business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that are inherent in the testing, manufacturing and marketing of medical devices and drug products. This risk exists even if a device or product is approved for commercial sale by the FDA and manufactured in facilities licensed and regulated by the FDA, such as the case with PROPEL and PROPEL mini, or an applicable foreign regulatory authority. Our products and product candidates are designed to affect important bodily functions and processes. Any side effects, manufacturing defects, misuse or abuse associated with our products or our product candidates could result in patient injury or death. The medical device industry has historically been subject to extensive litigation over product liability claims, and we cannot offer any assurance that we will not face product liability suits. We may be subject to product liability claims if our steroid releasing implants cause, or merely appear to have caused, patient injury or death. In addition, an injury that is caused by the activities of our suppliers, such as those who provide us with components and raw materials, may be the basis for a claim against us. Product liability claims may be brought against us by consumers, health care providers or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products or product candidates, among others. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we will incur substantial liabilities and reputational harm. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

While we may attempt to manage our product liability exposure by proactively recalling or withdrawing from the market any defective products, any recall or market withdrawal of our products may delay the supply of those products to our customers and may impact our reputation. We can provide no assurance that we will be successful in initiating appropriate market recall or market withdrawal efforts that may be required in the future or that these efforts will have the intended effect of preventing product malfunctions and the accompanying product liability that may result. Such recalls and withdrawals may also be used by our competitors to harm our reputation for safety or be perceived by patients as a safety risk when considering the use of our products, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition, although we have product liability and clinical study liability insurance that we believe is appropriate, this insurance is subject to deductibles and coverage limitations. Our current product liability insurance may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all, and, if available, coverage may not be adequate to protect us against any future product liability claims. If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms with adequate coverage or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we will be exposed to significant liabilities, which may harm our business. A product liability claim, recall or other claim with respect to uninsured liabilities or for amounts in excess of insured liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our image in the marketplace, result in injuries that lead to product liability suits or result in costly investigations and sanctions by regulatory bodies if we are deemed to have engaged in the promotion of these uses, any of which could be costly to our business.

The products we currently market have been approved by the FDA for specific treatments. We train our marketing and direct sales force to not promote our products for uses outside of the FDA-approved indications for use, known as “off-label uses.” We cannot, however, prevent a physician from using our products off-label, when in the physician’s independent professional medical judgment he or she deems it appropriate. There may be increased risk of injury to patients if physicians attempt to use our products off-label. Furthermore, the use of our products for indications other than those approved by the FDA or any foreign regulatory body may not effectively treat such conditions, which could harm our reputation in the marketplace among physicians and patients.

        Physicians may also misuse our products or use improper techniques if they are not adequately trained, potentially leading to injury and an increased risk of product liability. If our products are misused or used with improper technique, we may become subject to costly litigation by our customers or their patients. Product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend, and result in sizable damage awards against us that may not be covered by insurance. In addition, if the FDA or any foreign regulatory body determines that our promotional materials or training constitute promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the

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issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our business activities to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant penalties, including, but not limited to, criminal, civil and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, and the curtailment of our operations. Any of these events could significantly harm our business and results of operations and cause our stock price to decline.

Our ability to maintain our competitive position depends on our ability to attract and retain highly qualified personnel.

We believe that our continued success depends, to a significant extent, upon the efforts and abilities of our key executives. All of our executive officers and other employees are at-will employees, and therefore may terminate employment with us at any time with no advance notice. The replacement of any of our key personnel likely would involve significant time and costs and may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives and would harm our business.

Our future success also depends on our ability to continue to attract and retain our executive officers and other key employees. Many of our employees have become or will soon become vested in a substantial amount of stock or number of stock options. Our employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares or the exercise prices of the options, or if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly below the market price of our common stock. Further, our employees’ ability to exercise those options and sell their stock in a public market may result in a higher than normal turnover rate. We do not carry any “key person” insurance policies.

If our facilities or the facility of a supplier or customer become inoperable, we will be unable to continue to research, develop, manufacture, commercialize and sell our products and, as a result, our business will be harmed until we are able to secure a new facility.

We do not have redundant facilities. We perform substantially all of our research and development, manufacturing and commercialization activity and maintain all our raw material and finished goods inventory in a single location in Menlo Park, California. Menlo Park is situated on or near earthquake fault lines. Our facility and equipment would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to repair or replace. The facility may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including, but not limited to, earthquakes, flooding, fire, water shortages and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to perform our research, development, manufacturing and commercialization activities for some period of time. The inability to perform those activities, combined with our limited inventory of raw materials and finished product reserve, may result in the inability to continue manufacturing our products during such periods and the loss of customers or harm to our reputation. Although we possess insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and this insurance may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. The occurrence of natural disasters or acts of terrorism could also cause delays in our customers’ supply chain, causing them to delay their requirements for our products until they resolve shortages from their other suppliers. Any such occurrences of natural disasters or acts of terrorism could have a material adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our financial condition.

If we experience significant disruptions in our information technology systems, our business may be adversely affected.

We depend on our information technology systems for the efficient functioning of our business, including accounting, data storage, compliance, purchasing and inventory management. Our current systems provide virtual redundancy but are operated from one physical location in Menlo Park. However, we are in the process of upgrading the level of redundancy for our IT systems. We expect these upgrades to take one to two years to complete. While we will attempt to mitigate interruptions, we may experience difficulties in implementing some upgrades which could impact our business operations, or experience difficulties in operating our business during the upgrade, either of which could disrupt our operations, including our ability to timely ship and track product orders, project inventory requirements, manage our supply chain and otherwise adequately service our customers. In the event we experience significant disruptions, such as natural disasters or security breaches, as a result of the current implementation of our information technology systems, we may not be able to repair our systems in an efficient and timely manner. Accordingly, such events may disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our entire operation and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows.

We are increasingly dependent on sophisticated information technology for our infrastructure. Our information systems require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain, protect and enhance existing systems. Failure to maintain or protect our information systems and data integrity effectively could have a materially adverse effect on our business. For example, third parties may attempt to hack into our information systems and may obtain our proprietary information.

Risks Relating to Regulatory Matters

The existence of adequate coverage and reimbursement is important for sales of our products. Inadequate coverage and reimbursement policies for procedures using our steroid releasing implants could affect the adoption of our products and our future revenue.

        Successful sales of our steroid releasing implants depend on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors for either the products specifically, the procedures associated with the use of the products, or both. Providers that

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purchase our products generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs and fees associated with the procedures performed with these medical devices or the devices themselves. Adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors, including governmental payors, such as Medicare and Medicaid, therefore, is important for obtaining product acceptance and widespread adoption in the marketplace.

In the United States, coverage and reimbursement for medical devices vary among payors. In addition, payors continually review new technologies for possible coverage and can, without notice, deny coverage for these new products and procedures. We estimate that private payors covering a significant number of U.S. covered lives currently have non-coverage policies with respect to PROPEL and PROPEL mini and they consider these products investigational or experimental. Some governmental and private third-party payors do not currently cover or reimburse our products because they have determined insufficient evidence of favorable clinical outcomes is available. Although some consider the steroid releasing implants investigational or experimental at this time, these payors may in the future determine sufficient evidence has been developed to cover and reimburse our products and related procedures. We are actively working to reverse these non-coverage decisions but cannot provide assurance that we will be successful in these efforts. If we are not successful in reversing existing non-coverage policies, or if other third-party payors issue similar policies, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations. Further, third-party payors who currently cover and reimburse customers for procedures using our products may in the future choose to decrease current levels of reimbursement or eliminate reimbursement altogether, either of which will cause our business to suffer.

To contain costs of new technologies, governmental healthcare programs and third-party payors are increasingly scrutinizing new and even existing treatments by requiring extensive evidence of favorable clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness before extending or continuing coverage, respectively. Such evidence generally must be derived from well-designed independent studies and published in peer-reviewed journals. Payors also may be influenced by positive position statements on the value of this technology issued by medical specialty societies. For example, payors may be persuaded to extend coverage by positive clinical data demonstrating the long-term safety and efficacy of FESS performed with our steroid releasing implants against FESS alone. A long-term clinical study randomizing FESS using our products against FESS alone would require an extremely large patient population to demonstrate these differences, and would be expensive and time-consuming. We have not conducted and are not currently planning to conduct such a study. Further, even positive study results do not guarantee adequate third-party payor coverage and reimbursement. Although the American Rhinologic Society has issued a positive position statement regarding the use of our steroid releasing implants, if the society changes its position in an unfavorable manner, third-party payors may reverse existing favorable coverage and reimbursement policies or otherwise decline to adopt favorable policies for our products, either of which will cause our business to suffer.

Generally, third-party payors currently reimburse hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physicians for the FESS procedures during which our technology is implanted using existing Category I Current Procedure Terminology, or CPT, codes relating to the FESS procedures performed. These CPT codes do not currently distinguish between procedures performed with or without our steroid releasing implants. The amount of reimbursement received by our customers from third-party payors is dependent generally on fee schedules established by these payors for the existing FESS CPT codes. For governmental payors, such as Medicare and Medicaid, the fee schedule amount is determined by statutory and regulatory formulas. For commercial payors, the reimbursement amount generally is dependent upon the specific contract terms between the provider and payor. We cannot provide assurance that government or private third-party payors will continue to reimburse for FESS with our products using the existing codes, nor can we provide assurance that the payment rates will be adequate. If providers and physicians are unable to obtain reimbursement for FESS with the use of our products at cost-effective levels, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations. Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers are unlikely to purchase our products if they do not receive payment sufficient to cover the cost of our products and related procedures. In addition, in the event that the current coding and/or payment methodology for these procedures changes, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and business operations.

To secure separate payment for our products, whether for our currently marketed products or those under development, a unique billing code is required for either the implant, the procedure associated with use of our products, or both. Although a unique billing code currently exists for our marketed products, it is not associated with payment by most payors and is not reportable to many payors, including Medicare. In March 2015, the American Medical Association announced the creation of Category III CPT codes for the placement of drug eluting implants as either a stand-alone procedure or in conjunction with sinus biopsy, polypectomy or debridement. These codes could ultimately facilitate payment to the physician when performed in an office setting. As such, these codes are primarily relevant to future in-office product candidates. Many third-party payors consider Category III codes non-covered. Therefore, third-party payors may not cover these in-office products if they become commercially available unless the codes are graduated to Category I status. As of now, it is not possible to assess the full impact of product or procedure-specific codes on our business or results of operations or the likelihood of securing such specific codes. If new product or procedure-specific codes are adopted, and the level of reimbursement declines significantly below current levels, our business and results of operations would be harmed and our stock price would likely decline.

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Healthcare cost containment pressures and legislative or administrative reforms resulting in restrictive reimbursement practices of third-party payors could decrease the demand for our products, the prices that customers are willing to pay and the number of procedures performed using our steroid releasing implants, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

All third-party payors, whether governmental or commercial, whether inside the United States or outside, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. These cost-control methods include prospective payment systems, bundled payment models, capitated arrangements, group purchasing, benefit redesign, pre-authorization processes, and requirements for second opinions prior to major surgery. These cost-control methods also potentially limit the amount that healthcare providers may be willing to pay for medical devices. Therefore, coverage or reimbursement for medical devices may decrease in the future.

Further, from time to time, typically on an annual basis, payment amounts are updated and revised by third-party payors. Because the cost of our products generally is recovered by the healthcare provider as part of the payment for performing a procedure and not separately reimbursed, these updates could directly impact the demand for our products. An example of payment updates is the Medicare program updates to physician payments, which is done on an annual basis using a prescribed statutory formula. In the past, when the application of the formula resulted in lower payment, Congress has passed interim legislation to prevent the reductions. Most recently, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, signed into law in April 2014, provided for a 0.5% update from 2013 payment rates under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule through 2014 and a 0% update from January 1 until March 31, 2015. If Congress fails to intervene to prevent the negative update factor in future years, the resulting decrease in payment may adversely affect our revenue and results of operations. In addition, the Medicare physician fee schedule has been adapted by some private payors into their plan-specific physician payment schedule. We cannot predict how pending and future healthcare legislation will impact our business, and any changes in coverage and reimbursement that further restricts coverage of our products or lowers reimbursement for procedures using our products could materially affect our business.

Reimbursement in international markets may require us to undertake country-specific reimbursement activities, including additional clinical studies, which could be time-consuming and expensive and may not yield acceptable reimbursement rates.

In international markets, market acceptance of our products will likely depend in large part on the availability of reimbursement within prevailing healthcare payment systems. Reimbursement and healthcare payment systems in international markets vary significantly by country, and by region in some countries, and include both government-sponsored healthcare and private insurance. We may not obtain international reimbursement approvals in a timely manner, if at all. In addition, even if we do obtain international reimbursement approvals, the level of reimbursement may not be enough to commercially justify expansion of our business into the approving jurisdiction. To the extent we or our customers are unable to obtain reimbursement for our steroid releasing implants in major international markets in which we seek to market and sell our products, our international revenue growth would be harmed, and our business and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA, and other agencies, including the requirement to obtain approval prior to commercializing our products and the requirement to report adverse events. If we fail to obtain necessary FDA device or drug approvals for our products, or are subject to regulatory enforcement action as a result of our failure to properly report adverse events or otherwise comply with regulatory requirements, our commercial operations would be harmed.

Our steroid releasing implants are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and various other federal, state and foreign governmental authorities. The Premarket Approval, or PMA, and New Drug Application, or NDA, approval processes can be expensive and lengthy. Despite the time, effort and cost required to obtain approval, there can be no assurance that any product that we intend to commercialize in the future will be approved by the FDA in a timely fashion, if at all. For example, we do not have prior experience in obtaining approval of an NDA, which could delay or adversely affect our ability to obtain approval for RESOLVE.

Our currently marketed products are subject to Medical Device Reporting, or MDR, obligations, which require that we report to the FDA any incident in which our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or in which our products malfunctioned and, if the malfunction were to recur, it could likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. In the European Union, our CE marked products are subject to vigilance reporting.

The FDA and state authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:

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If any of these enforcement actions were to be taken by the government, our business could be harmed.

If we materially modify our approved products, we may need to seek and obtain new approvals, which, if not granted, would prevent us from selling our modified products.

A component of our strategy is to continue to modify and upgrade our steroid releasing implants. Medical devices can be marketed only for the indications for which they are approved. We have received a number of PMA supplement approvals since the original approvals of PROPEL and PROPEL mini. We may not be able to obtain additional regulatory approvals for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, our existing products in a timely fashion, or at all. Delays in obtaining future approvals would adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn would harm our revenue and potential future profitability.

We may fail to obtain foreign regulatory approvals to market our products in other countries.

We do not have any sales outside the United States. Sales of our steroid releasing implants outside the United States would be subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. In addition, the FDA regulates exports of medical devices from the United States. Complying with international regulatory requirements can be an expensive and time-consuming process and approval is not certain. The time required to obtain approvals, if required by other countries, may be longer than that required for FDA approvals, and requirements for such approvals may significantly differ from FDA requirements. In certain countries we may rely upon a third-party or third-party distributors to obtain all required regulatory approvals, and these distributors may be unable to obtain or maintain such approvals. Our distributors in these countries may also incur significant costs in attempting to obtain and in maintaining foreign regulatory approvals or qualifications, which could increase the difficulty of attracting and retaining qualified distributors. If these distributors experience delays in receiving necessary qualifications, clearances or approvals to market our products outside the United States, or if they fail to receive those qualifications, clearances or approvals, we may be unable to market our products or enhancements in certain international markets effectively, or at all.

If we expand our operations outside the United States, we will need to expand our international marketing. International jurisdictions require separate regulatory approvals and compliance with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedures vary among countries and may involve requirements for additional testing, and the time required to obtain approval may differ from country to country and from that required to obtain clearance or approval in the United States.

Approval in the United States does not ensure approval or certification by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval or certification by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval or certification by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. The foreign regulatory approval or certification process may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, some countries only approve or certify a product for a certain period of time, and we are required to re-approve or re-certify our products in a timely manner prior to the expiration of our prior approval or certification. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. We may not be able to file for regulatory approvals or certifications and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market. If we fail to receive necessary approvals or certifications to commercialize our products in foreign jurisdictions on a timely basis, or at all, or if we fail to have our products re-approved or re-certified, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

These and other factors may have a material adverse effect on our international operations or on our business, results of operations and financial condition generally.

If we, our suppliers or service providers fail to comply with ongoing FDA or foreign regulatory authority requirements, or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products, these products could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market.

Any product for which we obtain approval, and the manufacturing processes, reporting requirements, post-approval clinical data and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continued regulatory review, oversight and periodic inspections by the FDA and other domestic and foreign regulatory bodies. In particular, we and our third-party suppliers are required to comply with the FDA’s current good manufacturing practice. These FDA regulations cover the methods and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, sterilization, storage and shipping of our products. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections by the FDA. If we, or our suppliers, fail to adhere to current good manufacturing practice requirements in the United States, this could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining regulatory approvals, recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

In addition, the FDA audits compliance with the current good manufacturing practice through periodic announced and unannounced inspections of manufacturing and other facilities. The failure by us or one of our suppliers to comply with applicable statutes and regulations administered by the FDA, or the failure to timely and adequately respond to any adverse inspectional observations or product safety issues, could result in any of the following enforcement actions:

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Any of these sanctions could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, our key component suppliers may not currently be or may not continue to be in compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements, which could result in our failure to produce our products on a timely basis and in the required quantities, if at all.

If we expand our operations outside the United States, our products and operations will be required to comply with standards set by foreign regulatory bodies, and those standards, types of evaluation and scope of review differ among foreign regulatory bodies. We intend to comply with the standards enforced by such foreign regulatory bodies as needed to commercialize our products. If we fail to comply with any of these standards adequately, a foreign regulatory body may take adverse actions similar to those within the power of the FDA. For example, in Europe, we are subject to a conformity assessment procedure under which a so-called Notified Body, an organization accredited by a member state of the European Economic Area, or EEA, which will audit and examine our quality system for the manufacture, design, and release of our products and confirm adherence with applicable regulatory requirements. If we fail to maintain a CE mark in accordance with these requirements, we would be precluded from selling our products in the EEA. Any such action or circumstance may harm our reputation and business, and could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our products may in the future be subject to product recalls. A recall of our products, either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA or another governmental authority, or the discovery of serious safety issues with our products, could have a significant adverse impact on us.

The FDA and similar foreign governmental authorities have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture. In the case of the FDA, the authority to require a recall must be based on an FDA finding that there is reasonable probability that the device would cause serious injury or death. In addition, foreign governmental bodies have the authority to require the recall of our products in their respective jurisdictions in the event of material deficiencies or defects in the design or manufacture of our products. We may, under our own initiative, recall a product if any material deficiency in our steroid releasing implants is found. The FDA requires that recalls be reported to the FDA within 10 working days after the recall is initiated. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us or one of our international distributors could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, malfunctions, manufacturing errors, design or labeling defects or other deficiencies and issues. Recalls of any of our products would divert managerial and financial resources and have an adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations and financial condition, which could impair our ability to produce our products in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to meet our customers’ demands. We may also be subject to liability claims, be required to bear other costs, or take other actions that may have a negative impact on our future sales and our ability to generate profits. Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary recalls involving our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, they could require us to report those actions as recalls. A future recall announcement could harm our reputation with customers and negatively affect our sales. In addition, the FDA could take enforcement action for failing to report the recalls when they were conducted.

If the third parties on which we rely to conduct our clinical trials do not perform as contractually required or expected, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our products.

We often must rely on third parties, such as medical institutions, clinical investigators and contract laboratories to conduct our clinical trials and provide data or prepare deliverables for our PMA or NDA submissions. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or meet expected deadlines, if these third parties need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed, suspended or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, our products on a timely basis, if at all, and our business, operating results and prospects may be adversely affected. Furthermore, our third-party clinical trial investigators may be delayed in conducting our clinical trials for reasons outside of their control.

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We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in improper marketing or promotion of our products.

Our promotional materials and training methods must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of unapproved, or off-label, use. Physicians may use our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. In that event, our reputation could be damaged and adoption of the products could be impaired. Although our policy is to refrain from statements that could be considered off-label promotion of our products, the FDA or another regulatory agency could disagree and conclude that we have engaged in off-label promotion. In addition, the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims are expensive to defend and could divert our management’s attention, result in substantial damage awards against us, and harm our reputation.

If we fail to comply with U.S. federal and state healthcare regulatory laws, we could be subject to penalties, including, but not limited to, administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, exclusion from participation in governmental healthcare programs, and the curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely impact our reputation and business operations.

There are numerous U.S. federal and state healthcare regulatory laws, including, but not limited to, anti-kickback laws, false claims laws, privacy laws, and transparency laws. Our relationships with healthcare providers and entities, including but not limited to, physicians, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, group purchasing organizations and our international distributors are subject to scrutiny under these laws. Violations of these laws can subject us to penalties, including, but not limited to, administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, including the Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Administration health programs, and the curtailment of our operations. Healthcare fraud and abuse regulations are complex, and even minor irregularities can potentially give rise to claims that a statute or prohibition has been violated. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to:

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Further, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or, collectively, the Affordable Care Act, among other things, amends the intent requirements of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and certain criminal statutes governing healthcare fraud. A person or entity can now be found guilty of violating the statute without actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, the Affordable Care Act provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal False Claims Act. Moreover, while we do not submit claims and our customers make the ultimate decision on how to submit claims, from time-to-time, we may provide reimbursement guidance to our customers. If a government authority were to conclude that we provided improper advice to our customers or encouraged the submission of false claims for reimbursement, we could face action against us by government authorities. Any violations of these laws, or any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could result in a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have entered into consulting agreements with physicians, including some who influence the ordering of and use our products in procedures they perform. While we believe these transactions were structured to comply with all applicable laws, including state and federal anti-kickback laws, to the extent applicable, regulatory agencies may view these transactions as prohibited arrangements that must be restructured, or discontinued, or for which we could be subject to other significant penalties. We could be adversely affected if regulatory agencies interpret our financial relationships with ENT physicians who influence the ordering of and use our products to be in violation of applicable laws. This could subject us to the penalties described above.

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available under such laws, it is possible that some of our business activities, including our relationships with healthcare providers and entities, including, but not limited to, physicians, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, group purchasing organizations and our independent distributors and certain sales and marketing practices, including the provision of certain items and services to our customers, could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.

To enforce compliance with the healthcare regulatory laws, federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Responding to investigations can be time and resource consuming and can divert management’s attention from the business. Additionally, as a result of these investigations, healthcare providers and entities may have to agree to additional onerous compliance and reporting requirements as part of a consent decree or corporate integrity agreement. Any such investigation or settlement could increase our costs or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business.

In certain cases, federal and state authorities pursue actions for false claims on the basis that manufacturers and distributors are promoting off-label uses of their products. Pursuant to FDA regulations, we can only market our products for cleared or approved uses. Although physicians are permitted to use medical devices for indications other than those cleared or approved by the FDA in their professional medical judgment, we are prohibited from promoting products for off-label uses. We market our products and provide promotional materials and training programs to physicians regarding the use of our products. If it is determined that our business activities, including our marketing, promotional materials or training programs constitute promotion of unapproved uses, we could be subject to significant fines in addition to regulatory enforcement actions, including the issuance of a warning letter, injunction, seizure and criminal penalty.

In addition, there has been a recent trend of increased federal and state regulation of payments and transfers of value provided to healthcare professionals or entities. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act that imposes new annual reporting requirements on device manufacturers for payments and other transfers of value provided by them, directly or indirectly, to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their family members. A manufacturer’s failure to submit timely, accurately and completely the required information for all payments, transfers of value or ownership or investment interests may result in civil monetary penalties of up to an aggregate of $150,000 per year, and up to an aggregate of $1.0 million per year for “knowing failures.” Manufacturers are required to report to CMS the detailed payment and transfers of value data and submit legal attestation to the accuracy of such data by the 90th day of each calendar year. Due to the difficulty in complying with the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, we cannot assure you that we will successfully report all payments and transfers of value provided by us, and any failure to comply could result in significant fines and penalties. Some states, such as California and Connecticut, also mandate implementation of commercial compliance programs, and other states, such as Massachusetts and Vermont, impose restrictions on device manufacturer marketing practices and tracking and reporting of gifts, compensation and other remuneration to healthcare professionals and entities. The shifting commercial compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and expandable systems to comply with different compliance and reporting requirements in multiple jurisdictions increase the possibility that a healthcare company may fail to comply fully with one or more of these requirements.

Although compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business.

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Most of these laws apply to not only the actions taken by us, but also to actions taken by our distributors. We have limited knowledge and control over the business practices of our distributors, and we may face regulatory action against us as a result of their actions which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, the scope and enforcement of these laws are uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal or state regulatory authorities might challenge our current or future activities under these laws. Any such challenge could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition. Any state or federal regulatory review of us, regardless of the outcome, would be costly and time-consuming. Additionally, we cannot predict the impact of any changes in these laws, whether or not retroactive.

Legislative or regulatory healthcare reforms may make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain regulatory approval of our products and to produce, market and distribute our products after approval is obtained.

FDA regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by the FDA in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. Any new regulations or revisions or reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional costs or lengthen review times of our products. Delays in receipt of, or failure to receive, regulatory approvals for our new products would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Federal and state governments in the United States have recently enacted legislation to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system. While the goal of healthcare reform is to expand coverage to more individuals, it also involves increased government price controls, additional regulatory mandates and other measures designed to constrain medical costs. The Affordable Care Act significantly impacts the medical device industry. Among other things, the Affordable Care Act:

The medical device excise tax was recently suspended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (the “CAA”) for calendar years 2016 and 2017. Absent further congressional action the excise tax will be reinstated for medical device sales beginning January 1, 2018. The CAA also temporarily delays implementation of other taxes intended to help fund Affordable Care Act programs. Further, there have been judicial and congressional challenges to other aspects of the Affordable Care Act, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the Affordable Care Act in the future.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. On August 2, 2011, President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to recommend to Congress proposals in spending reductions. The Joint Select Committee did not achieve a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013 and, following passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, will stay in effect through 2025, unless additional congressional action is taken. On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, or the ATRA, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our products or additional pricing pressure.

Our financial performance may be adversely affected by medical device tax provisions in the healthcare reform laws.

The Affordable Care Act imposes, among other things, an excise tax of 2.3% on any entity that manufactures or imports specified medical devices offered for sale in the United States beginning in 2013. Under these provisions, the Congressional Research Service predicts that the total cost to the medical device industry may be up to $29 billion over the next decade. The Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations implementing the tax in December of 2012 which requires, among other things, bi-monthly payments and quarterly reporting. Sales of our products in the United States have been subject to this 2.3% excise tax. During the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, we recognized $1.1 million and $0.7 million, respectively, in tax expense associated with the medical device tax in the United States which is included in selling, general and administrative expenses. The excise tax has been suspended for calendar years 2016 and 2017, and under current law will be reinstated for calendar year 2018. We cannot predict whether this tax will be reinstated or what effect the excise tax may have on our financial performance in future years if the tax is reinstated as planned.

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Our operations involve the use of hazardous and toxic materials, and we must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive, and may affect our business and operating results.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local regulations relating to the use, handling, storage, disposal and human exposure to hazardous materials. Liability under environmental laws can be joint and several, and without regard to comparative fault, and environmental laws could become more stringent over time, imposing greater compliance costs and increasing risks and penalties associated with violations, which could harm our business. Although we believe that our activities conform in all material respects with environmental laws, there can be no assurance that violations of environmental and health and safety laws will not occur in the future as a result of human error, accident, equipment failure or other causes. The failure to comply with past, present or future laws could result in the imposition of fines, third-party property damage and personal injury claims, investigation and remediation costs, the suspension of production, or a cessation of operations. We also expect that our operations will be affected by other new environmental and health and safety laws on an ongoing basis. Although we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any such new laws, they will likely result in additional costs, and may require us to change how we manufacture our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Failure to comply with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, and similar laws associated with any activities outside the United States could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.

We are subject to the FCPA and other anti-bribery legislation around the world. The FCPA generally prohibits covered entities and their intermediaries from engaging in bribery or making other prohibited payments, offers or promises to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or other advantages. In addition, the FCPA imposes recordkeeping and internal controls requirements on publicly traded corporations and their foreign affiliates, which are intended to, among other things, prevent the diversion of corporate funds to the payment of bribes and other improper payments, and to prevent the establishment of “off books” slush funds from which such improper payments can be made. Although we do not currently have any operations outside the United States, in the future we may face significant risks if we fail to comply with the FCPA and other laws that prohibit improper payments, offers or promises of payment to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by us and other business entities for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or other advantages. In many foreign countries, particularly in countries with developing economies, some of which represent significant markets for us, it may be a local custom that businesses operating in such countries engage in business practices that are prohibited by the FCPA or other laws and regulations. Although we have implemented a company policy requiring our employees and consultants to comply with the FCPA and similar laws, such policy may not be effective at preventing all potential FCPA or other violations. There can be no assurance that none of our employees and agents, or those companies to which we outsource certain portions of our business operations will not take actions that violate our policies or applicable laws, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As a result of our focus on managing our growth, our development of infrastructure designed to identify FCPA matters and monitor compliance is at an early stage. Any violation of the FCPA and related policies could result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, which could have a material and adverse effect on our reputation, business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Intellectual Property Matters

Intellectual property rights may not provide adequate protection, which may permit third parties to compete against us more effectively.

Our success depends significantly on our ability to protect our proprietary rights to the technologies and inventions used in, or embodied by, our products. To protect our proprietary technology, we rely on patent protection, as well as a combination of copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, as well as nondisclosure, confidentiality and other contractual restrictions in our consulting and employment agreements. However, these legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage.

Patents

The process of applying for patent protection itself is time consuming and expensive and we cannot assure you that all of our patent applications will issue as patents or that, if issued, they will issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. The rights granted to us under our patents, including prospective rights sought in our pending patent applications, may not be meaningful or provide us with any commercial advantage and they could be opposed, contested or circumvented by our competitors or be declared invalid or unenforceable in judicial or administrative proceedings.

We own numerous issued patents and pending patent applications that relate to the sinus delivery of sustained release therapeutics, sinus delivery of implants, implant designs, as well as individual components of our steroid releasing systems. The API contained in our steroid releasing implants is generic and is not the subject of independent patent protection. If any of our patents are challenged, invalidated or legally circumvented by third parties, and if we do not own other enforceable patents protecting our products, competitors could market products and use processes that are substantially similar to, or superior to, ours, and our business

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may suffer. In addition, the patents we own may not be of sufficient scope or strength to provide us with any meaningful protection or commercial advantage, and competitors may be able to design around our patents or develop products that provide outcomes comparable to ours without infringing on our intellectual property rights.

Recent patent reform legislation may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art, may affect patent litigation, and switch the U.S. patent system from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system. Under a “first-to-file” system, assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application generally will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether another inventor had made the invention earlier. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, recently developed new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first-to-file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. In addition, patent reform legislation may pass in the future that may lead to additional uncertainties and increased costs surrounding the prosecution, enforcement, and defense of our patents and applications.

We may be subject to a third-party preissuance submission of prior art to the USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review, or other patent office proceedings or litigation, in the United States or elsewhere, challenging our patent rights. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation may reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights.

Moreover, the USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees on issued patents often must be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies over the lifetime of the patent. While an unintentional lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or procedures, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as or similar to our products, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Competing products may also be sold in other countries in which our patent coverage might not exist or be as strong. We do not have patent rights in certain foreign countries in which a market may exist in the future, and the laws of many foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Thus, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing and selling in foreign countries products that are the same as or similar to our products.

Trademarks

We rely on our trademarks as one means to distinguish our products from the products of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. Our trademark applications may not be approved, however. Third parties may oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we may be forced to rebrand our products, which may result in loss of brand recognition and may require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Our competitors may infringe our trademarks and we may not have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

Trade Secrets and Know-How

We may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge or other trade secrets by consultants, vendors, former employees or current employees, despite the existence generally of confidentiality agreements and other contractual restrictions. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective.

Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how. Competitors could purchase our steroid releasing implants and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If our intellectual property is not adequately protected so as to protect our market against competitors’ products and methods, our competitive position may be adversely affected, as may our business.

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We may in the future be a party to patent and other intellectual property litigation and administrative proceedings that may be costly and may interfere with our ability to sell our steroid releasing implants.

The medical device industry has been characterized by frequent and extensive intellectual property litigation. Additionally, the ENT market is extremely competitive. Our competitors, such as Medtronic, Olympus, Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, Smith & Nephew and Entellus, or other patent holders may assert that our steroid releasing implants and the methods employed in our steroid releasing implants are covered by their patents. If our steroid releasing implants or methods are found to infringe, we may be prevented from manufacturing or marketing our steroid releasing implants. In the event that we become involved in such a dispute, we may incur significant costs and expenses, may be prevented from marketing our products and may need to devote resources to resolving any claims, which would reduce the cash we have available for operations and may be distracting to management. If we lose a patent lawsuit, alleging our infringement of a competitor’s patents, we may be prevented from marketing our steroid releasing implants in one or more countries. We may also initiate litigation against third parties to protect our own intellectual property. Our intellectual property has not been tested in litigation. If we initiate litigation to protect our rights, we run the risk of having our patents invalidated, which may undermine our competitive position.

Litigation related to infringement and other intellectual property claims, with or without merit, is unpredictable, may be expensive and time-consuming and may divert management’s attention from our core business. If we lose this kind of litigation, a court may require us to pay substantial damages, treble damages and attorneys’ fees, and prohibit us from using technologies essential to our steroid releasing implants, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If relevant patents are upheld as valid and enforceable and we are found to infringe, we may be prevented from selling our steroid releasing implants unless we can obtain licenses to use technology covered by such patents. We do not know whether any necessary licenses would be available to us on satisfactory terms, if at all. If we cannot obtain these licenses, we may be forced to design around those patents at additional cost or abandon our products altogether. As a result, our ability to grow our business and compete in the market may be harmed.

We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of our competitors or are in breach of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with our competitors.

Many of our employees were previously employed at other medical device companies, including our competitors or potential competitors, in some cases until recently. We may in the future be subject to claims that we or our employees have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information of these former employers or competitors. In addition, we have been and may in the future be subject to claims that we caused an employee to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation may result in substantial costs and may be a distraction to management. If our defense to those claims fails, in addition to paying monetary damages, a court may prohibit us from using technologies or features that are essential to our products, if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. An inability to incorporate technologies or features that are important or essential to our products may have a material adverse effect on our business, and may prevent us from selling our products. In addition, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Any litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with independent sales representatives. A loss of key personnel or their work product may hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our products, which may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Our Capital Requirements and Finances

We may need substantial additional funding and may be unable to raise capital when needed, which would force us to delay, reduce, eliminate or abandon our commercialization efforts or product development programs.

Our ability to continue as a going concern may require us to obtain additional financing to fund our operations. We may need to raise substantial additional capital to:

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We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, including the proceeds from our initial public offering of our common stock in July 2014, follow-on offering in June 2015, revenue and available debt financing arrangements will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements and fund our operations at least through the next twelve months. However, we have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could spend our available financial resources much faster than we currently expect. Any future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Any future debt financing into which we enter may impose upon us covenants that restrict our operations, including limitations on our ability to incur liens or additional debt, pay dividends, repurchase our stock, make certain investments and engage in certain merger, consolidation or asset sale transactions. Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our products, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we are unable to raise adequate funds, we may have to liquidate some or all of our assets, or delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate some or all of our development programs.

We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If we do not have, or are not able to obtain, sufficient funds, we may have to delay development or commercialization of our products or license to third parties the rights to commercialize products or technologies that we would otherwise seek to commercialize. We also may have to reduce marketing, customer support or other resources devoted to our products or cease operations. Any of these factors could harm our operating results.

Our ability to use our net operating losses and research and development credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

In general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50% change by value in its equity ownership over a three-year period, is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change net operating losses, or NOLs, and its research and development credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income. Our existing NOLs and research and development credit carryforwards may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs and research and development credit carryforwards could be further limited by Sections 382 and 383 of the Code. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which might be beyond our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. For these reasons, in the event we experience a change of control, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of the NOLs and research and development credit carryforwards, even if we attain profitability.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

An active trading market may not be sustained.

Prior to our IPO in July 2014, there was no public market for our common stock. Although our stock is currently traded on the NASDAQ Global Market, an active trading market may not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair the value of your shares and your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them. An inactive market may also impair our ability to both raise capital by selling shares and acquire other complementary products, technologies or businesses by using our shares as consideration.

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We expect that the price of our common stock will fluctuate substantially.

The market price of our common stock has been, and is likely to continue to be, highly volatile. From our IPO in July 2014 through April 30, 2016, the price of our common stock has fluctuated from a low of $12.02 to a high of $32.85. The price of our common stock may continue to fluctuate substantially due to many factors, including:

In recent years, the stock markets generally have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors may significantly affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. These fluctuations may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our common stock.

In addition, in the past, class action litigation has often been instituted against companies whose securities have experienced periods of volatility in market price. Securities litigation brought against us following volatility in our stock price, regardless of the merit or ultimate results of such litigation, could result in substantial costs, which would hurt our financial condition and operating results and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

These and other factors may make the price of our stock volatile and subject to unexpected fluctuation.

Securities analysts may not publish favorable research or reports about our business or may publish no information at all, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced to some extent by the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control these analysts. As a newly public company, we may be slow to attract research coverage and the analysts who publish information about our common stock will have had relatively little experience with our company or industry, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and could make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if any of the analysts who cover us provide inaccurate or unfavorable research or issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock price, our stock price could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports covering us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares are owned by our pre-IPO investors and could be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

        Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a significant number of shares intend to sell their shares, could result in a decrease in the market price of our common stock. Moreover, holders of a significant number of shares of our common stock, including shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options, have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. We have also registered all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates.

If we experience material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls in the future, we may not be able to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our common stock.

We are required, under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to furnish a report by management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, and our auditors are required to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal

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controls. This resulted in increased compliance fees. Our management assessment needs to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual and interim financial statements will not be detected or prevented on a timely basis.

Though we have enhanced our internal controls, processes and related documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404, future evaluations and tests may reveal material weaknesses. If during the evaluation and testing process, we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls are effective. The effectiveness of our controls and procedures may be limited by a variety of factors, including:

If we are unable to confirm that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our auditors are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

We are subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. We designed our disclosure controls and procedures to provide reasonable assurance that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions could in turn affect any attempt by our stockholders to replace current members of our management team. Among others, these provisions include that:

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Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.