ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the following risk factors in addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and stock price could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have incurred losses in every year of our operations, and we may never become profitable.

We have incurred losses in every year of our operations, including net losses of $(15.9 million) and $(10.1 million) for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As of December 31, 2015, our accumulated deficit was $(57.8 million), much of which was incurred in connection with our now-abandoned pursuit of FDA approval of a drug candidate, which activities we have discontinued. We expect to incur increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future as we continue to incur costs for commercialization activities, research and development and our pharmacy operations. Although we have been generating revenue from our pharmacy operations since April 1, 2014 when we acquired the first of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies, our ability to generate significant revenues and achieve profitability will depend on a number of factors, including, among others, the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are outside of our direct control. Our business plan and strategies involve costly activities that are susceptible to failure, and we may never be able to generate sufficient revenue to support our business or reach the level of sales and revenues necessary to achieve and sustain profitability.

We aim to sell certain of our proprietary formulations primarily through a unified network of compounding pharmacies, but we may not be successful in our efforts to establish such a network or integrate these businesses into our operations.

A key aspect of our business strategy is to establish a unified compounding pharmacy network, whether through acquisitions, establishing new pharmacies or entering into licensing arrangements with third-party pharmacies, through which we can market and sell our proprietary formulations and other non-proprietary products in all 50 states. We acquired our New Jersey, California, Texas and Pennsylvania compounding pharmacies in April 2014, January 2015, August 2015 and October 2015, respectively. Additionally, in February 2015, we entered into a lease agreement for space in New Jersey and began construction efforts to build this space into an outsourcing facility, which we expect to be completed and registered with the FDA near the end of the second quarter of 2016. In October 2015, we announced plans to undertake construction efforts on our Texas compounding pharmacy with the intent of registering it with the FDA as a Section 503B outsourcing facility, which we expect to be completed and registered during the second quarter of 2016. We are working to expand our pharmacy operations and personnel and develop our facilities into a unified compounding pharmacy network. For instance, we have begun developing “ImprimisRx” as a uniform brand for our compounding facilities, with the intent of renaming all of our compounding facilities under this name. These efforts may also entail seeking to acquire new pharmacies or outsourcing facilities to add to our existing infrastructure, as opportunities arise. However, we have limited experience acquiring, building or operating compounding pharmacies or other prescription dispensing facilities or commercializing our formulations through ownership of or licensing arrangements with pharmacies. As a result, we may experience difficulties implementing our compounding pharmacy network strategy, including difficulties that arise as a result of our lack of experience, and we may be unsuccessful. For instance, we have experienced delays and increased costs in our outsourcing facility construction efforts and we may not be successful in completing them on a timely basis, within budget or at all, we may not be successful in our efforts to integrate, manage or otherwise realize the benefits we expect from our acquisitions of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies or any additional pharmacy businesses or outsourcing facilities we seek to acquire or build in the future, we may not be able to satisfy applicable federal and state licensing and other requirements for any such pharmacy businesses in a timely manner or at all, changes to federal and state pharmacy regulations may restrict compounding operations or make them more costly, we may be unable to achieve a sufficient physician and patient customer base to sustain our pharmacy operations, market acceptance of compounding pharmacies generally may be curtailed or delayed, and we may not be able to enter into licensing or other arrangements with third-party pharmacies or outsourcing facilities when desired, on acceptable terms or at all. Moreover, all such efforts to expand our pharmacy operations and establish a unified pharmacy network will involve significant costs and other resources, which we may not be able to afford, disrupt our other operations and distract management and our other employees from other aspects of our business. As a result, our business could materially suffer if we are unable to further develop this unified pharmacy network and, even if we are successful, we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to recover our costs.

We are dependent on market acceptance of compounding pharmacies and compounded formulations, and physicians may be unwilling to prescribe, and patients may be unwilling to use, our proprietary customizable compounded formulations.

We currently distribute our proprietary formulations through compounding pharmacies. Formulations prepared and dispensed by compounding pharmacies contain FDA-approved ingredients, but are not themselves approved by the FDA. As a result, our formulations have not undergone the FDA approval process and only limited data, if any, may be available with respect to the safety and efficacy of our formulations for any particular indication. In addition, certain compounding pharmacies have been the subject of widespread negative media coverage in recent years, and the actions of these pharmacies have resulted in increased scrutiny of compounding pharmacy activities from the FDA and state governmental agencies. As a result, some physicians may be hesitant to prescribe, and some patients may be hesitant to purchase and use, these non-FDA approved compounded formulations, particularly when an FDA-approved alternative is available. Other reasons physicians may be unwilling to prescribe or patients may be unwilling to use our proprietary compounded formulations could include the following, among others: applicable law limits our ability to discuss the efficacy or safety of our formulations with potential users to the extent applicable data is available; our pharmacy operations are primarily operating on a cash-pay basis and reimbursement may or may not be available from third-party payors, including the government Medicare and Medicaid programs; and our formulations are not required to be prepared and are not presently being prepared in a manufacturing facility governed by cGMP requirements. Any failure by physicians, patients and/or third-party payors to accept and embrace compounded formulations could substantially limit our market and cause our operations to suffer. I n addition, certain compounding pharmacies have been the subject of widespread negative media coverage in recent years related to aggressive billing practices and quality assurance, such as the fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012, and the actions of these pharmacies have resulted in increased scrutiny of compounding pharmacy activities from the FDA and state governmental agencies. As a result some health care providers may be reluctant to purchase and use our formulations in general.

We may not receive sufficient revenue through our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies or other compounding pharmacies with which we may partner to fund our operations and recover our development costs.

Our business plan involves the preparation and sale of our proprietary formulations through a network of unified compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities. This network presently consists of our four ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies, which are collectively licensed to distribute compounded formulations in all 50 states. We are also pursuing additional means of expanding the reach of this network, including our plans to open an outsourcing facility in New Jersey, which is currently under construction and which we expect to be completed and registered near the end of the second quarter of 2016 and our plans to complete construction of and register our Texas pharmacy as an outsourcing facility during the second quarter of 2016. We have limited experience operating pharmacies and commercializing compounded formulations and we may be unable to successfully manage this business or generate sufficient revenue to recover our development costs and operational expenses.

We may have only limited success in marketing and selling our proprietary formulations through our network of compounding pharmacies. Although we have established and plan to grow our internal sales teams to market and sell our proprietary formulations and other non-proprietary products through our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies, we have limited experience with such activities and may not be able to generate sufficient physician and patient interest in our formulations to generate significant revenue from sales of these products. In addition, we are substantially dependent on our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies and any other pharmacies or prescription dispensing facilities we acquire or develop and any pharmacy partners with which we may contract to compound and sell our formulations in accordance with our quality standards and applicable specifications, in a timely manner and in sufficient volumes to accommodate the number of prescriptions they receive. Our pharmacies may be unable to compound our formulations successfully and we may be unable to acquire, build or enter into arrangements with pharmacies or outsourcing facilities of sufficient size, reputation and quality to implement our business plan, which would cause our business to suffer.

We are subject to risks associated with development and construction of our pharmacy facilities.

In February 2015, we entered into a lease agreement for space in New Jersey and began construction efforts to build the majority of this space into a Section 503B outsourcing facility and in November of 2015, we began construction efforts to improve our Texas compounding pharmacy with the intent to register it as an outsourcing facility. We have encountered, and may continue to encounter, unanticipated occurrences or conditions during construction that may delay the completion and increase the expense of the project. Delays and cost overruns during construction could result in liabilities and expenses that could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is significantly impacted by state and federal statutes and regulations.

All of our proprietary formulations are comprised of active pharmaceutical ingredients that are components of drugs that have received marketing approval from the FDA, although our proprietary compounded formulations have not themselves received FDA approval. FDA approval is not required in order to market and sell our compounded formulations, although in the future we may choose to pursue FDA approval to market and sell certain potential product candidates. The marketing and sale of compounded formulations is subject to and must comply with extensive state and federal statutes and regulations governing compounding pharmacies. These statutes and regulations include, among other things, restrictions on compounding for office use or in advance of receiving a patient-specific prescription or, for outsourcing facilities, requirements regarding preparation, such as regular FDA inspections and cGMP requirements, prohibitions on compounding drugs that are essentially copies of FDA-approved drugs, limitations on the volume of compounded formulations that may be sold across state lines, and prohibitions on wholesaling or reselling. These and other restrictions on the activities of compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities may significantly limit the market available for compounded formulations, as compared to the market available for FDA-approved drugs.

Our pharmacy business is impacted by federal and state laws and regulations governing, among other things: the purchase, distribution, management, compounding, dispensing, reimbursement, marketing and labeling of prescription drugs and related services; FDA and/or state regulation affecting the pharmacy and pharmaceutical industries, including state pharmacy licensure and registration or permit standards; rules and regulations issued pursuant to HIPAA and other state and federal laws related to the use, disclosure and transmission of health information; and state and federal controlled substance laws. Our failure to comply with any of these laws and regulations could severely limit or curtail our pharmacy operations, which would materially harm our business and prospects. Further, our business could be adversely affected by changes in these or any newly enacted laws and regulations, as well as federal and state agency interpretations of such statutes and regulations. Such statutory or regulatory changes could require that we make changes to our business model and operations and/or could require that we incur significantly increased costs in order to comply with such regulations.

If our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies or any other pharmacy or outsourcing facility with which we partner fails to comply with the Controlled Substances Act, FDCA, or state statutes and regulations, the pharmacy could be required to cease operations or become subject to restrictions that could adversely affect our business.

State pharmacy laws require pharmacy locations in those states to be licensed as an in-state pharmacy to dispense pharmaceuticals. In addition, state controlled substance laws require registration and compliance with state pharmacy licensure, registration or permit standards promulgated by the state’s pharmacy licensing authority. Pharmacy and controlled substance laws often address the qualification of an applicant’s personnel, the adequacy of its prescription fulfillment and inventory control practices and the adequacy of its facilities, and subject pharmacies to oversight by state boards of pharmacy and other regulators that could impose burdensome requirements or restrictions on operations if a pharmacy is found not to comply with these laws. We believe that our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies are in material compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. However, if any of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies fails to comply with such requirements, they could be forced to permanently or temporarily cease or limit their sterile compounding operations, which would severely limit our ability to market and sell our proprietary formulations and would materially harm our operations and prospects. Any such noncompliance could also result in complaints or adverse actions by other state boards of pharmacy, FDA inspection of the facility to determine compliance with the FDCA, loss of FDCA exemptions provided under Section 503A, warning letters, injunctions, prosecution, fines and loss of required government licenses, certifications and approvals, any of which could involve significant costs and could cause us to be unable to realize the expected benefits of these pharmacies’ operations. Although we ultimately expect to distribute our proprietary formulations through a unified network of compounding pharmacies, we may not be successful in establishing such a network and the loss or limitation of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies’ ability to compound sterile formulations would have an immediate adverse impact on our ability to successfully and timely implement our business plan.

Many of the states into which our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies deliver pharmaceuticals have laws and regulations that require out-of-state pharmacies to register with, or be licensed by, the boards of pharmacy or similar regulatory bodies in those states. These states generally permit the dispensing pharmacy to follow the laws of the state within which the dispensing pharmacy is located. However, various state pharmacy boards have enacted laws and/or adopted rules or regulations directed at restricting the operation of out-of-state pharmacies by, among other things, requiring compliance with all laws of the states into which the out-of-state pharmacy dispenses medications, whether or not those laws conflict with the laws of the state in which the pharmacy is located, or requiring the pharmacist-in-charge to be licensed in that state.

Further, under federal law, Section 503A of the FDCA seeks to limit the amount of compounded products that a pharmacy can dispense interstate. The interpretation and enforcement of this provision is dependent on the FDA entering into a standard Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each state setting forth limits on interstate compounding. The current draft standard MOU presented by the FDA in February 2015 would limit interstate shipments of compounded drug units to 30% of all compounded and non-compounded units dispensed or distributed by the pharmacy per month. The FDA has stated in guidance issued in February 2015 that it will not enforce interstate restrictions until after it publishes a final standard MOU and has made it available to states for signature for some designated period of time. If the final standard MOU is not signed by a particular state, then interstate shipments of compounded preparations from a pharmacy located in that state would be limited to quantities not greater than 5% of total prescription orders dispensed or distributed by the pharmacy (the 5% rule); however, we are not aware that the FDA currently enforces or has in the past enforced the 5% rule and, under current draft guidance, the FDA has stated that it will not enforce the 5% rule until a standard MOU has been made available to states for signature. The FDA has proposed a 180-day period for states to agree to the standard MOU after the final version is presented, after which it would begin to enforce the 5% rule. Until a final MOU is issued and presented to states to consider, the extent of interstate dispensing restrictions imposed by Section 503A is unknown. However, if the final standard MOU contains a 30% limit on interstate distribution or if the FDA begins to enforce the 5% rule, our pharmacy operations could be materially limited

There are many competitive risks related to marketing and selling our proprietary formulations and operating our compounding pharmacy business.

The pharmaceutical and pharmacy industries are highly competitive. We compete against branded drug companies, generic drug companies, outsourcing facilities and other compounding pharmacies. We are significantly smaller than some of our competitors, and we may lack the financial and other resources needed to develop, produce, distribute, market and commercialize any of our proprietary formulations or compete for market share in these sectors. The drug products available through branded and generic drug companies with which our formulations compete have been approved for marketing and sale by the FDA and are required to be manufactured in facilities compliant with cGMP standards. Although we prepare our compounded formulations in accordance with the standards provided by USP <795> and USP <797> and applicable state and federal law, our proprietary compounded formulations are not required to be, and have not been, approved for marketing and sale by the FDA. As a result, some physicians may be unwilling to prescribe, and some patients may be unwilling to use, our formulations. Additionally, under federal and state laws applicable to our current compounding pharmacy operations, we are not permitted to prepare significant amounts of a specific formulation in advance of a prescription, compound quantities for office use or utilize a wholesaler for distribution of our formulations; instead, our compounded formulations must be prepared and dispensed in connection with a physician prescription for an individually identified patient. Pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, are able to sell their FDA-approved products to large pharmaceutical wholesalers, who can in turn sell to and supply hospitals and retail pharmacies. Even if we are successful in registering certain of our facilities as outsourcing facilities, our business may not be scalable on the scope available to our competitors that produce FDA-approved drugs, which may limit our potential for profitable operations. These facets of our operations may subject our business to limitations our competitors with FDA-approved drugs may not face.

Biotechnology and related pharmaceutical technologies have undergone and continue to be subject to rapid and significant change. Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to maintain a competitive position with respect to these technologies. Products developed by our competitors, including FDA-approved drugs and compounded formulations created by other pharmacies, could render our products and technologies obsolete or unable to compete. Any products that we develop may become obsolete before we recover expenses incurred in developing the products, which may require that we seek to raise additional funds that may or may not be available to continue our operations. The competitive environment requires an ongoing, extensive search for medical and technological innovations and the ability to develop and market these innovations effectively, and we may not be competitive with respect to these factors. Other competitive factors include the safety and efficacy of a product, the size of the market for a product, the timing of market entry relative to competitive products, the availability of alternative compounded formulations or approved drugs, the price of a product relative to alternative products, the availability of third-party reimbursement, the success of sales and marketing efforts, brand recognition and the availability of scientific and technical information about a product. Although we believe we are positioned to compete favorably with respect to many of these factors, if our proprietary formulations are unable to compete with the products of our competitors, we may never gain market share or achieve profitability.

If a compounded drug formulation provided through our compounding services leads to patient injury or death or results in a product recall, we may be exposed to significant liabilities and reputational harm.

The success of our business, including our proprietary formulations and pharmacy operations, is highly dependent upon medical and patient perceptions of us and the safety and quality of our products. We could be adversely affected if we, any other compounding pharmacies or our formulations and technologies are subject to negative publicity. We could also be adversely affected if any of our formulations or other products we sell, any similar products sold by other companies, or any products sold by other compounding pharmacies prove to be, or are asserted to be, harmful to patients. For instance, to the extent any of the components of approved drugs or other ingredients used by our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies to produce our compounded formulations have quality or other problems that adversely affect the finished compounded preparations, our sales could be adversely affected. Also, because of our dependence upon medical and patient perceptions, any adverse publicity associated with illness or other adverse effects resulting from the use or misuse of our products, any similar products sold by other companies or any other compounded formulations could have a material adverse impact on our business.

To assure compliance with USP guidelines, we have implemented a policy whereby 100% of all sterile compound batches produced by our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies are tested both in-house and externally prior to their delivery to patients and physicians by an independent, FDA-registered laboratory that has represented to us that it operates in compliance with current good laboratory practices. However, we could still become subject to product recalls and termination or suspension of our state pharmacy licenses if we fail to fully implement this policy, if the laboratory testing does not identify all contaminated products, or if our products otherwise cause or appear to have caused injury or harm to patients. In addition, such laboratory testing may produce false positives, which could harm our business and impact our pharmacy operations and licensure even if the impacted formulations are ultimately found to be sterile and no patients are harmed by them. If adverse events or deaths or a product recall, either voluntarily or as required by the FDA or a state board of pharmacy, were associated with one of our proprietary formulations or any compounds prepared by our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies or any pharmacy partner, our reputation could suffer, physicians may be unwilling to prescribe our proprietary formulations or order any prescriptions from such pharmacies, we could become subject to product and professional liability lawsuits, and our state pharmacy licenses could be terminated or restricted. If any of these events were to occur, we may be subject to significant litigation or other costs and loss of revenue, and we may be unable to continue our pharmacy operations and further develop and commercialize our proprietary formulations.

Although we have secured product and professional liability insurance for our pharmacy operations and the marketing and sale of our formulations, our current or future insurance coverage may prove insufficient to cover any liability claims brought against us. Because of the increasing costs of insurance coverage, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or at a level adequate to satisfy liabilities that may arise.

Our ability to generate revenues will be diminished if we fail to obtain acceptable prices or an adequate level of reimbursement from third-party payors.

Currently, our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies operate on mostly a cash-pay basis and do not submit large amounts of claims for reimbursement through Medicare, Medicaid or other third-party payors, although our customers may choose to seek available reimbursement opportunities to the extent that they exist. As part of our Imprimis Cares initiative, we work with third-party insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and buying groups to offer patient-specific customizable compounded formulations at accessible prices. We plan to continue to devote time and other resources to seek reimbursement and patient pay opportunities for these and other compounded formulations and we have hired pharmacy billers to process certain existing reimbursement opportunities for certain formulations. However, we may be unsuccessful in achieving these goals, as many third-party payors have imposed significant restrictions on reimbursement for compounded formulations in recent years. Moreover, third-party payors, including Medicare, are increasingly attempting to contain health care costs by limiting coverage and the level of reimbursement for new drugs and by refusing, in some cases, to provide coverage for uses of approved products for disease indications for which the FDA has not granted labeling approval. Further, the Health Reform Law may have a considerable impact on the existing U.S. system for the delivery and financing of health care and could conceivable have a material effect on our business. As a result, reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid and other third-party payors may never be available for any of our products or, if available, may not be sufficient to allow us to sell the products on a competitive basis and at desirable price points. If government and other third-party payors do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement levels for our formulations, the market acceptance for our formulations may be limited.

Additionally, we are making efforts to normalize the pricing for our currently available proprietary compounded formulations. An economic study conducted in 2015 by researchers at Andrew Chang & Co, LLC and co-sponsored by us demonstrated that, assuming the cost of Dropless Therapy is $100 per dose (dollar amount not expressed in thousands), our Dropless Therapy formulations could provide collective savings to Medicare, Medicaid and patients of up to $13 billion, with a most likely savings estimate of $8.7 billion, over a 10-year period. Based on this research, we believe optimized pricing for our Dropless Therapy formulations would be $100 per dose (dollar amount not expressed in thousands). Any efforts to attain optimized pricing for our Dropless Therapy or any of our other proprietary formulations could fail, which could make our products less attractive or unavailable to some patients or could reduce our margins.

We may not be able to correctly estimate our future operating expenses, which could lead to cash shortfalls.

Our estimates of our future operating and capital expenditures are based upon our current business plan, the anticipated expenses associated with our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies’ operations and our current expectations regarding the commercialization of our proprietary formulations. Our projections have varied significantly in the past as a result of changes to our business model and strategy, including our discontinuation of efforts to pursue FDA approval of an abandoned product candidate in November 2013 and our acquisitions of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies and various product development opportunities in 2014 and 2015. We have limited experience operating a pharmacy business and commercializing compounded formulations, and we may not accurately estimate expenses and potential revenue associated with these activities. For example, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur greater than anticipated expenses developing our Texas- and New Jersey-based pharmacy facilities into outsourcing facilities and registering them as such with the FDA. Additionally, our operating expenses may fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in this “Risk Factors” section, some of which are outside of our direct control. If we are unable to correctly estimate the amount of cash necessary to fund our business, we could spend our available financial resources much faster than we expect. If we do not have sufficient funds to continue to operate and develop our business, we could be required to seek additional financing earlier than we expect, which may not be available when needed or at all, or be forced to delay, scale back or eliminate some or all of our proposed operations.

If we do not successfully identify and acquire rights to potential formulations and successfully integrate them into our operations, our growth opportunities may be limited.

We plan to pursue the development of new proprietary compounded formulations in the ophthalmology, urology, otolaryngology and/or other therapeutic areas, which may include continued activities to develop and commercialize current assets or, if and as opportunities arise, potential acquisitions of new intellectual property rights and assets. We also intend to seek opportunities to introduce new lower-cost compounded formulation alternatives to higher-priced FDA-approved drugs, as part of our Imprimis Cares initiative. However, we expect our acquisitions of our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies to provide us with only limited research and development support and access to additional novel compounded formulations. As a result, we have historically relied, and we expect to continue to rely, primarily upon third parties to provide us with additional development opportunities. We may seek to enter into acquisition agreements or licensing arrangements with third parties to obtain rights to develop new formulations in the future, but only if we are able to identify attractive formulations and negotiate acquisition or license agreements with their owners on terms acceptable to us, which we may not be able to do. Moreover, we have limited resources to acquire additional potential product development assets and integrate them into our business and acquisition opportunities may involve competition among several potential purchasers, which could include large multi-national pharmaceutical companies and other competitors that have access to greater financial resources than we do. If we are unable to obtain rights to development opportunities from third parties and we are unable to rely upon our ImprimisRx compounding pharmacies and current and future relationships with pharmacists, physicians and other inventors to provide us with additional development opportunities, our growth and prospects could be limited.

Our product development strategy is to focus on a select few therapeutic areas in which we believe there is broad market potential, large unmet needs and/or unique value to physicians and patients and to develop and offer formulations within these therapeutic areas that could afford us with gross margins. However, our expectations and assumptions about market potential and patient needs may prove to be wrong and we may invest capital and other resources on formulations that do not generate sufficient revenues for us to recoup our investment.

We may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize our proprietary formulations or any other assets we may acquire.

Our future results of operations will depend to a significant extent upon our ability to successfully develop and commercialize in a timely manner any of the assets we have acquired or to which we may acquire rights in the future. Since May 2013, we have acquired assets related to compoundable formulations and we have entered into one license agreement for rights to commercialize a compounding formulation. We are currently pursuing development and commercialization opportunities with respect to certain of these formulations and we are in the process of assessing certain of our other assets in order to determine whether to pursue their development or commercialization. In addition, we expect to consider the acquisition of additional intellectual property rights or other assets in the future. There are numerous difficulties and risks inherent in acquiring, developing and commercializing new formulations and product candidates, including the risks identified in this “Risk Factors” section.

Once we determine to pursue a potential product candidate, we develop a commercialization strategy for the product candidate. Potential commercialization strategies could include, among others, marketing and selling the formulation in compounded form through compounding pharmacies or outsourcing facilities, or pursuing FDA approval of the product candidate. We may incorrectly assess the risks and benefits of our commercialization options with respect to one or more formulations or technologies, and we may not pursue a commercialization strategy that proves to be successful. If we are unable to successfully commercialize one or more of our proprietary formulations, our operating results would be adversely affected. Even if we are able to successfully sell one or more proprietary formulations, we may never recoup our investment in acquiring or developing the formulations. Our failure to identify and expend our resources on formulations and technologies with commercial potential and execute an effective commercialization strategy for each of our formulations would negatively impact the long-term profitability of our business.

We have incurred significant indebtedness, which will require substantial cash to service and which subjects us to certain financial requirements and business restrictions.

On May 11, 2015, we incurred $10 million of indebtedness under a loan agreement with IMMY Funding LLC (LSAF), an affiliate of Life Sciences Alternative Funding LLC, and on January 22, 2016, we incurred an additional $3 million of indebtedness under a convertible note we issued to LSAF. Pursuant to the terms of the $10 million loan agreement, we are obligated to pay interest on the principal amount of the loan at a fixed per-annum rate of 12.5% and we are permitted to pay interest only for the first three years, which may be reduced to 20 months if we do not meet certain minimum revenue or cash balance requirements. All amounts owed under the LSAF loan agreement, including a final fee of 5% of the aggregate principal amount of the loan, will be due on the earlier of May 11, 2021 or 24 months after the end of the interest-only period. Pursuant to the terms of $3 million convertible note, we are obligated to pay interest monthly in cash at a fixed per-annum rate of 8.0% and we are obligated to repay the full principal amount of the convertible note in cash on May 11, 2021. The note is convertible by the holder at any time into 277.77 shares of our common stock per $1 outstanding principal amount of the convertible note, subject to adjustment upon certain events. Our interest payment obligations under the LSAF loan agreement totaled approximately $0.7 million for our 2015 fiscal year, and we expect our interest payment obligations under the LSAF loan agreement and the LSAF convertible note to total approximately $1.1 million for our 2016 fiscal year. The amounts owed to LSAF are secured by substantially all of our personal property, rights and assets, including our intellectual property rights.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on our indebtedness depends on our future performance and ability to raise additional capital, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash to service our debt, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring our debt or obtaining additional capital through equity sales or incurrence of additional debt on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive to our stockholders. Our ability to engage in any of these activities would depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time, and we may not be able to do so when needed, on desirable terms or at all, which could result in a default on our debt obligations. Additionally, our LSAF debt instruments contain various restrictive covenants, including, among others, our obligation to deliver to LSAF certain financial and other information, our obligation to comply with certain notice and insurance requirements, and our inability, without LSAF’s prior consent, to dispose of certain of our assets, incur certain additional indebtedness, enter into certain merger, acquisition or change of control transactions, pay certain dividends or distributions on or repurchase any of our capital stock or incur any lien or other encumbrance on our assets, subject to certain permitted exceptions. Any failure by us to comply with any of these covenants, subject to certain cure periods, or to make all payments under the debt instruments when due, would cause us to be in default under the applicable debt instrument. In the event of any such default, LSAF may be able to foreclose on our assets that secure the debt or declare all borrowed funds, together with accrued and unpaid interest, immediately due and payable, thereby potentially causing all of our available cash to be used to pay our indebtedness or forcing us into bankruptcy or liquidation if we do not then have sufficient cash available. Any such event or occurrence could severely and negatively impact our operations and prospects.

We may need additional capital in order to continue operating our business, and such additional funds may not be available when needed, on acceptable terms, or at all.

We only recently started generating cash from operations, but we do not presently receive sufficient revenues to support our operations. Although we believe we have sufficient cash reserves to operate our business for at least the 12 months following the date of this Annual Report, we may need significant additional capital to execute our business plan and fund our proposed business operations. Additionally, our plans may change, our estimates of our operating expenses and working capital requirements could be inaccurate, we may pursue acquisitions of pharmacies or other strategic transactions that involve large expenditures or we may experience growth more quickly or on a larger scale than we expect, any of which may result in the depletion of capital resources more rapidly than anticipated and could require us to seek additional financing earlier than we expect to support our operations.

We have raised over $24 million in funds through equity and debt financings in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to date. We may seek to obtain additional capital through additional equity or debt financings, funding from corporate partnerships or licensing arrangements, sales of assets or other financing transactions. If we issue equity or convertible debt securities to raise additional funds, our existing stockholders may experience substantial dilution, and the newly issued equity or debt securities may have more favorable terms or rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements or sales of assets, we may be required to relinquish potentially valuable rights to our product candidates or proprietary technologies, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we raise funds by incurring additional debt, we may be required to pay significant interest expenses and our leverage relative to our earnings or to our equity capitalization may increase. Obtaining commercial loans, assuming those loans would be available, would increase our liabilities and future cash commitments and may impose restrictions on our activities, such as the financial and operating covenants included in our loan agreement and convertible note with LSAF. Further, we may incur substantial costs in pursuing future capital and/or financing transactions, including investment banking fees, legal fees, accounting fees, printing and distribution expenses and other costs. We may also be required to recognize non-cash expenses in connection with certain securities we may issue, such as options, convertible notes and warrants, which would adversely impact our financial results.

We have in the past and may in the future participate in strategic transactions that could impact our liquidity, increase our expenses and distract our management.

From time to time we consider engaging in strategic transactions, such as out-licensing or in-licensing of compounds or technologies, acquisitions of companies, and asset purchases. We may also consider a variety of different business arrangements in the future, including strategic partnerships, joint ventures, spin-offs, restructurings, divestitures, business combinations and investments. In addition, another entity may pursue us or certain of our assets or aspects of our operations as an acquisition target. Any such transactions may require us to incur expenses specific to the transaction and not incident to our operations, may increase our near- and long-term expenditures, may pose significant integration challenges, may require us to hire or otherwise engage personnel with additional expertise, or may result in our selling or licensing of our assets or technologies under terms that may not prove profitable, any of which could harm our operations and financial results. Such transactions may also entail numerous other operational and financial risks, including, among others, exposure to unknown liabilities, disruption of our business and diversion of our management’s time and attention in order to develop acquired products, product candidates, technologies or businesses.

As part of our efforts to complete any significant transaction, we would need to expend significant resources to conduct business, legal and financial due diligence, with the goal of identifying and evaluating material risks involved in the transaction. Despite our efforts, we may be unsuccessful in ascertaining or evaluating all such risks and, as a result, we may not realize the expected benefits of any such transaction, whether due to unidentified risks, integration difficulties, regulatory setbacks or other events, and we may incur material liabilities for the past activities of any businesses we partner with or acquire. If any of these events were to occur, we could be subject to significant costs and damage to our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be unable to obtain financing when necessary as a result of, among other things, our performance, general economic conditions, conditions in the pharmaceuticals and pharmacy industries, or our operating history, including our past bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, the fact that we are not and have never been profitable could further impact the availability or cost to us of future financings. As a result, sufficient funds may not be available when needed from any source or, if available, such funds may not be available on terms that are acceptable to us. If we are unable to raise funds to satisfy our capital needs when needed, then we may need to forego pursuit of potentially valuable development or acquisition opportunities, we may not be able to continue to operate our business pursuant to our business plan, which would require us to modify our operations to reduce spending to a sustainable level by, among other things, delaying, scaling back or eliminating some or all of our ongoing or planned investments in corporate infrastructure, business development, sales and marketing and other activities, or we may be forced to discontinue our operations entirely.

If we are unable to establish, train and maintain an effective sales and marketing infrastructure, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates successfully.

We have started to build an internal sales and marketing infrastructure to implement our business plan by developing internal sales teams and education campaigns to market our proprietary formulations. We will need to expend significant resources to further establish and grow this internal infrastructure and properly train sales personnel with respect to regulatory compliance matters. We may also choose to engage or enter into other arrangements with third parties to provide sales and marketing services for us in place of or to supplement our internal commercialization infrastructure. We may not be able to secure sales personnel or relationships with third-party sales organizations that are adequate in number or expertise to successfully market and sell our proprietary formulations and pharmacy services. Further, any third-party organizations we may seek to partner with or engage may not be able to provide sales and marketing services in accordance with our expectations and standards, may be more expensive than we can afford or may not be available on otherwise acceptable terms or at all. If we are unable to establish and maintain compliant and adequate sales and marketing capabilities, through our own internal infrastructure or third-party services or other arrangements, we may be unable to sell our formulations or services or generate meaningful revenue.

Our business and operations would suffer in the event of cybersecurity or other system failures.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of any third parties with which we partner are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we have not experienced any such cybersecurity or system failure, accident or breach to date, if such an event were to occur, it could result in a material disruption of our operations, substantial costs to rectify or correct the failure, if possible, and potentially violation of HIPAA and other privacy laws applicable to our pharmacy operations. If any disruption or security breach resulted in a loss of or damage to our data or applications or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or protected information, we could incur liability, further development of our proprietary formulations could be delayed, and our pharmacy operations could be disrupted, subject to restriction or forced to terminate their operations, any of which could severely harm our business and prospects.

We depend upon consultants, outside contractors and other third-party service providers for key aspects of our business.

We are substantially dependent on consultants and other outside contractors and service providers for key aspects of our business. For instance, we rely upon our pharmacist, physician and research consultants and advisors to provide us with significant assistance in our evaluation of product development opportunities, and we have engaged or supported, and expect to continue to engage or support, consultants, advisors, clinical research organizations (CROs) and others to design, conduct, analyze and interpret the results of any clinical or non-clinical trials or other studies in connection with the research and development of our products. If any of our consultants or other service providers terminates its engagement with us, or if we are unable to engage highly qualified replacements as needed on commercially reasonable terms, we may be unable to successfully execute our business plan. We must effectively manage these third-party service providers to ensure that they successfully carry out their contractual obligations and meet expected deadlines. However, these third parties often engage in other business activities and may not devote sufficient time and attention to our activities and we may have only limited contractual rights in connection with the conduct of the activities we have engaged the service providers to perform. If we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality, timeliness or accuracy of the services provided by third-party service providers is compromised for any reason, our development activities may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to commercialize our formulations or advance our business.

If we seek FDA approval to market and sell any of our proprietary formulations, we may be unable to demonstrate the necessary safety and efficacy to obtain such FDA approval.

Although our current business strategy is focused on developing and commercializing product opportunities as compounded formulations, we may in the future choose, alone or with project partners, to seek FDA regulatory approval to market and sell one or more of our assets as a FDA-approved drug. The process of obtaining FDA approval to market and sell pharmaceutical products is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. If we choose to pursue FDA approval for one or more product candidates, the FDA or other regulatory agencies may not approve the product candidate on a timely basis or at all. Before we could obtain FDA approval for the sale of any potential product candidates, we would be required to demonstrate through preclinical studies and clinical trials that the product candidate is safe and effective for each intended use, which we may not be able to do. A failure to demonstrate safety and efficacy of a product candidate to the FDA’s satisfaction would result in our failure to obtain FDA approval. Moreover, even if the FDA were to grant regulatory approval of a product candidate, the approval may be limited to specific therapeutic areas or limited with respect to its distribution, which could reduce revenue potential, and we would be subject to extensive and costly post-approval requirements and oversight with respect to commercialization of the product candidate.

Delays in the completion of, or the termination of, any clinical or non-clinical trials for any product candidates for which we may seek FDA approval could adversely affect our business.

Clinical trials are very expensive, time consuming, unpredictable and difficult to design and implement. The results of clinical trials may be unfavorable, they may continue for several years and they may take significantly longer to complete and involve significantly more costs than expected. Delays in the commencement or completion of clinical testing could significantly affect product development costs and plans with respect to any product candidate for which we seek FDA approval. The commencement and completion of clinical trials can be delayed and experience difficulties for a number of reasons, including delays and difficulties caused by circumstances over which we may have no control. For instance, approvals of the scope, design or trial site may not be obtained from the FDA and other required bodies in a timely manner or at all, agreements with acceptable terms may not be reached in a timely manner or at all with CROs to conduct the trials, a sufficient number of subjects may not be recruited and enrolled in the trials, and third-party manufacturers of the materials for use in the trials may encounter delays and problems in the manufacturing process, including failure to produce materials in sufficient quantities or of an acceptable quality to complete the trials. If we were to experience delays in the commencement or completion of, or if we were to terminate, any clinical or non-clinical trials we pursue in the future, the commercial prospects for the applicable product candidates may be limited or eliminated, which may prevent us from recouping our investment in research and development efforts for the product candidate and would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Even if we successfully develop any product candidate into an FDA-approved drug, failure to comply with continuing federal and state regulations could result in the loss of approvals to market the drug.

Even if we successfully develop any product candidate into an FDA-approved drug, we would be subject to extensive continuing regulatory requirements and review, including review of adverse drug experiences and clinical results from any post-marketing tests or continued actions required as a condition of approval. The manufacturer and manufacturing facilities we would use to produce any such drug preparations would be subject to periodic review and inspection by the FDA, and we would be reliant on these third parties to maintain their manufacturing processes in compliance with FDA and all other applicable regulatory requirements. Any changes to a product that may have achieved approval, including the way it is manufactured or promoted, would often require FDA approval again before the product, as modified, could be marketed and sold. In addition, we and the manufacturers of the drug would be subject to ongoing FDA requirements for submission of safety and other post-market information. If we or the manufacturers of the drug failed to comply with these or any other applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency may, among other things, issue warning letters, impose civil or criminal penalties, suspend or withdraw regulatory approval, impose restrictions on our operations, close the facilities of the manufacturers, seize or detain products or require a product recall.

Regulatory review also covers a company’s activities in the promotion of its FDA-approved drugs, with significant potential penalties and restrictions for promotion of a drug for an unapproved use. Sales and marketing programs are under scrutiny for compliance with various mandated requirements, such as illegal promotions to health care professionals. Failure to comply with these requirements could expose us to negative publicity, fines and penalties that could harm our business.

If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights, we may not be able to prevent others from using our intellectual property, which may reduce the competitiveness and value of the related assets.

Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our formulations and technologies and prevent third parties from infringing upon our proprietary rights. We must also operate without infringing upon patents and proprietary rights of others, including by obtaining appropriate licenses to patents or other proprietary rights held by third parties, if necessary. The primary means by which we will be able to protect our formulations and technologies from unauthorized use by third parties is to obtain valid and enforceable patents that cover them. Currently, we own 25 U.S. patent applications, including 18 utility and seven provisional patent applications, and we own three international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and 19 foreign patent applications. However, the applications we have filed or may file in the future may never yield patents that protect our inventions and intellectual property assets. Failure to obtain patents that sufficiently cover our formulations and technologies would limit our protection against other compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities, generic drug manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and other parties who may seek to copy our products, produce products substantially similar to ours or use technologies substantially similar to those we own. We have made, and expect to continue to make, significant investments in certain of our proprietary formulations prior to the grant of any patents covering these formulations, and we may not receive a sufficient return on these investments if patent coverage or other appropriate intellectual property protection is not obtained and their competitiveness and value decreases.

The patent and intellectual property positions of pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies, including ours, are uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions. There is no guarantee that we have developed or obtained or will in the future develop or obtain the rights to products or processes that are patentable, that patents will issue from any pending applications or that claims allowed will be sufficient to protect the technology we have developed or may in the future develop or to which we have acquired or may in the future acquire development rights. In addition, we cannot be certain that patents issued to us will not be challenged, invalidated, infringed or circumvented, including by our competitors, or that the rights granted thereunder will provide competitive advantages to us.

We also rely on unpatented trade secrets and know-how and continuing technological innovation in order to develop our formulations, which we seek to protect, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, collaborators and others, including certain service providers. We also have invention or patent assignment agreements with our current employees and certain consultants. However, our employees and consultants may breach these agreements and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach, or our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. In addition, inventions relevant to us could be developed by a person not bound by an invention assignment agreement with us, in which case we may have no rights to use the applicable invention.

We may face additional competition outside of the U.S. as a result of a lack of patent coverage in some territories and differences in patent prosecution and enforcement laws in foreign counties.

Filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing patents on our proprietary formulations throughout the world is extremely expensive. While we currently have three international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and nineteen pending foreign patent applications, we do not currently have patent protection outside of the U.S. that covers any of our proprietary formulations or other assets that we are currently pursuing. Competitors may use our technologies to develop their own products in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection.

Even if the international patent applications we have filed or may in the future file are issued or approved, it is likely that the scope of protection provided by such patents would be different from, and possibly less than, the scope provided by corresponding U.S. patents. As a result, any patent rights we are able to obtain may not be sufficient to prevent generic competition. Further, the extent of our international market opportunity may be dependent upon the enforcement of patent rights in various other countries. A number of countries in which we could file patent applications have a history of weak enforcement and/or compulsory licensing of intellectual property rights. Moreover, the legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the aggressive enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology and/or pharmaceuticals, which would make it difficult for us to stop a third party from infringing any of our intellectual property rights. Moreover, attempting to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.

Our proprietary formulations and technologies could potentially conflict with the rights of others.

The preparation or sale of our proprietary formulations and use of our technologies may infringe on the patent or other intellectual property rights of others. If our products infringe or conflict with the patent or other intellectual property rights of others, third parties could bring legal actions against us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin our manufacturing and marketing of our affected products. Patent litigation is costly and time consuming and may divert management’s attention and our resources. We may not have sufficient resources to bring any such actions to a successful conclusion. If we are not successful in defending against these legal actions should they arise, we may be subject to monetary liability or be forced to alter our products, cease some or all of our operations relating to the affected products, or seek to obtain a license in order to continue manufacturing and marketing the affected products, which may not available on acceptable terms or at all.

We are dependent on our Chief Executive Officer, Mark L. Baum, for the continued growth and development of our Company.

Our Chief Executive Officer, Mark L. Baum, has played a primary role in creating and developing our current business model. Further, Mr. Baum has played a primary role in securing and developing much of our material intellectual property rights, commercial programs and related assets, as well as the means to make and distribute our current products. We are highly dependent on Mr. Baum for the implementation of our business plan and the future development of our assets and our business, and the loss of Mr. Baum’s services and leadership would likely materially adversely impact our Company. We presently maintain key man insurance for Mr. Baum.

If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel and consultants, we may be unable to maintain or expand our business.

We developed a new business model in December 2011 and again in November 2013, and we have been focusing on building our management, pharmacy, research and development, sales and marketing and other personnel in order to pursue our current business model. However, we may have significant difficulty attracting and retaining necessary employees, which may be amplified because of our bankruptcy filing in 2011. In addition, because of the specialized nature of our business, our ability to develop products and to compete will remain highly dependent upon our ability to attract and retain qualified pharmacy, scientific, technical and commercial employees and consultants. The loss of key employees or consultants or the failure to recruit or engage new employees and consultants could have a material adverse effect on our business. There is intense competition for qualified personnel in our industry, and we may be unable to continue to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business.

Changes in the healthcare industry that are beyond our control may have an adverse impact on our business.

The healthcare industry is changing rapidly as consumers, governments, medical professionals and the pharmaceutical industry examine ways to broaden medical coverage while controlling the increase in healthcare costs. Such changes could include changes to make the government’s Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs more restrictive, which could limit or curtail the potential for our proprietary formulations to obtain eligibility for reimbursement from such payors, or changes to expand the reach of HIPAA or other health privacy laws, which could make compliance with these laws more costly and burdensome. Further, the Health Reform Law may have a considerable impact on the existing U.S. system for the delivery and financing of health care and conceivably could have a material effect on our business. Any changes to laws and regulations affecting the healthcare industry could impose significant additional costs on our operations in order to maintain compliance or could otherwise negatively affect our business, operations or financial performance.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Because of their significant stock ownership, some of our existing stockholders are able to exert control over us and our significant corporate decisions.

Our executive officers and directors collectively own, or have the right to acquire within 60 days after March 22, 2016, approximately 15% of our common stock that would be outstanding following such issuances. In addition, five individual stockholders collectively own, or have the right to acquire within 60 days after March 22, 2016, an additional approximately 35% of our common stock that would be outstanding following such issuances. These persons, acting together, have the ability to exercise significant influence over or control the outcome of all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors and any significant transaction involving us, and to control our management and affairs. Additionally, since our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws permit our stockholders to act by written consent, a limited number of stockholders may approve stockholder actions without holding a meeting of stockholders. This concentration of ownership may harm the market price of our common stock by, among other things: delaying, deferring, or preventing a change in control of our Company or changes to our board of directors; impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving our Company; causing us to enter into transactions or agreements that are not in the best interests of all stockholders; or discouraging a potential acquiror from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our Company.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, which could cause our stock price to fall.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial results. If we cannot provide reliable financial results, our financial statements could be misstated, our reputation may be harmed and the trading price of our common stock could decline. As we discuss in Item 9A of this Annual Report, our management concluded that our internal controls over financial reporting were effective as of December 31, 2015. However, our controls over financial processes and reporting may not continue to be effective or we may identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls in the future. Any failure to remediate any future material weaknesses or successfully implement required new or improved controls, could harm our operating results, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements in our financial statements or other public disclosures. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.

A consistently active trading market for shares of our common stock may not be sustained.

Historically, trading in our common stock has been sporadic and volatile and our common stock has been “thinly-traded.” There have been, and may in the future be, extended periods when trading activity in our shares is minimal, as compared to a seasoned issuer with a large and steady volume of trading activity. The market for our common stock is also characterized by significant price volatility compared to seasoned issuers, and we expect that such volatility may continue. As a result, the trading of relatively small quantities of shares may disproportionately influence the market price of our common stock. A consistently active and liquid trading market in our securities may never develop or be sustained.

Our stock price may be volatile.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following: our ability to execute our business plan; operating results that fall below expectations; industry or regulatory developments; investor perception of our industry or our prospects; economic and other external factors; and the other risk factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section.

In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

We have the right to issue shares of preferred stock without obtaining stockholder approval. If we were to issue preferred stock, it may have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of our common stock.

We are authorized to issue 5,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock, with such rights, preferences and privileges as may be determined from time to time by our board of directors. Although we have no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding and we have no immediate plans to issue shares of preferred stock, our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock at any time in one or more series and to fix the dividend rights, dissolution or liquidation preferences, redemption prices, conversion rights, voting rights and other rights, preferences and privileges for any series of our preferred stock that may be issued. The issuance of shares of preferred stock, depending on the rights, preferences and privileges attributable to the preferred stock, could reduce the voting rights and powers of our common stockholders and the portion of our assets allocated for distribution to our common stockholders in a liquidation event, and could also result in dilution to the book value per share of our common stock. The preferred stock could also be utilized, under certain circumstances, as a method for raising additional capital or discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of our Company.

We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay dividends in the future. Any return on an investment will be limited to any appreciation in the value of our common stock.

We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate doing so in the foreseeable future. Any payment of dividends on our common stock would depend on contractual restrictions, such as those contained in our LSAF loan agreement and convertible note, as well as our earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors as our board of directors may consider relevant. If we do not pay dividends, our common stock may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if our stock price appreciates.

Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

The sale of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to fall. Such sales could occur upon the expiration of any statutory holding period, such as under Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, applicable to outstanding shares, upon expiration of any lock-up periods applicable to outstanding shares, such as those agreed to in connection with our March 2016 public offering, upon our issuance of shares upon the exercise of outstanding options or warrants, or upon our issuance of shares pursuant offerings of our equity securities, such as the pursuant to our March 2016 public offering or our Controlled Equity Offering™ sales agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. The availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make it more difficult for us to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future when needed, on acceptable terms or at all.