Item 1. Business
Overview
Founded in 1954 as part of Lilly, Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (Elanco Parent) and its subsidiaries (collectively, Elanco, the Company, we, us, or our) is a premier animal health company that innovates, develops, manufactures and markets products for companion and food animals. Headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana, we are the fourth largest animal health company in the world, with revenue of $3.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2019. Globally, we are #1 in medicinal feed additives, #2 in poultry, and #3 in other pharmaceuticals, which are mainly companion animal therapeutics, measured by 2018 revenue, according to Vetnosis. We also have one of the broadest portfolios of pet parasiticides in the companion animal sector. We offer a diverse portfolio of more than 125 brands that make us a trusted partner to veterinarians and food animal producers in more than 90 countries.
Elanco Parent was formed in 2018, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lilly, to serve as the ultimate parent company of substantially all of the animal health businesses of Lilly.
On September 20, 2018, our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “ELAN.” On September 24, 2018, Elanco Parent completed an initial public offering (IPO), resulting in the issuance of 72.3 million shares of its common stock (including shares issued pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares), which represented 19.8% of the outstanding shares, at $24.00 per share resulting in total net proceeds after underwriting discounts and commissions, of $1.7 billion. In connection with the completion of the IPO through a series of equity and other transactions, Lilly transferred to Elanco Parent the animal health businesses that form its business. In exchange, Elanco Parent has paid to Lilly approximately $4.2 billion, which included the net proceeds from the IPO, the net proceeds from the debt offering completed by Elanco Parent in August 2018 and the term loan entered into by Elanco Parent in September 2018 (see Note 9: Debt to our consolidated and combined financial statements). These transactions are collectively referred to herein as the "Separation."
On February 8, 2019, Lilly announced an exchange offer whereby Lilly shareholders could exchange all or a portion of Lilly common stock for shares of Elanco common stock owned by Lilly. The disposition of Elanco shares was completed on March 11, 2019, and resulted in the full separation of Elanco along with the disposal of Lilly's entire ownership and voting interest in Elanco.
We operate our business in a single segment directed at fulfilling our vision of enriching the lives of people through food, making protein more accessible and affordable, and through pet companionship, helping pets live longer, healthier lives. We advance our vision by offering products in four primary categories:
Companion Animal Disease Prevention (CA Disease Prevention): We have one of the broadest parasiticide portfolios in the companion animal sector based on indications, species and formulations, with products that protect pets from worms, fleas and ticks. Combining our parasiticide portfolio with our vaccines presence, we are a leader in the U.S. in the disease prevention category based on share of revenue.
Companion Animal Therapeutics (CA Therapeutics): We have a broad pain and osteoarthritis portfolio across species, modes of action, indications and disease stages. Pet owners are increasingly treating osteoarthritis in their pets, and our Galliprant product is one of the fastest growing osteoarthritis treatments in the U.S. We also have treatments for otitis (ear infections), as well as cardiovascular and dermatology indications.
Food Animal Future Protein & Health (FA Future Protein & Health): Our portfolio in this category, which includes vaccines, nutritional enzymes and animal-only antibiotics, serves the growing demand for protein and includes innovative products in poultry and aquaculture production, where demand for animal health products
is outpacing overall industry growth. We are focused on developing functional nutritional health products that promote food animal health, including enzymes, probiotics and prebiotics. We are a leader in providing vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics to promote animal health based on share of revenue.
Food Animal Ruminants & Swine (FA Ruminants & Swine): We have developed a range of food animal products used extensively in ruminant (e.g., cattle, sheep and goats) and swine production.
We have a top four presence in all four key industry geographic regions: North America (NA); Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Latin America (LATAM); and Asia-Pacific (APAC), as measured by 2018 revenue, according to Vetnosis. The following graphs demonstrate our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019 by product category and geography:
(1) Strategic Exits includes revenue from third-party manufacturing, distribution and other contractual arrangements, as well as products not core to our business, which we made the decision to exit.
(1) LATAM includes aquaculture in all regions
Through our global sales force of approximately 1,425 sales representatives, our veterinary consultants and our key distributors, we seek to build strong customer relationships and fulfill demand for our food animal products primarily with food animal producers, veterinarians and nutritionists, and for our companion animal products primarily with veterinarians and, in some markets, pet owners. We are also expanding into retail channels in order to meet pet owners where they want to purchase.
Our inclusive approach to sourcing innovation helps us identify, attract, fund and develop new ideas that enhance our pipeline and reduce risk as compared to an in-house only approach. Through this process we have launched or acquired 14 new products since 2015, including the additions of Entyce™, Nocita™ and Tanovea™ in 2019, that delivered $439.2 million of revenue in 2019.
We believe we have an experienced leadership team that fosters an adaptive, purpose-driven culture among approximately 6,080 employees worldwide as of December 31, 2019 and that our employees share a deep conviction for achieving our vision of food and companionship enriching life.
For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, our revenue was $3.1 billion, and for the year ended December 31, 2017, our revenue was $2.9 billion. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, our net income (loss) was $67.9 million, $86.5 million and $(310.7) million, respectively.
Products
We have a diverse portfolio of products marketed under more than 125 brands, including products for both food animals and companion animals.
Our food animal products are designed to enable producers to keep animals healthy and deliver more food while using fewer resources. Our antibacterials, anticoccidials, vaccines and parasiticides aim to make food safer by preventing and controlling disease. We offer products and support to enhance the integrity of the food supply, while our productivity enhancers help make food more affordable and abundant by increasing the amount of meat or milk an animal can supply. Furthermore, our expertise and data analytics help our customers improve production efficiency and business performance. Food animal products represented approximately 60% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Our companion animal products help veterinarians better care for pets. We partner with pet owners and veterinarians for the purpose of providing a consistent flow of innovative and effective products and support. Our R&D focuses on products that prevent and treat disease, improve and extend quality of life and improve the type of care received by pets. We also partner closely with veterinarians to provide technical support and case
management for our products. Companion animal products represented approximately 37% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019.
We group our products into four principal categories:
CA Disease Prevention: includes parasiticides and vaccine products for canines and felines.
CA Therapeutics: includes products for the treatment of pain, osteoarthritis, otitis, cardiovascular and dermatology indications in canines and felines.
FA Future Protein & Health: includes vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides and other products used in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as functional nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics and prebiotics.
FA Ruminants & Swine: includes vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides and other products used in ruminants and swine production, as well as certain other food animal products.
We pursue the development of new chemical and biological molecules through our innovation strategy. Since 2015, we have launched or acquired the following 14 products:
In CA Disease Prevention, Credelio™ and Interceptor™ Plus.
In CA Therapeutics, Galliprant, Osurnia™, Tanovea, Entyce and Nocita.
In FA Future Protein & Health, Inteprity™, Imvixa™, Clynav™ and Correlink™.
In FA Ruminants & Swine, Imrestor™, Kavault™ and Prevacent™.
In the second quarter of 2018, we suspended commercialization of Imrestor and plan to pursue additional indications. In addition, as part of our antitrust strategy in connection with the acquisition of the animal health business of Bayer, we announced in January 2020 our plan to divest Osurnia and the U.S. rights to Capstar™ and in February 2020 our plan to divest Vecoxan™.
In 2016, we announced the creation of our Nutritional Health organization, which focuses on functional nutrition products, including enzymes, probiotics and prebiotics, which impact animal microbiomes and other dietary factors to reduce disease incidence, improve gut health and enhance feed digestibility. We first focused on nutritional health in 2012, with the acquisition of ChemGen and the Hemicell™ brand. In 2016, we entered into an agreement with Agro Biosciences, Inc. to commercialize Correlink - a novel direct-fed microbial (probiotic) product outside the U.S. In early 2018, we announced a new global, exclusive in-licensing agreement with Ab E Discovery to further develop and bring to the market an in feed antibody product focused on reducing and controlling coccidiosis. In late 2018, we entered into an R&D collaboration with Novozymes to develop nutritional health products in beef and dairy cattle. In 2019, we entered into an R&D collaboration agreement with AgBiome, Inc. to develop nutritional health products for swine.
Rumensin™, our top selling product, contributed approximately 10%, 11%, and 10% of our revenue in 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively. No other product contributed 10% or more of our revenue. Our top five selling products, Rumensin, Trifexis™, Maxiban™, Interceptor Plus and Denagard™, collectively contributed approximately 31% of our 2019 revenue. Our top 10 products collectively contributed 43% of our 2019 revenue.
Set forth below is information regarding our principal products.
CA Disease Prevention Products
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Primary
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Product
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Description
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Species
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Bronchi Shield™ III and Bronchi Shield Oral
(vaccines)
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Bronchi Shield III - To protect against adenovirus, parainfluenza and Bordetella bronchiseptica (Bb) in dogs.
Bronchi Shield Oral - To protect against Bb in dogs.
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Dogs
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Comfortis™
(spinosad)
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To kill fleas and prevent and treat flea infestations (Ctenocephalides felis) in cats 14 weeks of age or older and weighing at least 4.1 lbs. and dogs 14 weeks of age or older and weighing at least 5.0 lbs.
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Cats, Dogs
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Credelio
(lotilaner)
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To kill adult fleas and to treat flea infestations (Ctenocephalides felis) and treat and control tick infestations (Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick), Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick), Ixodes scapularis (black‑legged tick) and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (brown dog tick)) for one month in dogs and puppies 8 weeks of age or older and weighing at least 4.4 lbs.
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Dogs
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Duramune™
(vaccines)
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Includes multiple products that collectively protect against distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, corona, parainfluenza, leptospira canicola, and other diseases in dogs.
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Dogs
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Rabvac™
(vaccines)
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To protect against rabies, includes a 1-year and 3-year shot.
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Cats, Dogs
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Fel-O-Vax™
(vaccines)
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Includes multiple products that collectively protect against leukemia, rhinovirus, calicivirus, panleukopenia, and chlamydia in cats.
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Cats
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Fel-O-Guard™
(vaccines)
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Includes multiple products that collectively protect against leukemia, rhinovirus, calicivirus, panleukopenia, and chlamydia in cats.
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Cats
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Interceptor Plus
(milbemycin oxime/praziquantel)
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To prevent heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis and for the treatment and control of adult roundworm (Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina), adult hookworm (Ancylostoma caninum), adult whipworm (Trichuris vulpis), and adult tapeworm (Taenia pisiformis, Echinococcus multilocularis, and Echinococcus granulosus) infections in dogs and puppies weighing at least 2 lbs. and 6 weeks of age or older. Interceptor Plus is a relaunch of a previously approved formula.
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Dogs
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Milbemax™
(milbemycin
oxime +
praziquantel)
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To treat and control parasitic infections due to adult hookworm, adult roundworm and adult tapeworm and to prevent heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis in cats and dogs.
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Cats, Dogs
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Trifexis
(spinosad +
milbemycin
oxime)
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To prevent heartworm disease (Dirofilaria immitis) and to kill fleas. Trifexis is indicated for the prevention and treatment of flea infestations (Ctenocephalides felis), and the treatment and control of adult hookworm (Ancylostoma caninum), adult roundworm (Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina) and adult whipworm (Trichuris vulpis) infections in dogs and puppies 8 weeks of age or older and weighing at least 5 lbs.
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Dogs
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CA Therapeutics Products
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Primary
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Product
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Description
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Species
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Atopica™
(cyclosporine A)
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To control atopic dermatitis in dogs weighing at least 4 lbs.
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Dogs
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Fortekor Plus™
(benazepril +
pimobendan)
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To treat congestive heart failure due to atrioventricular valve insufficiency or dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs.
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Dogs
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Galliprant
(grapiprant)
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To control pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis in dogs.
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Dogs
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Onsior™
(robenacoxib)
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To control postoperative pain and inflammation associated with soft tissue surgery in dogs weighing at least 5.5 lbs. and 4 months of age or older and control postoperative pain and inflammation associated with orthopedic surgery, ovariohysterectomy and castration in cats weighing at least 5.5 lbs. and 6 months of age or older; for up to a maximum of 3 days.
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Cats, Dogs
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Osurnia(1)
(terbinafine +
florfenicol +
betamethasone
acetate)
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To treat otitis externa in dogs associated with susceptible strains of bacteria (Staphylococcus pseudintermedius) and yeast (Malassezia pachydermatis).
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Dogs
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Entyce
(capromorelin)
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To stimulate appetite in dogs.
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Dogs
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Nocita
(bupivacaine liposome)
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Local anesthetic to provide up to 72 hours of post-operative pain relief following cranial cruciate ligament surgery in dogs and onychectomy in cats.
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Cats, Dogs
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(1) In January 2020, we announced our plan to divest Osurnia in connection with the pending acquisition of the animal health business of Bayer.
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FA Future Protein & Health
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Primary
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Product
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Description
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Species
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AviPro™
(vaccines)
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Includes multiple products that collectively protect against Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, fowl cholera, paramyxovirus Type 3, Bursal Disease, other diseases and foodborne pathogens like Salmonella in poultry.
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Poultry
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Clynav
(plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid vaccine)
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To immunize Atlantic salmon to reduce impaired daily weight gain, and reduce mortality, and cardiac, pancreatic and skeletal muscle lesions caused by pancreas disease following infection with salmonid alphavirus subtype 3 (SAV3).
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Fish (Salmon)
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Coban™ / Elancoban™
(monensin)
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To aid in the prevention of coccidiosis in broiler and replacement chickens (caused by Eimeria necatrix, E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. brunetti, E. mivati, and E. maxima), in turkeys (caused by Eimeria adenoeides, E. meleagrimitis and E. gallopavonis) and in growing Bobwhite quail (caused by Eimeria dispersa and E. lettyae). Coban/Elancoban is an animal-only antibiotic and an ionophore.
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Poultry
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Hemicell
(endo-1, 4-â-mannanase)
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Enzyme supplement for poultry and swine feeds that contain a source of â-mannanase, which hydrolyses the â-mannans present in soybean and corn meal.
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Poultry, Swine
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Imvixa
(lufenuron)
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To prevent and control infestation caused by sea lice, Caligus reogercresseyi, in farmed salmon.
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Fish (Salmon)
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Maxiban
(narasin +
nicarbazin)
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To prevent coccidiosis in broiler chickens caused by Eimeria necatrix, E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. brunetti, E. mivati and E. maxima. Maxiban is an animal-only antibiotic and an ionophore.
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Poultry
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Monteban™
(narasin)
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To prevent coccidiosis in broiler chickens caused by Eimeria necatrix, E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. brunetti, E. mivati and E. maxima. Monteban is an animal-only antibiotic and an ionophore.
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Poultry
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Surmax™ / Maxus™ / Inteprity
(avilamycin)
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To prevent mortality caused by necrotic enteritis associated with Clostridium perfringens in broiler chickens. Surmax, Maxis and Inteprity are animal-only antibiotics.
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Poultry
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FA Ruminants & Swine
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Primary
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Product
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Description
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Species
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Denagard
(tiamulin)
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To treat Swine Dysentery associated with Serpulina hyodysenteriae susceptible to tiamulin and for treatment of swine bacterial enteritis caused by Escherichia coli and Salmonella choleraesuis sensitive to chlortetracycline and treatment of bacterial pneumonia caused by Pasteurella multocida sensitive to chlortetracycline. Denagard is a shared-class antibiotic.
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Swine
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Pulmotil™
(tilmicosin)
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For swine: To control swine respiratory disease associated with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida.
For cattle: To control bovine respiratory disease (BRD) associated with Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida and Histophilus somni in groups of beef and non-lactating dairy cattle, where active BRD has been diagnosed in at least 10% of the animals in the group. Pulmotil is a shared-class antibiotic.
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Cattle, Swine
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Rumensin
(monensin)
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For cattle fed in confinement for slaughter: To improve feed efficiency and prevent and control coccidiosis due to Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuernii.
For dairy cows: To increase milk production efficiency (production of marketable solids-corrected milk per unit of feed intake).
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Cattle
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For growing cattle on pasture or in dry lot (stocker and feeder and dairy and beef replacement heifers): To increase rate of weight gain and to prevent and control coccidiosis due to Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuernii.
For mature reproducing beef cows: To improve feed efficiency when receiving supplemental feed and to prevent and control coccidiosis due to Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuernii.
For goats: To prevent coccidiosis due to Eimeria crandallis, Eimeria christenseni and Eimeria ninakohlyakimovae in goats maintained in confinement.
For calves (excluding veal calves): To prevent and control coccidiosis due to Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuernii.
Rumensin is an animal-only antibiotic and an ionophore.
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Tylan™ Premix
(tylosin phosphate)
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To control porcine proliferative enteropathies associated with Lawsonia intracellularis and to control porcine proliferative enteropathies associated with Lawsonia intracellularis immediately after medicating with Tylan Soluble (tylosin tartrate) in drinking water. Tylan Premix is a shared-class antibiotic.
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Swine, Cattle, Poultry
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Vira Shield™
(vaccines)
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Includes multiple products that protect against infection, bovine rhinotracheitis, bovine viral diarrhea, bovine respiratory syncytial virus, bovine respiratory disease, leptospira canicola and other diseases in cattle.
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Cattle
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Antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance in humans, or the risk that bacterial pathogens that cause infectious disease in humans evolve or otherwise emerge that are resistant to antibiotics or other antimicrobials, is a significant health concern, and animal agriculture can play a role in mitigating this risk. As a company dedicated to the health and well-being of animals, we seek to help veterinarians and farmers responsibly use antibiotics when treating animals. In our efforts to address antibiotic resistance while protecting animal health, we introduced a global antibiotic stewardship plan focused on increasing responsible antibiotic use; reducing the need for shared-class antibiotics; and replacing
antibiotics with alternatives to help livestock producers treat and prevent animal disease. Antibiotics, used responsibly, along with good animal care practices, help enhance food safety and animal well-being.
There are two classes of antibiotics used in animal health:
Animal-only antibiotics and ionophores: Not all pathogens that cause disease in animals are infectious in humans, and accordingly animal-only antibiotics are not used in human medicine (i.e., not medically important). Ionophores are a special class of animal-only antimicrobials uniquely developed only for use in animals. In Europe and certain other jurisdictions, ionophores are not currently classified as antibiotics. Because of their animal-only designation, mode of action, and spectrum of activity, their use is not considered to create the same risk of resistance in human pathogens.
Shared-class antibiotics: These are used in both humans and animals. Some antibiotics are used to treat infectious disease caused by pathogens that occur in both humans and animals. Of the 18 major antibiotic resistance threats that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks, two are associated with infectious disease in animals. As part of our global antibiotic stewardship plan and in compliance with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) guidance, shared-class antibiotics are labeled only for the treatment of an established need in animals and only with veterinarian oversight.
We have intentionally shifted away from shared-class antibiotics, and are focusing on animal-only antibiotics, as well as antibiotic-free solutions. In 2019, 11% of our revenue was from products classified as shared-class antibiotics (4% from sales in the U.S. and 7% from sales outside the U.S.), which is down from 16% in 2015. Revenue from animal-only antibiotics and ionophores represented 24% of our total revenue in 2019 (21% from ionophores), which is up from 23% in 2015. Through our policies and efforts in this area, we seek to protect the benefits of antibiotics in human medicine, while responsibly protecting the health of food animals and the safety of our food supply.
Sales and Marketing
Our sales organization includes sales representatives, veterinary consultants and other value added specialists. In markets where we do not have a direct commercial presence, we generally contract with distributors that provide logistics and sales and marketing support for our products.
Our sales representatives visit our customers, including consultants, veterinarians, food animal producers, and resellers, to inform, promote and sell our products and to support customers. Our veterinary consultants are available to provide scientific consulting focused on disease management and herd management, training and education on diverse topics, including responsible product use, and generally have advanced degrees in veterinary medicine, veterinary nutrition or other agriculture-related fields. These direct relationships with customers allow us to understand their needs. Additionally, our sales representatives and veterinary consultants focus on collaborating with our customers to educate and support them on topics such as local disease awareness and to help them adopt new and more sophisticated animal health solutions, including through the use of our products. As a result of these relationships, our sales and consulting visits provide us with access to customer decision makers. In addition, our sales and marketing organization provides enhanced value by providing support to food animal producers to help maximize their yields and reduce costs. Our analytics help customers analyze large amounts of health and production data. As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately 1,425 sales representatives.
Customers
We primarily sell our food animal products to third-party distributors and directly to a diverse set of food animal producers, including beef and dairy farmers as well as pork, poultry and aquaculture operations. We primarily sell our companion animal products to third-party distributors, as well as directly to veterinarians that typically then sell our products to pet owners. We are also expanding into retail channels in order to meet pet owners where they want to purchase. Our largest customer, an affiliate of AmerisourceBergen Corp., is a third-party veterinary distributor and represented approximately 13% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019. Our next two largest customers represented approximately 7% and 6% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019. No other customer represented more than 5% of our revenue for the same period.
Research and Development
Our R&D organization is comprised of internal research, global development, global regulatory and external innovation collaborations and venture investing. As of December 31, 2019, we employed approximately 765 employees in our global R&D and Regulatory Affairs organizations. Our R&D headquarters is located in Greenfield, Indiana. We have R&D facilities in Basel, Switzerland; and Yarrandoo, Australia and R&D facilities co-located with manufacturing sites in Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Cuxhaven, Germany. Additional R&D operations are located in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; and Bangalore, India. We incurred R&D expenses of $270.1 million in 2019, $246.6 million in 2018 and $251.7 million in 2017.
New product innovation is a core part of our business strategy. Our R&D investment is focused on projects that target novel product introductions, as well as new indications, presentations, combinations and species expansion. Our approach is a build, buy, or ally strategy to develop compelling targets and concepts that originate from our scientists and innovators, academia, agribusiness, or human pharmaceutical and biotechnology at all stages of R&D. The ability to source our concepts from different areas allows us to create a pipeline that can be competitive in the categories in which we have chosen to compete, while reducing our risk by not owning and funding all aspects of our R&D projects.
We seek to concentrate our resources in areas where we believe the science and our capabilities best match the opportunities in the animal health market. Specifically, our R&D focuses on six areas across companion animals and food animals. For companion animals, we have R&D activities in therapeutics, vaccines and parasiticides, while in food animals we are pursuing pharmaceuticals, vaccines and nutritional health.
Our R&D efforts consist of more than 100 active programs balanced across species and technology platforms. For both food animals and companion animals, we apply both large and small molecule approaches. In vaccines, our efforts encompass a full range of modified live, inactivated and nucleic acid strategies. In nutritional health, we focus on products based on enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics and other approaches that modulate biological activity in the animal digestive tract. Additionally, we employ various delivery strategies for products including in-feed, injectable, oral and topical formulations developed in conjunction with our manufacturing team to assure production that maximizes the capabilities within our internal and external manufacturing network.
We engage in licensing and business development to acquire assets for our pipeline and new R&D platforms and to establish strategic R&D collaborations. We make and maintain capital investments in venture capital vehicles that focus on agribusiness and animal health, and we engage in risk sharing collaborations to expand our external capital sources to augment internal investments. To support collaborations with innovation sources focused on human health we have developed capabilities to conduct translational comparative medical research trials in animals with naturally occurring conditions in animals that mimic a human disease or disorder. This type of collaboration de-risks unproven or less well-validated human hypotheses while potentially defining a clinically validated new approach in veterinary medicine.
Our R&D and commercial leadership allocate R&D investment annually with the goal of aligning near and long-term strategic opportunities and objectives. Portfolio investment decisions are made based on the probability of technical success and regulatory approval, timing of approval/launch and earlier milestones, feasibility and cost of development and manufacturing, intellectual property protection and market attractiveness/commercial forecast. R&D projects are supported by pharmaceutical project management approaches and we aim for all of our supporting R&D functional capabilities and capacities to be managed and matched to the evolving demands of the pipeline. We believe this overall R&D management system has enabled us to consistently gain product approvals while maintaining clear visibility to pipeline breadth and depth to support sustained launches into the future.
Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Prior to the separation, our products were manufactured at both sites operated by us and sites operated by third-party contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).
We own and operate 12 internal manufacturing sites, four of which focus on vaccines, six of which focus on other animal health products and two of which are regional sites that focus on packaging:
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Site
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Location
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Site
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Location
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Clinton
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Indiana, U.S.
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Prince Edward Island
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Canada
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Speke
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Liverpool, U.K.
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Winslow
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Maine, U.S.
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Kansas City
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Kansas, U.S.
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Fort Dodge
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Iowa, U.S.
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Huningue
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France
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Cuxhaven
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Germany
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Wusi
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China
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Chungli
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Taiwan
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Terre Haute
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Indiana, U.S.
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Barueri
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Brazil
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We will continue to manufacture one product, human growth hormone, for Lilly at one of these sites until the end of 2020.
Our global manufacturing and supply chain is also supported by a network of CMOs. As of December 31, 2019, this network was comprised of approximately 90 CMOs. Our external manufacturing network centrally governs our global CMO relationships and provides oversight to these CMOs through four hubs.
We select CMOs based on several factors: (i) their ability to reliably supply products or materials that meet our quality standards at an optimized cost; (ii) their access to specialty products and technologies; (iii) capacity; and (iv) financial analyses. Our External Manufacturing Network seeks to ensure that all of the CMOs we use adhere to our standards of manufacturing quality.
We purchase certain raw materials necessary for the commercial production of our products from a variety of third-party suppliers. We utilize logistics service providers as a part of our global supply chain, primarily for shipping and logistics support.
We intend to continue our efficiency improvement programs in our manufacturing and supply chain organization. We have strong globally managed and coordinated quality control and quality assurance programs in place at all internal manufacturing sites and external manufacturing hubs, and we regularly inspect and audit our internal sites and CMO locations.
Competition
We face intense competition in the sectors and regions on which we focus. Principal methods of competition vary depending on the particular region, species, product category, or individual product. Some of these methods include new product development, quality, price, service and promotion.
Our primary competitors include animal health medicines and vaccines companies such as Zoetis Inc.; Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., the animal health division of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH; Merck Animal Health, the animal health division of Merck & Co., Inc.; and the animal health business of Bayer. In August 2019, we entered into an agreement to acquire the animal health business of Bayer (see Note 6: Acquisitions to our consolidated and combined financial statements). We also face competition globally from manufacturers of generic drugs, as well as from producers of nutritional health products, such as DSM Nutritional Products AG and Danisco Animal Nutrition, the animal health division of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a subsidiary of DowDuPont, Inc. There are also several new start-up companies working in the animal health area. In addition, we compete with numerous other producers of animal health products throughout the world.
Intellectual Property
Our technology, brands and other intellectual property are important elements of our business. We rely on patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as regulatory exclusivity periods and non-disclosure agreements to protect our intellectual property rights. Our policy is to vigorously protect, enforce and defend our rights to our intellectual property, as appropriate.
Our product portfolio and certain product candidates enjoy the protection of approximately 3,000 patents and applications, filed in over 50 countries, with concentration in our major market countries as well as other countries with strong patent systems, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan and the U.S. Many of the patents and patent applications in our portfolio are the result of our own work, while other patents and patent applications in our portfolio were at least partially developed, and licensed to us, by third parties. A subset of our current products or product candidates are covered by patents and patent applications in our portfolio.
Patents for individual products expire at different times based on the date of the patent filing (or sometimes the date of patent grant) and the legal term of patents in the countries where such patents are obtained. For example, Galliprant’s active ingredient, grapiprant, is encompassed by both compound and physical form patents in the U.S., Europe, Canada and other key markets, with terms that expire between October 2021 and March 2026. Various formulation and method of use patents encompass the spinosad pesticide products, Comfortis and Trifexis. The Comfortis formulation patent extends through August 2020 in the U.S., Canada and Australia, and, upon grant of applicable supplementing protection certificate (SPC), through August 2025 in Europe. The Trifexis formulation and method of use patents extend through September 2021 in the U.S., Canada and Australia, and, upon grant of applicable SPC, through September 2026 in Europe. We typically maintain all of our patents and assert our patent rights against third parties as appropriate.
Additionally, many of our vaccine products, including the Duramune family of vaccines, are based on proprietary or patented master seeds and formulations. We actively seek to protect our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and proprietary know-how, through a variety of means including by seeking to require our employees, consultants, advisors and partners to enter into confidentiality agreements and other arrangements upon the commencement of their employment or engagement.
In order to facilitate the Separation and allow Lilly's and our operations to continue with minimal interruption, Lilly licensed to us the right to use certain intellectual property rights in the animal health field. In addition, Lilly granted us a transitional license to use certain of Lilly’s trademarks for a period of time following the IPO.
We seek to file and maintain trademarks around the world based on commercial activities in most regions where we have, or desire to have, a business presence for a particular product. We currently maintain more than 9,000 trademark applications and registrations in major regions, primarily identifying products dedicated to the care of livestock and companion animals.
Regulatory
The sale of animal health products is governed by the laws and regulations specific to each country in which we sell our products. To maintain compliance with these regulatory requirements, we have established processes, systems and dedicated resources with end-to-end involvement from product concept to launch and maintenance in the market. Our regulatory function actively seeks to engage in dialogue with various global agencies regarding their policies that relate to animal health products. In the majority of our markets, the relevant health authority is separate from those governing human medicinal products.
United States
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The regulatory body that is responsible for the regulation of animal health pharmaceuticals in the U.S. is the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), a division of the FDA. All manufacturers of animal health pharmaceuticals must demonstrate their products to be safe, effective and produced by a consistent method of manufacture as defined under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The FDA’s basis for approving a new animal drug application is documented in a Freedom of Information Summary. Post-approval monitoring of products is required by law, with reports being provided to the CVM’s Office of Surveillance and Compliance. Reports of product quality defects, adverse events or unexpected results are maintained and submitted in accordance with the law. Additionally, as part of the drug experience report, we are required to submit all new information pertaining to the safety or effectiveness of a product, regardless of the source.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. The regulatory body in the U.S. for veterinary biologicals is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Center for Veterinary Biologics within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in the USDA is responsible for the regulation of animal health biologicals, which includes but is not limited to vaccines, bacterins, allergens, antibodies, antitoxins, toxoids, immunostimulants, certain cytokines, antigenic or immunizing components of live microorganisms, and diagnostic components of natural or synthetic origin, or that are derived
from synthesizing or altering various substances or components of substances such as microorganisms, genes or genetic sequences, carbohydrates, proteins, antigens, allergens or antibodies. All manufacturers of animal health biologicals must show their products to be pure, safe, effective and produced by a consistent method of manufacture as defined under the Virus Serum Toxin Act. Post-approval monitoring of products is required. Reports of product quality defects, adverse events or unexpected results are maintained and submitted in accordance with the agency requirements.
Environmental Protection Agency. The main regulatory body in the U.S. for veterinary pesticides is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs is responsible for the regulation of most pesticide products applied to animals in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the FDA and EPA for products that are subject to regulation under both the FFDCA and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. All manufacturers of animal health pesticides must show their products will not cause unreasonable adverse effects to man or the environment as stated in the act. Within the U.S., individual state pesticide authorities must, before distribution in that state, also approve pesticide products that are approved by the EPA. Post-approval monitoring of products is required, with reports provided to the EPA and some state regulatory agencies.
Food Safety Inspection Service. The FDA is authorized to determine the safety of substances (including “generally recognized as safe” substances, food additives and color additives), as well as prescribe their safe conditions of use. However, although the FDA has the responsibility for determining the safety of substances, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the public health agency in the USDA, still retains, under the tenets of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act and their implementing regulations, the authority to determine that new substances and new uses of previously approved substances are suitable for use in meat and poultry products.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits U.S. corporations and their representatives from offering, promising, authorizing or making payments to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party or political candidate in an attempt to obtain or retain business abroad. The scope of the FCPA includes interactions with certain healthcare professionals in many countries. Other countries have enacted similar anti-corruption laws and/or regulations. In some countries in which we operate, the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries are exposed to a high risk of corruption associated with sales to healthcare professionals and institutions.
Outside of the United States
European Union (EU). We are governed by the following EU regulatory bodies:
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a centralized agency of the EU responsible for the scientific evaluation of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMP) developed by pharmaceutical companies for use in the EU. The agency has a veterinary review section distinct from the medical review section for human products. The Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) is responsible for scientific review of the submissions for VMP and Immunological Veterinary Medicinal Products. If the CVMP concludes that all requirements for quality, safety and efficacy are met, it issues a positive opinion that is forwarded to the European Commission, who takes the final decision following the European comitology procedure. The centralized marketing authorization (commission decision) of the European Commission is valid in all of the EU. All countries that are not part of the EU but belong to the European Economic Area (EEA), i.e., Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, have been part of the scientific assessment done by the CVMP. These countries issue a national marketing approval in accordance with the Commission decision. A series of regulations, directives, guidelines, EU Pharmacopeia Monographs and other legislation provide the requirements for approval in the EU. In general, these requirements are similar to those in the U.S., requiring demonstrated evidence of purity, safety, efficacy and consistency of manufacturing processes.
If approval is sought for products that either cannot or do not need to follow the centralized procedure, approval can also be achieved by national approval in an EEA country agency. This national authorization can be mutually recognized by other EEA countries/EU member states (Mutual Recognition Procedure). In addition, national and mutual recognition can be done in a combined procedure (Decentralized Procedure).
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the EU that provides scientific advice and communicates with respect to existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. Based on EFSA’s mandate, the agency evaluates applications for feed additives, including enzymes and several nutritionals for animals.
The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) is the agency of the EU for the safe use of chemicals. Based on the ECHA’s mandate, the agency conducts the evaluation of biocides for the EU.
In regard to Brexit, the UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020. A transition period is in effect from February 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020, during which the UK and the EU will negotiate a trade agreement. Post-separation, the UK has indicated it will look to continue working closely with the EMA, and that existing agreements between the EMA and other countries such as Switzerland, the U.S. and Canada provide a precedent on which the UK could build.
Brazil. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Production and Supply (MAPA) is the regulatory body in Brazil that is responsible for the regulation and control of pharmaceuticals, biologicals and medicinal feed additives for animal use. MAPA’s regulatory activities are conducted through the Secretary of Agricultural Defense and its Livestock Products Inspection Department. In addition, regulatory activities are conducted at a local level through the Federal Agriculture Superintendence. These activities include the inspection and licensing of both manufacturing and commercial establishments for veterinary products, as well as the submission, review and approval of pharmaceuticals, biologicals and medicinal feed additives. MAPA is one of the most active regulatory agencies in Latin America, having permanent seats at several international animal health forums, such as Codex Alimentarius, World Organization for Animal Health and Committee of Veterinary Medicines for the Americas. MAPA was also recently invited to be a Latin American representative at International Cooperation on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VICH) meetings. Several normative instructions issued by MAPA have set regulatory trends in Latin America.
Japan. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF) is the regulatory body in Japan that is responsible for the regulation and control of pharmaceuticals (including biologicals and pesticide/disinfectant) and feed additive/feed for animal use. MAFF’s regulatory activities are conducted through the Livestock & Aquaculture Product Safety Control Division under Consumer Safety Bureau. The animal drug reviews and approvals, reexamination reviews, GxP compliance checks, GxP site inspections and product assay checks (including vaccine national assays) are done by National Veterinary Assay Laboratory (NVAL). MAFF coordinates with other agencies such as Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and Food Safety Commission (FSC) to perform various license compliance checks (e.g. marketing authorization holder, manufacturer and oversea site accreditation) and ensure good promotional activities. Routine inspections, antimicrobial feed additive national assays and manufacturing inspections are done by the Food & Agriculture Material Inspection Center. For food animal products, animal drug review is done by NVAL but the human food safety review is done by FSC (ADI establishment and antimicrobial risk assessment) and MHLW (MRL establishment). These three agencies (NVAL, FSC and MHLW) work together to approve food animal products. In addition to those central government agencies, various licenses are delegated to the local municipal government, such as animal drug wholesaler and retailer licenses and feed additive distributor licenses.
China. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is the regulatory body that is responsible for the regulation and control of pharmaceuticals, biologicals, disinfectants, medicinal feed additives, pesticide and feed/feed additives for animal use. There are three organizations under the MOA that regulate animal health:
The Institute of Veterinary Drug Control is responsible for the evaluation of new applications, renewals, variations, manufacturers, quality methods and tissue residue methods for pharmaceuticals, biologicals, disinfectants and medicinal feed additives.
The feed/feed additive office is responsible for the registration and renewal of feed and feed additives.
The pesticide bureau is responsible for the registration and renewal of pesticide products.
Australia. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is an Australian government statutory authority established in 1993 to centralize the registration of all agricultural and veterinary products into the Australian marketplace. Previously, each state and territory government had its own system of registration. The APVMA assesses applications from companies and individuals seeking registration so they can supply their product to the marketplace. Applications undergo rigorous assessment using the expertise of the APVMA’s scientific staff and drawing on the technical knowledge of other relevant scientific organizations, Commonwealth government departments and state agriculture departments. If the product works as intended and the scientific data confirms that when used as directed on the product label it will have no harmful or unintended effects on people, animals, the environment or international trade, the APVMA will register the product. As well as registering new agricultural and veterinary products, the APVMA reviews older products that have been on the market for a substantial period of
time to ensure they still do the job users expect and are safe to use. The APVMA also reviews registered products when particular concerns are raised about their safety and effectiveness. The review of a product may result in confirmation of its registration or it may see registration continue with some changes to the way the product can be used. In some cases, the review may result in the registration of a product being cancelled and the product taken off the market.
Rest of world. Country-specific regulatory laws typically have provisions that include requirements for certain labeling, safety, efficacy and manufacturers’ quality control procedures (to assure the consistency of the products), as well as company records and reports. Other countries’ regulatory agencies typically either refer to the FDA, USDA, EU and other international animal health entities, including the World Organization for Animal Health, Codex Alimentarius or VICH (see below), in establishing standards and regulations for veterinary pharmaceuticals and vaccines, or review the quality, safety and effectiveness of the products themselves according to their own national requirements.
Global policy and guidance
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives is an international expert scientific committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). They provide a risk assessment/safety evaluation of residues of veterinary drugs in animal products, exposure and residue definition and maximum residue limit proposals for veterinary drugs. Similarly, the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) is an international expert scientific group administered jointly by the FAO and WHO. JMPR reviews residues and analytical aspects of the pesticides, estimate the maximum residue levels, review toxicological data and estimate acceptable daily intakes for humans of the pesticides under consideration. Elanco works with these committees to establish acceptable safe levels of residual product in food-producing animals after treatment with veterinary drugs or pesticides. This in turn enables the calculation of appropriate withdrawal times for our products prior to an animal entering the food chain.
Advertising and promotion review. Promotion of ethical animal health products is controlled by regulations in many countries. These rules generally restrict advertising and promotion to those claims and uses that have been reviewed and endorsed by the applicable agency. We conduct a review of promotion material for compliance with the local and regional requirements in the markets where we sell animal health products.
Import and Export of Products. The importation and exportation of animal health products is controlled by regulations in many countries. In some jurisdictions this may include obtaining separate permits or licenses by product or by company or filing notices with applicable regulatory agencies prior to import or export of product. We ensure compliance with local and global regulations in the markets where we import/export our animal health products.
International Cooperation on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products. VICH is a trilateral (EU-Japan-USA) program launched in 1996 aimed at harmonizing technical requirements for veterinary product registration. Several other countries have obtained observer status, for example, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, or are linked to VICH on basis of the VICH Outreach Forum, a VICH initiative with the main objective of providing a basis for wider international harmonization of technical requirements. In addition, the World Organization for Animal Health is an associate member of VICH.
The objectives of the VICH are as follows:
Establish and implement harmonized technical requirements for the registration of veterinary medicinal products in the VICH regions, which meet high quality, safety and efficacy standards and minimize the use of test animals and costs of product development.
Provide a basis for wider international harmonization of registration requirements through the VICH Outreach Forum.
Monitor and maintain existing VICH guidelines, taking particular note of the ICH work program and, where necessary, update these VICH guidelines.
Ensure efficient processes for maintaining and monitoring consistent interpretation of data requirements following the implementation of VICH guidelines.
By means of a constructive dialogue between regulatory authorities and industry, provide technical guidance enabling response to significant emerging global issues and science that impact regulatory requirements within the VICH regions.
Employees
As of December 31, 2019, we employed approximately 5,760 full time employees. In addition, we employed approximately 320 fixed-duration employees, which are individuals hired for a pre-defined length of time (one to four years). Together, they total approximately 6,080 worldwide. Of the 6,080 employees globally, approximately 2,560 are U.S.-based and approximately 3,520 are employed in other jurisdictions. Some of these employees are members of unions, works councils, trade associations or are otherwise subject to collective bargaining agreements, including approximately 150 union employees in the U.S. located at our Fort Dodge, Iowa manufacturing/R&D facility. Approximately 40% of our global population is in customer-facing roles, including but not limited to, traditional sales roles, technical consultants, account managers and commercial and general managers.
Environmental, Health and Safety
We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety (EHS) laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern matters such as the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; the generation, use, storage, handling, treatment, packaging, transportation, exposure to, and disposal of hazardous and biological materials, including recordkeeping, reporting and registration requirements; and the health and safety of our employees. Due to our operations, these laws and regulations also require us to obtain, and comply with, permits, registrations or other authorizations issued by governmental authorities. These authorities can modify or revoke our permits, registrations or other authorizations and can enforce compliance through fines and injunctions.
Certain environmental laws impose joint and several liability, without regard to fault, for cleanup costs on persons who have disposed of or released hazardous substances into the environment, including at third-party sites or offsite disposal locations, or that currently own or operate (or formerly owned or operated) sites where such a release occurred. We could be subject to liability for the investigation and remediation of legacy environmental contamination caused by historical industrial activity at sites that we own or on which we operate. In addition to clean-up actions brought by federal, state, local and foreign governmental entities, private parties could raise personal injury or other claims against us due to the presence of, or exposure to, hazardous materials on, from or otherwise relating to such a property.
We have made, and intend to continue to make, necessary expenditures for compliance with applicable EHS laws and regulations. We are also monitoring and investigating environmental contamination from past industrial activity at certain sites. As a result, we incurred capital and operational expenditures in 2019 for environmental compliance purposes and for the clean-up of certain past industrial activities. Environmental-related capital expenditures and other environmental-related expenditures were $0.0 million and $0.2 million in 2019, respectively.
In connection with past divestitures, we have undertaken certain indemnification obligations that may require us in the future, to conduct or finance environmental cleanups at sites that we no longer own or operate. In connection with certain of our acquisitions, we have also entered into indemnification agreements pursuant which we are or may be indemnified for various environmental cleanups; however, such indemnities are limited in both time and scope and may be further limited in the presence of new information, or may not be available at all.
Legal Proceedings
We are from time to time subject to claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. These claims and litigation may include, among other things, allegations of violation of U.S. and foreign competition law, labor laws, consumer protection laws and environmental laws and regulations, as well as claims or litigation relating to product liability, intellectual property, securities, breach of contract and tort. We operate in multiple jurisdictions and, as a result, a claim in one jurisdiction may lead to claims or regulatory penalties in other jurisdictions. We intend to vigorously defend against any pending or future claims and litigation, as appropriate.
At this time, in the opinion of our management, the likelihood is remote that the impact of any such proceedings, either individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. However, one or more unfavorable outcomes in any claim or litigation
against us could have a material adverse effect for the period in which they are resolved. In addition, regardless of their merits or their ultimate outcomes, such matters are costly, divert management’s attention and may materially adversely affect our reputation, even if resolved in our favor.
Available Information
Our website address is www.elanco.com. On our website, we make available, free of charge, our annual, quarterly and current reports, including amendments to such reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the SEC.
Information relating to corporate governance at Elanco, including our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Conduct, Financial Code of Ethics, Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, Committee Charters; information concerning our executive officers and members of our board of directors; and ways to communicate are available on our website. We will provide any of the foregoing information without charge upon written request to Elanco’s Corporate Secretary, Elanco, 2500 Innovation Way, Greenfield, Indiana 46140. Information relating to shareholder services is also available on our website.
Information contained on our website is not part of, or incorporated by reference, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our business, financial condition and results of operations are subject to various risks, including but not limited to the risks described below. If any of such risks actually materializes, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Elanco
The animal health industry is highly competitive.
The animal health industry is highly competitive. Our competitors include standalone animal health businesses, the animal health businesses of large pharmaceutical companies, specialty animal health businesses and companies that mainly produce generic products. We believe many of our competitors are conducting R&D activities in areas served by our products and in areas in which we are developing products. Several new start-up companies also compete in the animal health industry. We also face competition from manufacturers of drugs globally, as well as producers of nutritional health products. These competitors may have access to greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources. As a result, they may be able to devote more resources to developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling their products, initiating or withstanding substantial price competition or more readily taking advantage of acquisitions or other opportunities. Further, consolidation in the animal health industry could result in existing competitors realizing additional efficiencies or improving portfolio bundling opportunities, thereby potentially increasing their market share and pricing power, which could lead to a decrease in our revenue and profitability and an increase in competition. For example, many of our competitors have relationships with key distributors and, because of their size, the ability to offer attractive pricing incentives, which may negatively impact or hinder our relationships with these distributors. In addition to competition from established market participants, new entrants to the animal health medicines and vaccines industry could substantially reduce our market share, render our products obsolete or disrupt our business model.
To the extent that any of our competitors are more successful with respect to any key competitive factor, or we are forced to reduce, or are unable to raise, the price of any of our products in order to remain competitive, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Competitive pressure could arise from, among other things, more favorable safety and efficacy product profiles, limited demand growth or a significant number of additional competitive products being introduced into a particular market, price reductions by competitors, the ability of competitors to capitalize on their economies of scale, the ability of competitors to produce or otherwise procure animal health products at lower costs than us and the ability of competitors to access more or newer technology than us.
Disruptive innovation and advances in veterinary medical practices, animal health technologies and alternatives to animal-derived protein, could negatively affect the market for our products.
The markets for our products are regularly impacted by the introduction and/or broad market acceptance of newly-developed or alternative products that address the diseases and conditions for which we sell products, including “green” or “holistic” health products, specially bred disease-resistant animals or replacements for meat, milk, eggs or fish from alternative natural or synthetic sources. For example, the market for our companion animal therapeutics has been particularly affected by innovation in new molecules and delivery formulations in recent years. Technological breakthroughs by others may render obsolete our products and reduce or eliminate the market for our products. Introduction or acceptance of competing animal health products and innovation or disruptive protein alternatives could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Regulatory restrictions and bans on the use of antibiotics and productivity products in food animals, as well as changing market demand, may continue to negatively affect demand for certain of our food animal products.
Over the past few years, our operational results have been, and will continue to be, affected by regulations and changing market demand. In certain markets, including the U.S., sales of certain of our food animal products have been negatively affected by an increase in consumer sentiment for proteins and dairy products produced without the use of antibiotics or other products intended to increase animal production.
There are two classes of antibiotics used in animal health: shared-class, or medically important, antibiotics, which are used to treat infectious disease caused by pathogens that occur in both humans and animals; and animal-only antibiotics, which are used to treat infectious disease caused by pathogens that occur in animals only. See “Business of Elanco - Products - Antibiotics.” Concerns that the use of antibiotics in food animal production may lead to increased antibiotic resistance of human pathogens have resulted in increased regulation and changing market demand. In December 2013, the FDA announced final guidance establishing procedures for the voluntary phase-out in the U.S. over a three-year period of the use of shared-class antibiotics in animal feed or water for growth promotion in food animal production. The guidance allows for continued use of shared-class antibiotics in food-producing animals under the supervision of a veterinarian for treatment, control and, under certain circumstances, for prevention of disease. The FDA indicated that it took this action to help preserve the efficacy of shared-class antibiotics to treat infections in humans. As part of those efforts, stricter guidelines governing the administration of shared-class antibiotics have recently come into effect. As of January 1, 2017, under the FDA’s guidance and the related rule known as the Veterinary Feed Directive, the use of shared-class antibiotics in the water or feed of food-producing animals requires written authorization by a licensed veterinarian. In addition, other countries in which we sell or plan to sell our products, such as France and Vietnam, have passed restrictions or bans on antibiotic use. Other countries have placed restrictions or bans on the use of specific antibiotics in certain food-producing animals, regardless of the route of administration (in feed or injectable).
From 2015 to 2019, our revenue from shared-class antibiotics declined at a CAGR of 10%, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates. This was driven primarily by changing regulations in many markets, including the Veterinary Feed Directive, as well as changing market demand and our tiered approach to antibiotic stewardship, which included removing growth promotion from labels and requiring veterinary oversight in the U.S. and other markets. Globally, during 2019, our revenue from shared-class antibiotics declined 13%, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, and represented 11% (4% from sales in the U.S. and 7% from sales outside the U.S.) of total revenue, down from 16% in 2015. From 2015 to 2019, our revenue from animal-only antibiotics grew at a CAGR of 4%, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, driven by sales outside the U.S., which offset a slight decline in the U.S. Globally, during 2019, our revenue from animal-only antibiotics declined 1%, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, and represented 24% of total revenue, up from 23% in 2015. In 2019, 87% of our revenue from animal-only antibiotics resulted from the sale of ionophores. Ionophores are a special class of animal-only antimicrobials, and because of their animal-only designation, mode of action and spectrum of activity, their use has not to date been impacted by regulations or changing market demand in many markets outside of the U.S.
The impact of changes in regulations and market preferences regarding the use of antibiotics in food animals could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If there is an increased public perception that consumption of food derived from animals that utilize our products poses a risk to human health, there may be a further decline in the production of those food products and, in turn, demand for our products. In addition, antibiotic resistance concerns will likely result in additional restrictions or bans, expanded regulations or public pressure to further reduce the use of antibiotics in food animals, increased demand for antibiotic-free protein, or changes in the market acceptance or regulatory treatment of ionophores, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, our revenue has been impacted by regulatory changes in China and other markets restricting the use of productivity products, such as those containing ractopamine, in food animals. This has resulted in many U.S. food producers who access such markets eliminating their use of ractopamine. Our FA Ruminants & Swine products Optaflexx™ and Paylean™ contain ractopamine. If more producers decide to access such markets or additional markets restrict the use of ractopamine or other productivity products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Generic products may be viewed as more cost-effective than our products.
We face competition from products produced by other companies, including generic alternatives to our products. We depend on patents and regulatory data exclusivity periods to provide us with exclusive marketing rights for some of our products. Patents for individual products expire at different times based on the date of the patent filing (or sometimes the date of patent grant) and the legal term of patents in the jurisdictions where such patents are obtained. The extent of protection afforded by our patents varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and is limited by the scope of the claimed subject matter of our patents, the term of the patent and the availability and enforcement of legal remedies in the applicable jurisdiction. In 2019, approximately 67% of our revenue was from products that did not have patent protection, including revenue from some of our top products such as Rumensin, Maxiban, Denagard and Tylan Premix. Other products are protected by patents that expire over the next several years. As the
patents for a brand name product expire, competitors may begin to introduce generic or other alternatives, and as a result, we may face competition from lower-priced alternatives to many of our products. For example, we have experienced significant competitive headwinds from generic ractopamine in the U.S. In the third quarter of 2013, a large established animal health company received U.S. approval for generic ractopamine. U.S. revenue from Optaflexx, our ractopamine beef product, has declined at a compound annual growth rate of 21% from 2015 to 2019 as a result of generic competition and international regulatory restrictions. In the third quarter of 2019, an established animal health company received U.S. approval for generic monensin in cattle and goats for certain indications. U.S. revenue from Rumensin, our monensin product, may continue to decline as a result of the generic competition. We may face similar competition in the future for existing products that do not benefit from exclusivity or for existing products with material patents expiring in the future. See “Business of Elanco - Intellectual Property.”
Generic competitors are becoming more aggressive in terms of launching products before patent rights expire, and, because of attractive pricing, sales of generic products are an increasing percentage of overall animal health sales in certain regions. Although the impact of generic competition in the animal health industry to date has not typically mirrored that seen in human health, product pricing and the impact of generic competition in the future may more closely mirror human health as a result of changes in industry dynamics, such as channel expansion, consolidation, an increase in the availability and use of pet insurance and the potential for generic competition by established animal health businesses. If animal health customers increase their use of new or existing generic products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We may not successfully implement our business strategies or achieve targeted cost efficiencies and gross margin improvements.
We are pursuing strategic initiatives that management considers critical to our long-term success, including, but not limited to: improving manufacturing processes, reducing our manufacturing footprint, achieving lean initiatives, consolidating our CMO network, strategically insourcing projects, pursuing cost savings opportunities with respect to raw materials through a new procurement process and improving the productivity of our sales force. We may pursue additional strategic initiatives in the future to improve gross margins and achieve our targeted cost efficiencies. We also have acquired or partnered with a number of smaller animal health businesses, and we intend to continue to do so in the future. There are significant risks involved with the execution of these initiatives, including significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control. Accordingly, we may not succeed in implementing these strategic initiatives. Realizing the anticipated benefits from these initiatives, if any benefits are achieved at all, may take several years. We may be unable to achieve our targeted cost efficiencies and gross margin improvements. Additionally, we may have insufficient access to capital to fund investments in strategic initiatives, or our business strategy may change from time to time, which could delay our ability to implement initiatives that we believe are important to our business.
Consolidation of our customers and distributors could negatively affect the pricing of our products.
Third-party distributors, veterinarians and food animal producers are our primary customers. In recent years, there has been a trend towards the concentration of veterinarians in large clinics and hospitals. In addition, food animal producers, particularly swine and poultry producers, and our distributors have seen recent consolidation in their industries. Furthermore, we have seen the expansion of larger cross-border corporate customers and an increase in the consolidation of buying groups (cooperatives of veterinary practices that leverage volume to pursue discounts from manufacturers). The pace of consolidation and structure of markets varies greatly across geographies. If these trends towards consolidation continue, our customers could attempt to improve their profitability by leveraging their buying power to obtain favorable pricing. The resulting decrease in our prices could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A general outbreak of infectious disease or viruses or an outbreak of infectious disease carried by food animals could negatively affect the demand for, and sale and production of, our food animal products.
Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, which could harm our business and have an adverse effect on our results of operations. For example, in December 2019, an outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, has resulted in travel disruption globally and has affected certain companies' operations in China and other countries, including companies with which we do business. At this point, the extent to which the coronavirus may impact our results is uncertain.
Sales of our food animal products could be materially adversely affected by a general outbreak of infectious disease or an outbreak of disease carried by food animals, which could lead to the widespread death or precautionary destruction of food animals as well as the reduced consumption and demand for animal protein. In addition, outbreaks of disease carried by food animals may reduce regional or global sales of particular animal-derived food products or result in reduced exports of such products, either due to heightened export restrictions or import prohibitions, which may reduce demand for our food animal products due to reduced herd or flock sizes.
In recent years, outbreaks of various diseases, including African Swine Fever, avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (otherwise known as BSE or “mad cow” disease) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (otherwise known as PEDV) have negatively impacted sales of our animal health products. The discovery of additional cases of any of these, or new, diseases may result in additional restrictions on animal protein, reduced herd or flock sizes, or reduced demand for animal protein, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the outbreak of any highly contagious disease near our main production sites could require us to immediately halt production of our products at such sites or force us to incur substantial expenses in procuring raw materials or products elsewhere.
Our R&D, acquisition and licensing efforts may fail to generate new products or expand the use of our existing products.
Our future success depends on both our existing product portfolio and our pipeline of new products, including new products that we may develop through joint ventures and products that we are able to obtain through license or acquisition, including the acquisition of the Bayer animal health business (see Note 6: Acquisitions to our consolidated and combined financial statements). We commit substantial effort, funds and other resources to R&D, both through our own dedicated resources and through collaborations with third parties.
We may be unable to determine with accuracy when or whether any of our products now under development will be approved or launched, or we may be unable to develop, license or otherwise acquire product candidates or products. In addition, we cannot predict whether any products, once launched, will be commercially successful or will achieve sales and revenue that are consistent with our expectations. The animal health industry is subject to regional and local trends and regulations and, as a result, products that are successful in some markets may not achieve similar success when introduced into other markets. Furthermore, the timing and cost of our R&D may increase, and our R&D may become less predictable as, among other things, regulations applicable to our industry may make it more time-consuming and/or costly to research, develop and register products. If we are unable to generate new products or expand the use of our existing products, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected. For example, between 2015 and 2017, prior to our February 2018 launch of Credelio in the U.S., we experienced an innovation lag in the companion animal parasiticide space. In the absence of a competitive combined oral flea and tick product, our U.S. companion animal parasiticide portfolio revenue declined 15% in 2017, excluding the impact on revenue resulting from a reduction in inventory levels within our distribution channel.
In addition, some of our growth occurred through Lilly’s acquisitions, including Novartis Animal Health, Lohmann Animal Health, Janssen Animal Health and the BI Vetmedica U.S. vaccines portfolio. However, following the Separation, we no longer benefit from Lilly’s scale, capital base and financial strength.
We had losses in recent periods.
We have incurred net losses in recent periods. We could continue to incur asset impairment, restructuring and other special charges and could report losses in the future. We also expect to continue to incur substantial expenditures to develop, manufacture and market our products and implement our business strategies, transaction costs and integration expenses associated with acquisitions, additional amortization of intangible assets, and interest expense. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, adverse events and other unknown factors that may materially adversely affect our business.
The misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our reputation or result in financial or other damages.
Our products have been approved for use under specific circumstances for the treatment of certain diseases and conditions in specific species. There may be increased risk of product liability claims if veterinarians, food animal producers, pet owners or others attempt to use our products off-label, including the use of our products in species
(including humans) for which they have not been approved. Furthermore, the use of our products for indications other than those for which our products have been approved may not be effective, which could harm our reputation and lead to an increased risk of litigation. If we are deemed by a governmental or regulatory agency to have engaged in the promotion of any of our products for off-label use, such agency could request that we modify our training or promotional materials and practices, and we could be subject to significant fines and penalties, and the imposition of these sanctions could also affect our reputation and position within the industry. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Animal health products are subject to unanticipated safety, quality or efficacy concerns, which may harm our reputation.
Unanticipated safety, quality or efficacy concerns arise from time to time with respect to animal health products, whether or not scientifically or clinically supported, leading to product recalls, withdrawals or suspended or declining sales, as well as product liability and other claims.
Regulatory actions based on these types of safety, quality or efficacy concerns could impact all, or a significant portion, of a product’s sales and could, depending on the circumstances, materially adversely affect our results of operations.
In addition, since we depend on positive perceptions of the safety, quality and efficacy of our products, and animal health products generally, by food producers, veterinarians and pet owners, any concern as to the safety, quality or efficacy of our products, whether actual or perceived, may harm our reputation. These concerns and the related harm to our reputation could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, regardless of whether such reports are accurate.
Our business may be negatively affected by weather conditions and the availability of natural resources.
The animal health industry and demand for many of our products in a particular region are affected by weather conditions, varying weather patterns and weather-related pressures from pests, such as ticks. As a result, we may experience regional and seasonal fluctuations in our results of operations.
Food animal producers depend on the availability of natural resources, including large supplies of fresh water. Their animals’ health and their ability to operate could be adversely affected if they experience a shortage of fresh water due to human population growth or floods, droughts or other weather conditions. In the event of adverse weather conditions or a shortage of fresh water, veterinarians or food animal producers may purchase less of our products.
Further, heat waves may cause stress in animals and lead to increased vulnerability to disease, reduced fertility rates and reduced milk production. Droughts may threaten pasture and feed supplies by reducing the quality and amount of forage available to grazing livestock, while climate change may increase the prevalence of parasites and diseases that affect food animals. Adverse weather conditions may also have a material impact on the aquaculture business. Changes in water temperatures could affect the timing of reproduction and growth of various fish species, as well as trigger the outbreak of certain water borne diseases.
In addition, veterinary hospitals and practitioners depend on visits from, and access to, the animals under their care. Veterinarians’ patient volume and ability to operate could be adversely affected if they experience prolonged snow, ice or other severe weather conditions, particularly in regions not accustomed to sustained inclement weather.
We may not be able to realize the expected benefits of our investments in emerging markets and are subject to certain risks due to our presence in emerging markets, including political or economic instability and failure to adequately comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
We have taken steps to increase our presence in select emerging markets, including by expanding our sales organization and product offerings in these markets. The acquisition of the Bayer animal health business is expected to further increase our presence in emerging markets (see Note 6: Acquisitions to our consolidated and combined financial statements). Failure to continue to maintain and expand our business in emerging markets could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, certain emerging markets have legal systems that are less developed. Other jurisdictions in which we conduct business may have legal and regulatory regimes that differ materially from U.S. laws and regulations, are continuously evolving or do not include sufficient judicial or administrative guidance to interpret such laws and regulations. Compliance with diverse legal requirements is costly and time-consuming and requires significant resources. Violations or possible violations of applicable laws or regulations by our employees may result in investigation costs, potential penalties and other related costs, which in turn could negatively affect our reputation and our results of operations.
Some countries within emerging markets may be especially vulnerable to periods of local, regional or global economic, political or social instability or crisis. For example, our sales in certain emerging markets have suffered from extended periods of disruption due to natural disasters. Furthermore, we have also experienced lower than expected sales in certain emerging markets due to local, regional and global restrictions on banking and commercial activities in those countries. In addition, certain emerging markets have currencies that fluctuate substantially, which may impact our financial performance. For these reasons, among others, doing business within emerging markets carries significant risks.
Modification of foreign trade policy may harm our food animal product customers.
Changes in laws, agreements and policies governing foreign trade in the territories and countries where our customers do business could negatively impact such customers’ businesses and adversely affect our results of operations. A number of our customers, particularly U.S.-based food animal producers, benefit from free trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In November 2018, the U.S. negotiated a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico known as the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA), aimed at re-negotiating and updating the terms of NAFTA. The USMCA was revised by the parties on December 10, 2019. The USMCA still requires ratification by Canada before it can take effect. If the USMCA is not ratified and the U.S. were to withdraw from or materially modify NAFTA or other international trade agreements to which it is a party or if the U.S. were to engage in trade disputes or the imposition of tariffs, our customers could be harmed, and as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Our business is subject to risk based on global economic conditions.
Macroeconomic business and financial disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Certain of our customers and suppliers could be affected directly by an economic downturn and could face constraints on the availability of credit or decreased cash flow that could give rise to payment delays, increased credit risk, bankruptcies and other financial hardships that could decrease the demand for our products or hinder our ability to collect amounts due from our customers. If one or more of our large customers, including distributors, discontinues or modifies their relationship with us as a result of economic conditions or otherwise, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. In addition, economic concerns may cause some pet owners to forgo or defer visits to veterinary practices or could reduce their willingness to treat pet health conditions or to continue to own a pet. Furthermore, our exposure to credit and collectability risk is higher in certain international markets and our ability to mitigate such risks may be limited. Our procedures intended to monitor and limit our exposure to credit and collectability risk may not effectively limit such risk and avoid losses.
Our results of operations are dependent upon the success of our top products.
If any of our top products experience issues, such as disruptive innovations or the introduction of more effective competitive products, negative publicity, changes to veterinarian or customer preferences, loss of patent protection, material product liability litigation, new or unexpected side effects, manufacturing disruptions and/or regulatory proceedings, our revenue could be negatively impacted, perhaps significantly. Our top five products, Rumensin, Trifexis, Maxiban, Denagard and Interceptor Plus, contributed approximately 31% of our revenue in 2019. Any issues with these top products, particularly Rumensin, which contributed approximately 10% of our revenue in 2019 and is now subject to generic competition in the U.S., could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to risk based on customer exposure to rising costs and reduced customer income.
Feed, fuel, transportation and other key costs for food animal producers may increase or animal protein prices or sales may decrease. Either of these trends could cause deterioration in the financial condition of our food animal product customers, potentially inhibiting their ability to purchase our products or pay us for products delivered. Our food animal product customers may offset rising costs by reducing spending on our food animal products, including by switching to lower-cost alternatives to our products. In addition, concerns about the financial resources of pet owners could cause veterinarians to alter their treatment recommendations in favor of lower-cost alternatives to our products, which could result in a decrease in sales of our companion animal products, especially in developed countries where there is a higher rate of pet ownership. Rising costs or reduced income for our customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
For our companion animal products, increased use of alternative distribution channels, or changes within existing distribution channels, could negatively impact our market share, margins and distribution of our products.
In most markets, pet owners typically purchase their animal health products directly from veterinarians. However, pet owners increasingly have the option to purchase animal health products from sources other than veterinarians, such as online retailers, “big-box” retail stores or other over-the-counter distribution channels. This trend has been demonstrated by the significant shift away from the veterinarian distribution channel in the sale of flea and tick products in recent years. Pet owners also could decrease their reliance on, and visits to, veterinarians as they rely more on internet-based animal health information. Because we market our companion animal prescription products primarily through the veterinarian distribution channel, any decrease in visits to veterinarians by pet owners could reduce our market share for such products and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, pet owners may substitute human health products for animal health products if human health products are deemed to be lower-cost alternatives.
Legislation has also been proposed in the U.S., and may be proposed in the U.S. or abroad in the future, that could impact the distribution channels for our companion animal products. For example, such legislation may require veterinarians to provide pet owners with written prescriptions and disclosure that the pet owner may fill prescriptions through a third party, which may further reduce the number of pet owners who purchase their animal health products directly from veterinarians. Such requirements may lead to increased use of generic alternatives to our products or the increased substitution of our companion animal products with other animal health products or human health products if such other products are deemed to be lower-cost alternatives. Many states already have regulations requiring veterinarians to provide prescriptions to pet owners upon request and the American Veterinary Medical Association has long-standing policies in place to encourage this practice.
Over time, these and other competitive conditions may increase our use of online retailers, “big-box” retail stores or other over-the-counter distribution channels to sell our companion animal products. We may not be adequately prepared or able to distribute our companion animal products if an increased portion of our sales occur through these channels. Also, we may realize lower margins on sales through these distribution channels than we do on sales through veterinarians. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, if one or more of our companion animal distributors discontinues or modifies their relationship with us, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. For example, in 2017, a change in our U.S. inventory management practices resulted in a revenue lag as existing inventory was sold down, which management estimates decreased our revenue by approximately $35 million.
Supply chain continuity could be disrupted by a major catastrophic event or third party quality issue causing a loss of inventory and/or facility that could negatively impact the amount of product sold.
In our business, we have multiple warehouses in the supply chain that have a material amount of inventory. This could create excessive risk if a catastrophic event were to occur at one of these locations. As such, business continuity plans are critical to our manufacturing sites. Additionally, our contracts require that all CMOs and suppliers have business continuity plans. If business continuity plans are not in place, it could result in disruptions in our supply chain. While we work with our CMOs and suppliers to ensure continuity, no assurance can be given that these efforts will be successful. In addition, due to regulatory requirements relating to the qualification of CMOs and suppliers, we may not be able to establish additional or replacement CMOs or suppliers on a timely basis or without
excessive cost. The termination, reduction or interruption in our supply chain could adversely impact our ability to produce and sell certain of our products.
Increased or decreased inventory levels at our channel distributors can lead to fluctuations in our revenues and variations in payment terms extended to our distributors can impact our cash flows.
In addition to selling our products directly to veterinarians, we sell to distributors who, in turn, sell our products to third parties. Inventory levels at our distributors may increase or decrease as a result of various factors, including end customer demand, new customer contracts, heightened and generic competition, required minimum inventory levels, our ability to renew distribution contracts with expected terms, our ability to implement commercial strategies, regulatory restrictions, unexpected customer behavior, and procedures and environmental factors beyond our control, including weather conditions or an outbreak of infectious disease carried by food animals such as African Swine Fever. These increases and decreases can lead to variations in our quarterly and annual revenues. In addition, like all companies that manufacture and sell products, we have policies that govern the payment terms that we extend to our customers. Due to consolidation amongst our distributors, as well as changes in the buying habits of end customers or the need for certain inventory levels at our distributors to avoid supply disruptions, from time to time, our distributors have requested exceptions to the payment term policies that we extend to them. Extensions of customer payment terms can impact our cash flows, liquidity and results of operations.
Loss of our executive officers or other key personnel could disrupt our operations.
We depend on the efforts of our executive officers and other key personnel. Our executive officers and other key personnel are not currently, and are not expected to be, subject to non-compete provisions. In addition, we have not entered into employment agreements with our executive officers or other key personnel. Any unplanned turnover or our failure to develop an adequate succession plan for one or more of our executive officers or other key personnel positions could deplete our institutional knowledge base and erode our competitive advantage. The loss or limited availability of the services of one or more of our executive officers or other key personnel, or our inability to recruit and retain qualified executive officers or other key personnel in the future, could, at least temporarily, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be required to write down goodwill or identifiable intangible assets.
Under U.S. GAAP, if we determine goodwill or identifiable intangible assets are impaired, we will be required to write down these assets and record a non-cash impairment charge. As of December 31, 2019, we had recorded on our balance sheet goodwill of $3.0 billion and identifiable intangible assets of $2.5 billion. Identifiable intangible assets consist primarily of marketed products acquired or licensed from third parties, licensed platform technologies that have alternative future uses in R&D, manufacturing technologies, and customer relationships from business combinations. We also have indefinite-lived intangible assets, which consist of acquired in-process R&D projects from business combinations that are subject to impairment and non-cash impairment charges.
Determining whether an impairment exists and the amount of the potential impairment involves quantitative data and qualitative criteria that are based on estimates and assumptions requiring significant management judgment. Future events or new information may change management’s valuation of an intangible asset in a short amount of time. The timing and amount of impairment charges recorded in our consolidated and combined statements of operations and write-downs recorded in our consolidated balance sheets could vary if our management’s conclusions change. Any impairment of goodwill or identifiable intangible assets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
As a standalone public company, we may expend additional time and resources to comply with rules and regulations that did not previously apply to us, and failure to comply with such rules may lead investors to lose confidence in our financial data.
As a standalone public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and regulations of the NYSE. Previously, we had established all of the procedures and practices required as a subsidiary of Lilly, but we must continue to implement others as a separate, standalone public company. Continuing to establish and expand such procedures and practices could increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, will make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly and could be burdensome on our personnel, systems and resources. We have devoted and are continuing to devote resources to address these public company
requirements. As a result, we have and will continue to incur legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not previously incur while a subsidiary of Lilly to comply with these rules and regulations. Furthermore, continuing the need to establish the corporate infrastructure necessary for a standalone public company may divert some of our management’s attention from operating our business and implementing our strategy. However, the measures we take may not be sufficient to satisfy our obligations as a public company. In addition, we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur in order to comply with these requirements.
Our R&D relies on evaluations of animals, which may become subject to bans, additional restrictive regulations or increased attention from activism movements.
As an animal health medicines and vaccines business, we are required to evaluate the effect of our existing and new products in animals in order to register such products. Animal testing in certain industries has been the subject of controversy and adverse publicity. Some organizations and individuals have attempted to ban animal testing or encourage the adoption of new regulations applicable to animal testing. To the extent that the activities of such organizations and individuals are successful, our R&D, and by extension our business, financial condition and results of operations, could be materially adversely affected. In addition, negative publicity about us or our industry could harm our reputation. For example, food animal producers may experience decreased demand for their products or reputational harm as a result of evolving consumer views of animal rights, nutrition, health-related or other concerns. Any reputational harm to the food animal industry may also extend to companies in related industries, including our company. Adverse consumer views related to the use of one or more of our products in food animals also may result in a decrease in the use of such products and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Manufacturing problems and capacity imbalances may cause product launch delays, inventory shortages, recalls or unanticipated costs.
In order to sell our products, we must be able to produce and ship sufficient quantities to our customers. We own and operate 12 internal manufacturing sites located in nine countries. We also employ a network of approximately 90 third-party CMOs. Many of our products involve complex manufacturing processes and are sole-sourced from certain manufacturing sites.
Minor deviations in our manufacturing or logistical processes, such as temperature excursions or improper package sealing, could result, and have in the past resulted in, delays, inventory shortages, unanticipated costs, product recalls, product liability and/or regulatory action. In addition, a number of factors could cause production interruptions, including:
•the failure of us or any of our vendors or suppliers, including logistical service providers, to comply with applicable regulations and quality assurance guidelines;
•mislabeling;
•construction delays;
•equipment malfunctions;
•shortages of materials;
•labor problems;
•natural disasters;
•power outages;
•criminal and terrorist activities;
•changes in manufacturing production sites and limits to manufacturing capacity due to regulatory requirements, changes in types of products produced, shipping distributions or physical limitations; and
•the outbreak of any highly contagious diseases near our production sites.
These interruptions could result in launch delays, inventory shortages, recalls, unanticipated costs or issues with our agreements under which we supply third parties, which may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our manufacturing network may be unable to meet the demand for our products or we may have excess capacity if demand for our products changes. The unpredictability of a product’s regulatory or commercial success or failure, the lead time necessary to construct highly technical and complex manufacturing sites and shifting customer demand (including as a result of market conditions or entry of branded or generic competition) increase the potential for capacity imbalances. In addition, construction of sites is expensive, and our ability to recover costs will depend on the market acceptance and success of the products produced at the new sites, which is uncertain.
We rely on third parties to provide us with materials and services and are subject to increased labor and material costs and potential disruptions in supply.
The materials used to manufacture our products may be subject to availability constraints and price volatility caused by changes in demand, weather conditions, supply conditions, government regulations, economic climate and other factors. In addition, labor costs may be subject to volatility caused by the supply of labor, governmental regulations, economic climate and other factors. Increases in the demand for, availability or the price of, materials used to manufacture our products and increases in labor costs could increase the costs to manufacture our products, result in product delivery delays or shortages, and impact our ability to launch new products on a timely basis or at all. We may not be able to pass all or a material portion of any higher material or labor costs on to our customers, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be unable to meet demand for certain of our products if any of our third-party suppliers cease or interrupt operations, fail to renew contracts with us or otherwise fail to meet their obligations to us.
We may incur substantial costs and receive adverse outcomes in litigation and other legal matters.
Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by unfavorable results in pending or future litigation matters. If the acquisition of the Bayer animal health business is consummated, our business, financial condition and results of operations could also be materially adversely affected by pending or future litigation matters affecting the Bayer animal health business. These matters may include, among other things, allegations of violation of U.S. and foreign competition law, labor laws, consumer protection laws and environmental laws and regulations, as well as claims or litigation relating to product liability, intellectual property, securities, breach of contract and tort. In addition, changes in the interpretations of laws and regulations to which we are subject, or in legal standards in one or more of the jurisdictions in which we operate, could increase our exposure to liability. For example, in the U.S., attempts have been made to allow damages for emotional distress and pain and suffering in connection with the loss of, or injury to, a companion animal. If such attempts were successful, our exposure with respect to product liability claims could increase materially.
Litigation matters, regardless of their merits or their ultimate outcomes, are costly, divert management’s attention and may materially adversely affect our reputation and demand for our products. We cannot predict with certainty the eventual outcome of pending or future litigation matters. An adverse outcome of litigation or legal matters could result in us being responsible for significant damages. Any of these negative effects resulting from litigation matters could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to substantial regulation.
As a global company, we are subject to various state, federal and international laws and regulations, including regulations relating to the development, quality assurance, manufacturing, importation, distribution, marketing and sale of our products. Changes in applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our manufacturing facilities, including the manufacturing facilities operated by our CMOs, are subject to periodic inspections by regulatory agencies. An inspection may report conditions or practices that indicate possible violations of regulatory requirements. Our failure, or the failure of third parties we rely on, including CMOs, to comply with these regulatory requirements, allegations of such non-compliance or the discovery of previously unknown problems with a product or manufacturer could result in, among other things, inspection observation notices, warning letters or similar regulatory correspondence, fines, a partial or total shutdown of production in one or more of our facilities while an alleged violation is remediated, withdrawals or suspensions of current products from the market, and civil or criminal prosecution, as well as decreased sales as a result of negative publicity and product liability claims. Any one of these consequences could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we will not be able to market new products unless and until we have obtained all required regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction where we propose to market those products. Even after a product reaches market, we may be subject to re-review and may lose our approvals. Our failure to obtain approvals, delays in the approval process, or our failure to maintain approvals in any jurisdiction, may prevent us from selling products in that jurisdiction until approval or re-approval is obtained, if ever.
The illegal distribution and sale by third parties of counterfeit or illegally compounded versions of our products or of stolen, diverted or relabeled products could have a negative impact on our reputation and business.
Third parties may illegally distribute and sell counterfeit or illegally compounded versions of our products that do not meet the exacting standards of our development, manufacturing and distribution processes. Counterfeit or illegally compounded medicines pose a significant risk to animal health and safety because of the conditions under which they are manufactured and the lack of regulation of their contents. Counterfeit or illegally compounded products are frequently unsafe or ineffective and can be potentially life-threatening to animals. Our reputation and business could suffer harm as a result of counterfeit or illegally compounded products which are alleged to be equivalent and/or which are sold under our brand name. In addition, products stolen or unlawfully diverted from inventory, warehouses, plants or while in transit, which are not properly stored or which have an expired shelf life and which have been repackaged or relabeled and which are sold through unauthorized channels, could adversely impact animal health and safety, our reputation and our business. Public loss of confidence in the integrity of vaccines and/or pharmaceutical products as a result of counterfeiting, illegal compounding or theft could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to complex environmental, health and safety laws and regulations.
We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern matters such as the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; the generation, use, storage, handling, treatment, packaging, transportation, exposure to and disposal of hazardous and biological materials, including recordkeeping, reporting and registration requirements; and the health and safety of our employees. Due to our operations, these laws and regulations also require us to obtain, and comply with, permits, registrations or other authorizations issued by governmental authorities. These authorities can modify or revoke our permits, registrations or other authorizations and can enforce compliance through fines and injunctions.
Given the nature of our business, we have incurred, are currently incurring and may in the future incur liabilities for the investigation and remediation of contaminated land under the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, or under other federal, state, local and foreign environmental cleanup laws, with respect to our current or former sites, adjacent or nearby third-party sites, or offsite disposal locations. We could be subject to liability for the investigation and remediation of legacy environmental contamination caused by historical industrial activity as sites that we own or on which we operate. The costs associated with future cleanup activities that we may be required to conduct or finance could be material. Additionally, we may become liable to third parties for damages, including personal injury, property damage and natural resource damages, resulting from the disposal or release of hazardous materials into the environment. Such liability could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Furthermore, regulatory agencies are showing increasing concern over the impact of animal health products and food animal operations on the environment. This increased regulatory scrutiny has in the past and may in the future necessitate that additional time and resources be spent to address these concerns in both new and existing products.
Our failure to comply with the environmental, health and safety laws and regulations to which we are subject, including any permits issued thereunder, may result in environmental remediation costs, loss of permits, fines, penalties or other adverse governmental or private actions, including regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring corrective measures, installation of pollution control equipment or remedial measures. We could also be held liable for any and all consequences arising out of human exposure to hazardous materials, environmental damage or significant environmental, health and safety issues that might arise at a manufacturing or R&D facility. Environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently, have tended to become more stringent and stringently enforced over time and may be subject to new interpretation. It is possible that our costs of complying with current and future environmental, health and safety laws, and our liabilities arising
from past or future releases of, or exposure to, hazardous materials could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The actual or purported intellectual property rights of third parties may negatively affect our business.
A third party may sue us, or our distributors or licensors, including Lilly, or otherwise make a claim, alleging infringement or other violation of such third-party’s patents, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights, trade secrets, domain names or other intellectual property rights. If our distributors, licensors or we do not prevail in this type of litigation, we may be required to:
•pay monetary damages;
•obtain a license in order to continue manufacturing or marketing the affected products, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all; or
•stop activities, including any commercial activities, relating to the affected products, which could include a recall of the affected products and/or a cessation of sales in the future.
The costs of defending an intellectual property claim could be substantial and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, even if we successfully defend such claim. Moreover, even if we believe that we do not infringe a validly existing third-party patent, we may choose to license such patent, which would result in associated costs and obligations. We may also incur costs in connection with an obligation to indemnify a distributor, licensor or other third party.
The intellectual property positions of animal health medicines and vaccines businesses frequently involve complex legal and factual questions, and an issued patent does not guarantee us the right to practice the patented technology or develop, manufacture or commercialize the patented product. For example, while we generally enter into proprietary information agreements with our employees and third parties, which assign intellectual property rights to us, these agreements may not be honored or may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us under the local laws of some countries or jurisdictions. We cannot be certain that a competitor or other third party does not have or will not obtain rights to intellectual property that may prevent us from manufacturing, developing or marketing certain of our products, regardless of whether we believe such intellectual property rights are valid and enforceable or we believe we would otherwise be able to develop a more commercially successful product, which may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our intellectual property rights are challenged or circumvented, competitors may be able to take advantage of our R&D efforts or harm the value of our brands.
Our long-term success depends on our ability to market innovative, competitive products. We rely and expect to continue to rely on a combination of intellectual property, including patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright, trade secret and domain name protection, as well as confidentiality and license agreements with our employees and others, to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights. If we fail to obtain and maintain adequate intellectual property protection, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using our proprietary technologies or from marketing products that are very similar or identical to ours.
Our currently pending or future patent applications may not result in issued patents, or be approved on a timely basis, if at all. Similarly, any term extensions that we seek may not be approved on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, our issued patents, or any patents that may issue in the future, may not contain claims sufficiently broad to protect us against third parties with similar technologies or products or provide us with any competitive advantage, including exclusivity in a particular product area.
The validity and scope of our patent claims also may vary between countries, as individual countries have their own patent laws. For example, some countries only permit the issuance of patents covering a novel chemical compound itself, and its first use, and thus further methods of use for the same compound may not be patentable. The validity, enforceability, scope and effective term of patents can be highly uncertain and often involve complex legal and factual questions and proceedings that vary based on the local law of the relevant jurisdiction. Our ability to enforce our patents also depends on the laws of individual countries and each country’s practice with respect to enforcement of intellectual property rights. Patent protection must be obtained on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, and we only pursue patent protection in countries where we think it makes commercial sense for the given product. In addition, if we are unable to maintain our existing license agreements or other agreements pursuant to which
third parties grant us rights to intellectual property, including because such agreements terminate, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Patent law reform in the U.S. and other countries may also weaken our ability to enforce our patent rights, or make such enforcement financially unattractive. For instance, in September 2011, the U.S. enacted the America Invents Act, which permits enhanced third-party actions for challenging patents and implements a first-to-invent system. These reforms could result in increased costs to protect our intellectual property or limit our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our products in these jurisdictions. Additionally, certain foreign governments have indicated that compulsory licenses to patents may be granted in the case of national emergencies, which could diminish or eliminate sales and profits from those regions and materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our trademarks and brands may provide us with a competitive advantage in the market as they may be known or trusted by consumers. In order to maintain the value of such brands, we must be able to enforce and defend our trademarks. We have pursued and will pursue the registration of trademarks and service marks in the U.S. and internationally; however, enforcing rights against those who knowingly or unknowingly dilute or infringe our brands can be difficult. Effective trademark, service mark, trade dress or related protections may not be available in every country in which our products and services are available. Enforcement is especially difficult in first-to-file countries where “trademark squatters” can prevent us from obtaining adequate protections for our brands. There can be no assurance that the steps we have taken and will take to protect our proprietary rights in our brands and trademarks will be adequate or that third parties will not infringe, dilute or misappropriate our brands, trademarks, trade dress or other similar proprietary rights.
Many of our products are based on or incorporate proprietary information. We actively seek to protect our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and proprietary know-how, by generally requiring our employees, consultants, other advisors and other third parties to execute proprietary information and confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of their employment, engagement or other relationship. Despite these efforts and precautions, we may be unable to prevent a third party from copying or otherwise obtaining and using our trade secrets or our other intellectual property without authorization and legal remedies may not adequately compensate us for the damages caused by such unauthorized use. Further, others may independently and lawfully develop substantially similar or identical products that circumvent our intellectual property by means of alternative designs or processes or otherwise.
We could be subject to changes in our tax rates, the adoption of new U.S. or foreign tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Changes in the relevant tax laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles and interpretations could adversely affect our future effective tax rates. The U.S. recently enacted tax reform legislation significantly revising U.S. tax law, and a number of other countries are actively considering or enacting tax changes. Other organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission, are also actively considering tax related matters, which could influence international tax policy in countries in which we operate. While outcomes of these initiatives continue to develop and remain uncertain, modifications to key elements of the U.S. or international tax framework could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations and cash flows.
In December 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the ‘‘2017 Tax Act’’). The 2017 Tax Act included significant changes to the U.S. corporate income tax system, such as the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, transition to a modified territorial tax system, changes to business related exclusions, deductions and credits, and modifications to international tax provisions. The U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS began to issue major proposed regulations related to the 2017 Tax Act during 2018 and are expected to continue issuing proposed and final regulations. Proposed regulations are generally subject to comment before being finalized; however, once finalized, these regulations may require Elanco to make adjustments, in particular, as a result of certain complex international provisions contained in the 2017 Tax Act. Such adjustments might materially impact Elanco’s provision for income taxes and effective tax rate in the period in which the adjustments are made and could also impact Elanco’s net income, earnings per share, consolidated cash flows and liquidity.
In addition, our effective tax rate is subject to potential risks that various taxing authorities may challenge the pricing of our cross border arrangements and subject us to additional tax, adversely impacting our effective tax rate and tax liability. We are also subject to the examination of our tax returns and other tax matters by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) and other tax authorities and governmental bodies. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of these examinations. If our effective tax rates were to increase, particularly in the U.S. or other material foreign jurisdictions, or if the ultimate determination of our taxes owed is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Significant portions of our operations are conducted in foreign jurisdictions, including jurisdictions presenting a high risk of bribery and corruption, and are subject to the economic, political, legal and business environments of the countries in which we do business.
Our international operations could be limited or disrupted by any of the following:
•volatility in the international financial markets;
•compliance with governmental controls;
•difficulties enforcing contractual and intellectual property rights;
•parallel trade in our products (importation of our products from EU countries where our products are sold at lower prices into EU countries where the products are sold at higher prices);
•compliance with a wide variety of laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the FCPA) and similar non-U.S. laws and regulations;
•compliance with foreign labor laws;
•burdens to comply with multiple and potentially conflicting foreign laws and regulations, including those relating to environmental, health and safety requirements;
•changes in laws, regulations, government controls or enforcement practices with respect to our business and the businesses of our customers, including the imposition of limits on our profitability;
•political and social instability, including crime, civil disturbance, terrorist activities and armed conflicts;
•trade restrictions and restrictions on direct investments by foreign entities, including restrictions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the EU, in relation to our products or the products of farmers and other customers;
•government limitations on foreign ownership;
•government takeover or nationalization of business;
•changes in tax laws and tariffs;
•imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties or other trade-related sanctions;
•costs and difficulties and compliance risks in staffing, managing and monitoring international operations, including in the use of overseas third-party goods and service providers;
•corruption risk inherent in business arrangements and regulatory contacts with foreign government entities;
•longer payment cycles and increased exposure to counterparty risk; and
•additional limitations on transferring personal information between countries or other restrictions on the processing of personal information.
In addition, international transactions may involve increased financial and legal risks due to differing legal systems and customs. Compliance with these requirements may prohibit the import or export of certain products and technologies or may require us to obtain a license before importing or exporting certain products or technologies. A failure to comply with any of these laws, regulations or requirements could result in civil or criminal legal proceedings, monetary or non-monetary penalties, or both, disruptions to our business, limitations on our ability to import and export products, and damage to our reputation. In addition, variations in the pricing of our products between jurisdictions may result in the unauthorized importation or unauthorized re-importation of our products between jurisdictions and may also result in the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties or other trade-related sanctions. While the impact of these factors is difficult to predict, any of them could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Further, changes in any of these laws, regulations or requirements, or the political environment in a particular country, may affect our ability to engage in business transactions in certain markets, including investment, procurement and repatriation of earnings.
Significant portions of our operations are conducted in Europe and could be impacted by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU, commonly referred to as “Brexit.”
In June 2016, voters in the UK approved an advisory referendum to withdraw from the EU, commonly referred to as Brexit. On March 29, 2017, the UK Prime Minister formally notified the European Council of the UK's intention to withdraw from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Brexit formally occurred on January 31, 2020. A transition period is in effect from February 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020, during which the UK and the EU will negotiate a trade agreement. During this period, EU rules and regulations will remain in effect for the UK. The referendum and notice created political, regulatory and economic uncertainty, particularly in the UK and the EU, and this uncertainty may persist for years if the UK and the EU are unable to reach an agreement by the end of the transition period.
Our business is subject to substantial regulation. If a trade agreement is not reached by the end of the transition period, we may not be able to market certain products that entered the EU market following marketing authorization by UK authorities in all the nations that are parties to free trade agreements with the EU unless and until we have obtained all required regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction where we proposed to market those products.
In addition, the uncertainty related to Brexit has caused foreign exchange rate fluctuations in the past, including the strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to the Euro and British pound immediately following the announcement of Brexit. Further developments with respect to Brexit could further impact foreign exchange rates, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The end of the transition period with no agreement in place could significantly disrupt the free movement of goods, services, and people between the UK and the EU, and result in increased legal and regulatory complexities, as well as potential higher costs of conducting business in Europe and declining gross domestic product in many European markets. The UK's exit from the EU could also result in similar referendums or votes in other European countries in which we do business.
The uncertainty surrounding the terms of the UK's withdrawal and its consequences could adversely impact consumer and investor confidence, and could affect sales or regulation of our products. Any of these effects, among others, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Foreign exchange rate fluctuations and potential currency controls affect our results of operations, as reported in our financial statements.
We conduct operations in many areas of the world, involving transactions denominated in a variety of currencies. In 2019, we generated approximately 44% of our revenue in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, principally the Euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Japanese yen, and Chinese yuan. We are subject to currency exchange rate risk to the extent that our costs are denominated in currencies other than those in which we earn revenue. In addition, because our financial statements are reported in U.S. dollars, changes in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and other currencies have had, and will continue to have, an impact on our results of operations.
We also face risks arising from currency devaluations and the imposition of cash repatriation restrictions and exchange controls. Currency devaluations result in a diminished value of funds denominated in the currency of the country instituting the devaluation. Cash repatriation restrictions and exchange controls may limit our ability to convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars or to remit dividends and other payments by our foreign subsidiaries or businesses located in or conducted within a country imposing restrictions or controls. While we currently have no need and do not intend to repatriate or convert cash held in countries that have significant restrictions or controls in place, should we need to do so to fund our operations, we may be unable to repatriate or convert such cash, or may be unable to do so without incurring substantial costs.
We also bear foreign exchange risk associated with the future cash settlement of an existing net investment hedge. In October 2018, we entered into a fixed interest rate, 5-year, 750 million Swiss franc net investment hedge (NIH) against Swiss franc assets. The NIH is expected to generate approximately $25 million in cash and contra
interest expense per year; however, there is potential for significant 2023 settlement exposure on the 750 million Swiss franc notional if the U.S. dollar devalues versus the Swiss franc.
We depend on sophisticated information technology and infrastructure.
We rely on various information systems to manage our operations, and we increasingly depend on third parties to operate and support our information technology systems, including by way of virtual and cloud-based operations. These third parties include large established vendors as well as small, privately owned companies. Failure by any provider to adequately service our operations, or a change in control or insolvency of one or more providers, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Prior to the Separation, we relied on Lilly to negotiate and manage many of our relationships and contracts with these third parties.
In connection with the Separation, we are continuing to enhance a number of our business processes, including our financial reporting and supply chain processes and with respect to where and from whom we obtain information technology systems. In order to support the new business processes under the terms of our transitional services agreement with Lilly, we have made and will continue to make significant configuration, process and data changes within many of the information technology systems we use. If our information technology systems and processes are not sufficient to support our business and financial reporting functions, or if we fail to properly implement our new business processes, our financial reporting may be delayed or inaccurate and, as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. Even if we are able to successfully configure and change our systems, all technology systems, even with implementation of security measures, are vulnerable to disability, failures or unauthorized access. If our information technology systems were to fail or be breached, this could materially adversely affect our reputation and our ability to perform critical business functions, and sensitive and confidential data could be compromised.
Breaches of our information technology systems or improper disclosure of confidential company or personal data could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and operations, or we may fail to comply with privacy laws, regulations and our contractual obligations.
We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit and store electronic information in our day-to-day operations, including customer, employee and company data. The secure processing, maintenance and transmission of this information is critical to our operations and the legal environment surrounding information security, storage, use, processing, disclosure and privacy is demanding with the frequent imposition of new and changing requirements. We also store certain information with third parties. Our information systems and those of our third-party vendors are subjected to computer viruses or other malicious codes, unauthorized access attempts, and cyber or phishing-attacks and also are vulnerable to an increasing threat of continually evolving cybersecurity risks and external hazards, as well as improper or inadvertent staff behavior, all of which could expose confidential company and personal data systems and information to security breaches. Any such breach could compromise our networks, and the information stored therein could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Such attacks could result in our intellectual property and other confidential information being lost or stolen, disruption of our operations, and other negative consequences, such as increased costs for security measures or remediation costs, and diversion of management attention. Any actual or perceived access, disclosure or other loss of information or any significant breakdown, intrusion, interruption, cyber-attack or corruption of customer, employee or company data or our failure to comply with federal, state, local and foreign privacy laws or contractual obligations with customers, vendors, payment processors and other third parties, could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws or contracts that protect the privacy of personal information, regulatory penalties, disruption of our operations, and damage to our reputation, all of which could materially adversely affect our business, revenue and competitive position. While we will continue to implement additional protective measures to reduce the risk of and detect cyber-incidents, cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, and the techniques used in such attacks change rapidly. Our protective measures may not protect us against attacks and such attacks could have a significant impact on our business and reputation. In addition, prior to the Separation, we relied on Lilly for certain privacy and compliance functions and personnel and may experience difficulties maintaining and implementing all policies and practices following completion of the Separation.
Increased regulation or decreased governmental financial support relating to the raising, processing or consumption of food animals could reduce demand for our food animal products.
Companies in the food animal sector are subject to extensive and increasingly stringent regulations. See “Business of Elanco - Regulatory.” If food animal producers are adversely affected by new regulations or changes to
existing regulations, they may reduce herd or flock sizes or become less profitable and, as a result, they may reduce their use of our products, which may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, many food animal producers benefit from governmental subsidies, and if such subsidies were to be reduced or eliminated, these companies may become less profitable and, as a result, may reduce their use of our food animal products. More stringent regulation of the food animal sector, including regarding the use of food animal products, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business could be materially adversely affected by labor disputes, strikes or work stoppages.
Some of our employees are members of unions, works councils, trade associations or are otherwise subject to collective bargaining agreements in certain jurisdictions, including the U.S. As a result, we are subject to the risk of labor disputes, strikes, work stoppages and other labor-relations matters. We may be unable to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements on similar or more favorable terms and may experience work stoppages, higher ongoing labor costs or other labor problems in the future at our sites. We may also experience difficulty or delays in implementing changes to our workforce in certain markets. These risks may be increased by the Separation because we no longer benefit from Lilly’s prior relationships and negotiations relating to such agreements.
Further, labor-related issues, including at our suppliers or CMOs, could cause a disruption of our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, potentially resulting in cancelled orders by customers, unanticipated inventory accumulation or shortages and reduced revenue and net income.
The anticipated benefits of the Separation from Lilly may not be achieved.
We may not be able to achieve the full strategic and financial benefits expected to result from the Separation from Lilly. Further, such benefits, if ultimately achieved, may be delayed. These benefits include the following:
•improving strategic and operational flexibility and streamlining decision-making by providing the flexibility to implement our strategic plan and to respond more effectively to different customer needs and the changing economic and industry environment;
•allowing us to adopt the investment policy and dividend policy best suited to our financial profile and business needs, and allowing us to raise capital as an independent business;
•creating an independent equity structure that makes possible future acquisitions utilizing our common stock as well as compensation arrangements; and
•facilitating incentive compensation arrangements for employees more directly tied to the performance of our business, and enhancing employee hiring and retention by, among other things, improving the alignment of management and employee incentives with performance and growth objectives of our business.
We may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the Separation from Lilly for a variety of reasons, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have underfunded pension plan liabilities. We will require current and future operating cash flow to fund these shortfalls reducing the cash available for other uses.
We have certain defined benefit pension plans, predominantly outside of the U.S., that our employees participate in that are either dedicated to our employees or where the plan assets and liabilities that relate to our employees were legally required to transfer to us at the time of the Separation. The funded status and net periodic pension cost for these plans is materially affected by the discount rate used to measure pension obligations, the longevity and actuarial profile of our workforce, the level of plan assets available to fund those obligations and the actual and expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. Significant changes in investment performance or a change in the portfolio mix of invested assets can result in corresponding increases and decreases in the valuation of plan assets or in a change in the expected rate of return on plan assets. As of December 31, 2019, for pension plans with projected benefit obligations in excess of plan assets, the projected benefit obligation was $218.2 million with plan assets of $140.3 million. Any changes in the discount rate could result in a significant increase or decrease in the valuation of pension obligations, affecting the reported funded status of our pension plans as well as the net periodic pension cost in the following years. Similarly, changes in the expected return on plan assets can result in significant changes in the net periodic pension cost in the following years. The need to make additional cash contributions will
divert resources from our operations and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired businesses when we pursue acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures or other significant transactions, such as the acquisition of Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. and Prevtec Microbia Inc.
We finalized the acquisition of Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. on July 18, 2019 and the acquisition of Prevtec Microbia Inc. on July 31, 2019. Following the closing of the transactions, we are now required to devote significant management attention and resources to integrating the portfolio and operations of the target companies. Potential difficulties that we may encounter in the integration process, including as a result of distraction of our management, include the following:
•the inability to combine the businesses of the acquired companies with ours in a manner that permits us to achieve the cost savings or other synergies anticipated as a result of the transaction or to achieve such cost savings or other anticipated synergies in a timely manner, which could result in us not realizing some anticipated benefits of the transactions in the time frame anticipated, or at all;
•the inability to realize the anticipated value from various assets of the target companies;
•loss of key employees;
•potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen increased expenses, delays or unfavorable conditions in connection with the closing of the transactions and the subsequent integration; and
•performance shortfalls at our company or the target companies as a result of the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business activities as a result of completing the transaction and integrating the companies’ operations.
Future acquisitions could also result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses related to intangible assets, and increased operating expenses, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, if we issue equity or debt securities to raise additional funds beyond the equity and debt issuances that have occurred in January and February 2020, our existing shareholders may experience significant dilution, and the new equity or debt securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing shareholders. Furthermore, if we sell a substantial number of shares of common stock in the public markets, the availability of those shares for sale could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Such sales, or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could depress the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.
Our historical combined financial data prior to the Separation is not necessarily representative of the results we would have achieved as a standalone company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.
For periods prior to the Separation, our historical combined financial data included in this report does not reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows we would have achieved as a standalone company during the periods presented or those we will achieve in the future. This is primarily the result of the following factors:
•our historical combined financial data does not reflect the Separation;
•our historical combined financial data for periods prior to the Separation reflects expense allocations for certain support functions that were provided on a centralized basis within Lilly, such as expenses for executive oversight, treasury, legal, finance, human resources, tax, internal audit, financial reporting, information technology and investor relations that may be higher or lower than the comparable expenses we would have actually incurred, or will incur in the future, as a standalone company;
•our cost of debt and our capital structure has been different from that reflected in our historical combined financial statements for periods prior to the Separation;
•significant increases have occurred in our cost structure as a result of the IPO, including costs related to public company reporting, investor relations and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and
•the IPO had a material effect on our customers and other business relationships, including supplier relationships, and resulted in the loss of preferred pricing available by virtue of our reduced relationship with Lilly.
Our financial condition and future results of operations, after giving effect to the Separation, have been materially different from the amounts for periods prior to the Separation reflected in our historical combined financial statements included in this report. As a result of the Separation, it may be difficult for investors to compare our 2019 and future results to historical results prior to the Separation or to evaluate our relative performance or trends in our business.
Risks Related to the Pending Acquisition of the Bayer Animal Health Business (the Acquisition)
The proposed acquisition of the Bayer animal health business may not be completed on the anticipated terms and there are uncertainties and risks related to consummating the Acquisition.
In August 2019, we entered into a share purchase agreement (Purchase Agreement) to purchase the animal health business of Bayer for approximately $5.3 billion in cash and approximately $2.3 billion of our common stock, subject to certain customary adjustments. Our obligation to consummate the Acquisition is subject to satisfaction or waiver, to the extent permitted under applicable law, of a number of conditions. Among other conditions, the Acquisition is subject to antitrust approvals in certain jurisdictions. We cannot provide any assurance that all required antitrust clearances will be obtained and what conditions will be imposed. There can be no assurance as to the cost, scope or impact of the actions that may be required, including divestiture actions, to obtain antitrust approval. If we are required to or otherwise decide to take such actions in order to close the Acquisition, it could be detrimental to the combined organization following the consummation of the Acquisition, including with respect to the synergies which we expect from the Acquisition. For example, in January 2020, we signed agreements to divest Osurnia, a treatment for otitis externa in dogs, and the U.S. rights to Capstar, an oral tablet that kills fleas in dogs and cats, for an aggregate of $230 million in all cash deals, with the intent to advance our efforts to secure the necessary regulatory clearances for the Acquisition. Furthermore, these actions, or the failure to effect any divestitures at an acceptable price or at all, could have the effect of delaying or preventing completion of the Acquisition or imposing additional costs on or limiting the revenues or cash of the combined organization following the consummation of the Acquisition.
Even if the parties receive antitrust approvals, the applicable domestic or international regulatory authorities could take action under the antitrust laws to prevent or rescind the Acquisition, require the divestiture of assets or seek other remedies. Additionally, state attorneys general could seek to block or challenge the Acquisition as they deem necessary or desirable in the public interest at any time, including after completion of the Acquisition. In addition, in some circumstances, a third party could initiate a private action under antitrust laws challenging or seeking to enjoin the Acquisition, before or after it is completed. We may not prevail and may incur significant costs in defending or settling any action under the antitrust laws.
We may be unable to integrate the Bayer animal health business successfully and realize the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition.
If the Acquisition is completed, the successful integration of the Bayer animal health business and operations into those of our own and our ability to realize the expected synergies and benefits of the Transactions are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control. We will also be required to devote significant management attention and resources to integrating business practices, cultures and operations of each business. The risks and uncertainties relating to integrating the two businesses and realizing the anticipated cost synergies include, among other things:
•the challenge of integrating complex organizations, systems, operating procedures, compliance programs, technology, networks and other assets of the Bayer animal health business;
•the difficulties harmonizing differences in the business cultures of our company and the Bayer animal health business;
•the inability to combine successfully our respective businesses in a manner that permits us to achieve the cost savings, synergies and other anticipated benefits from the Acquisition;
•the inability to minimize the diversion of management attention from ongoing business concerns during the process of integrating the Bayer animal health business into our businesses;
•the inability to resolve potential conflicts that may arise relating to customer, supplier and other important relationships of our business and the Bayer animal health business;
•difficulties in retaining key management and other key employees;
•the challenge of managing the expanded operations of a significantly larger and more complex company and coordinating geographically separate organizations; and
•difficulties in fully exploring intellectual property licensed from Bayer in connection with the acquisition, given Bayer's rights as licensor of such intellectual property.
We will incur substantial expenses to consummate the proposed Acquisition but may not realize the anticipated cost synergies and other benefits to the extent expected, on the timeline expected, or at all. In addition, even if we are able to integrate the Bayer animal health business successfully, the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition may not be realized fully, or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. Moreover, competition in the animal health industry, including competition that has negatively impacted results in the companion animal parasiticide market, may also cause us not to fully realize the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition. Given the size and significance of the Acquisition, we may encounter difficulties in the integration of the operations of the Bayer animal health business and may fail to realize the full benefits and synergies of the Acquisition, which could adversely impact our business, results of operation and financial condition.
The Bayer animal health business may have liabilities that are not known to us.
The Bayer animal health business may have liabilities that we failed, or were unable, to discover in the course of performing our due diligence investigations of the Bayer animal health business. We cannot assure that the indemnification available to us under the Purchase Agreement in respect of the Acquisition in connection with such agreement will be sufficient in amount, scope or duration to fully offset the possible liabilities associated with the Bayer animal health business or property that we will assume upon consummation of the Acquisition. We may learn additional information about the Bayer animal health business that materially adversely affects us, such as unknown or contingent liabilities and liabilities related to compliance with applicable laws. Any such liabilities, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Acquisition accounting adjustments could adversely affect our financial results.
We will account for the completion of the Acquisition using the acquisition method of accounting. We will allocate the total estimated purchase price to net tangible assets, amortizable intangible assets and indefinite-lived intangible assets, and based on their fair values as of the date of completion of the Acquisition record the excess, if any, of the purchase price over those fair values as goodwill. Differences between preliminary estimates and the final acquisition accounting may occur, and these differences could have a material impact on the consolidated and combined financial statements and the combined company’s future results of operations and financial position.
Failure to complete the Acquisition could impact our stock price and our future business and financial results.
If the Acquisition is not completed, our ongoing business and financial results may be adversely affected and we will be subject to a number of risks, including the following:
•depending on the reasons for the failure to complete the Acquisition, we could be liable to Bayer for monetary or other damages in connection with the termination or breach of the Purchase Agreement;
•we have dedicated significant time and resources, financial and otherwise, in planning for the Acquisition and the associated integration, of which we would lose the benefit if the Acquisition is not completed;
•we are responsible for certain transaction costs relating to the Acquisition, whether or not the Acquisition is completed;
•while the Purchase Agreement is in force, we are subject to certain restrictions on the conduct of our business, including taking any action that is reasonably likely to prevent, materially delay or materially impair the consummation of the Acquisition, which restrictions may adversely affect our ability to execute certain of our business strategies; and
•matters relating to the Acquisition (including integration planning) may require substantial commitments of time and resources by our management, whether or not the Acquisition is completed, which could otherwise have been devoted to other opportunities that may have been beneficial to us.
In addition, if the Acquisition is not completed, we may experience negative reactions from the financial markets and from our customers and employees. We also may be subject to litigation related to any failure to complete the Acquisition or to enforcement proceedings commenced against us to perform our obligations under the Purchase Agreement. If the Acquisition is not completed, these risks may materialize and may adversely affect our business, financial results and financial condition, as well as the price of our common stock.
While the Acquisition is pending, we and the Bayer animal health business will be subject to business uncertainties that could adversely affect our respective businesses.
Our success following the announcement of the Acquisition will depend in part upon the ability of us and the Bayer animal health business to maintain our respective business relationships. Uncertainty about the effect of the Acquisition on customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies may have a material adverse effect on us and the Bayer animal health business. Customers, suppliers and others who deal with us or the Bayer animal health business may delay or defer business decisions, decide to terminate, modify or renegotiate their relationships or take other actions as a result of the Acquisition that could negatively affect the revenues, earnings and cash flows of our company or the Bayer animal health business. If we are unable to maintain these business and operational relationships, our financial position, results of operations or cash flows could be materially affected.
Our debt following the completion of the Acquisition will be significant and could adversely affect our business and our ability to meet our obligations.
In connection with the Acquisition, we priced a $4.3 billion term facility and a $750.0 million revolving credit facility (the New Credit Facilities) in February 2020, which will become effective at the closing of the Acquisition.
This significant amount of debt and other cash needs could have important consequences to us, including:
•requiring a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make payments on this debt, thereby limiting the cash we have available to fund future growth opportunities, such as R&D, capital expenditures and acquisitions;
•restrictive covenants in our debt arrangements, which could limit our operations and borrowing;
•the risk of a future credit ratings downgrade of our debt, increasing future debt costs and limiting the future availability of debt financing;
•increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions and limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and industry, due to the need to use our cash to service our outstanding debt;
•placing us at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors that are not as highly leveraged with debt and that may therefore be more able to invest in their business or use their available cash to pursue other opportunities, including acquisitions; and
•limiting our ability to borrow additional funds as needed or take advantage of business opportunities as they arise.
In addition, our actual cash requirements in the future may be greater than expected. Our cash flow from operations may not be sufficient to repay all of our outstanding debt as it becomes due, and we may not be able to borrow money, sell assets or otherwise raise funds on acceptable terms, or at all, to refinance our debt.
The issuance of our common stock to Bayer under the Purchase Agreement will be dilutive to our shareholders and could depress the market price of our common stock.
Following the closing of the Acquisition, Bayer will own shares of our common stock valued at approximately $2.3 billion based on trading prices before the closing of the Acquisition, subject to a minimum and maximum number of shares as provided in the Purchase Agreement. The shares are subject to limited lock-up obligations and following the expiration of such lock-up obligations (the latest of which expire 12 months after the closing of the Acquisition), Bayer is free to sell the shares of our common stock received at the closing of the Acquisition. In addition, under the Purchase Agreement, we agreed to provide Bayer with customary shelf registration rights.
The market price of shares of our common stock may drop significantly as a result of the resale of the consideration shares, or when the lock-up restrictions on resale by Bayer lapse. In addition, this concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock because investors may perceive disadvantages in owning shares in a company with significant shareholders.
Risks Related to our Indebtedness
We have substantial indebtedness and expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness.
We have a significant amount of indebtedness, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. As of December 31, 2019, in addition to $2.4 billion of senior unsecured notes, we had $371.4 million of borrowings under a term loan, which was retired in January 2020 using the proceeds from our most recent equity offering. We have an additional $750.0 million of borrowing capacity ($1.0 billion if certain conditions are met) under our existing revolving facility. See Note 9: Debt to our consolidated and combined financial statements for further discussion.
We expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness in connection with the Acquisition under the New Credit Facilities. If we do so, the risks related to our high level of debt could intensify. Specifically, our high level of debt could have important consequences, including:
•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our debt and any failure to comply with the obligations of any of our debt instruments, including restrictive covenants and borrowing conditions, could result in an event of default under the agreements governing other indebtedness;
•requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of interest and the repayment of our indebtedness, thereby reducing funds available to us for other purposes;
•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, business development or other general corporate requirements, including dividends;
•increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
•making us more highly leveraged than some of our competitors, which may place us at a competitive disadvantage;
•restricting us from making strategic acquisitions, engaging in development activities or exploiting business opportunities;
•causing us to make non-strategic divestitures;
•exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings are and may in the future be at variable rates of interest;
•limiting our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in the animal health industry;
•impacting our effective tax rate; and
•increasing our cost of borrowing.
In addition, the credit agreement expected to govern the New Credit Facilities is expected to contain restrictive covenants that will limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interest. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of substantially all of our indebtedness.
Despite our substantial indebtedness, we may still be able to incur significantly more debt, which could intensify the risks associated with our indebtedness.
We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial indebtedness in the future, even following the incurrence of indebtedness in connection with the Acquisition. Although we expect that the terms of the credit agreement governing the New Credit Facilities will contain restrictions on our and our subsidiaries’ ability to incur additional indebtedness, these restrictions are expected to be subject to a number of important qualifications and exceptions, and the indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. These restrictions are also not expected to prevent us from incurring obligations that do not constitute indebtedness. In addition to our borrowings under the New Credit Facilities, the covenants under the credit agreement governing the New Credit Facilities are expected to, and the covenants under any other of our existing or future debt instruments could, allow us to incur a significant amount of additional indebtedness and, subject to certain limitations, such additional indebtedness could be secured. The more leveraged we become, the more we, and in turn our security holders, will be exposed to certain risks described above under “—We have substantial indebtedness and expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness.”
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.
Our ability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. We may be unable to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal and interest on our indebtedness.
If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to dispose of material assets or operations, alter our dividend policy, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to effect any such alternative measures on commercially reasonable terms or at all and, even if successful, those alternative actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. The instruments that will govern our indebtedness may restrict our ability to dispose of assets and may restrict the use of proceeds from those dispositions and may also restrict our ability to raise debt or equity capital to be used to repay other indebtedness when it becomes due. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain proceeds in an amount sufficient to meet any debt service obligations when due.
In addition, we conduct our operations through our subsidiaries. Accordingly, repayment of our indebtedness will depend on the generation of cash flow by our subsidiaries, including certain international subsidiaries, and their ability to make such cash available to us, by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Our subsidiaries may not have any obligation to pay amounts due on our indebtedness or to make funds available for that purpose. Our subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make adequate distributions to enable us to make payments in respect of our indebtedness. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, legal, tax and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. In the event that we do not receive distributions from our subsidiaries, we may be unable to make required principal and interest payments on our indebtedness.
Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness or pay dividends on our common stock.
Our debt agreements following the completion of the Acquisition are expected to contain restrictions that will limit our flexibility in operating our business.
Our existing term facility and revolving credit facility contain, and the New Credit Facilities are expected to contain, and any other existing or future indebtedness of ours would likely contain, a number of covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:
•incur additional debt, guarantee indebtedness or issue certain preferred shares;
•pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of, or repurchase or redeem, our capital stock or make other restricted payments;
•prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt;
•make loans or certain investments;
•sell certain assets;
•create liens on certain assets;
•consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;
•enter into certain transactions with our affiliates;
•substantially alter the businesses we conduct;
•enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends; and
•designate our subsidiaries as unrestricted subsidiaries.
In addition, the New Credit Facilities are expected to require us to comply with a net total leverage ratio and a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio under certain circumstances.
As a result of these covenants, we will be limited in the manner in which we conduct our business, and we may be unable to engage in favorable business activities or finance future operations or capital needs.
A failure to comply with the covenants under the existing term facility, the existing revolving credit facility, the indenture that governs the senior unsecured notes, the New Credit Facilities, or any of our other existing or future indebtedness could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In the event of an event of default under the New Credit Facilities, it is expected that the lenders:
•will not be required to lend any additional amounts to us;
•could elect to declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit;
•could require us to apply all of our available cash to repay these borrowings; or
•could effectively prevent us from making debt service payments on the notes (due to a cash sweep feature).
Such actions by the lenders could cause cross defaults under our other indebtedness, including our senior unsecured notes. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under the New Credit Facilities and any of our other existing or future secured indebtedness could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure the New Credit Facilities or such other indebtedness. We are expecting to pledge a significant portion of our assets as collateral under the New Credit Facilities.
The terms and conditions of the New Credit Facilities have not been finalized.
The credit agreement relating to the New Credit Facilities has not been finalized. Our entry into the New Credit Facilities is subject to market conditions, and we cannot assure you that the New Credit Facilities will be completed, in the manner, on the terms or on the timetable described herein, or at all. Future changes in market conditions may result in less favorable terms for the New Credit Facilities and any changes to the terms of the New Credit Facilities
may increase our interest expense and adversely affect our business. The terms of the New Credit Facilities could also change in a way that increases our indebtedness or makes it easier to incur debt in the future.
Changes in our credit rating could increase our interest expense and restrict our access to, and negatively impact the terms of, current or future financings or trade credit.
Credit rating agencies continually revise their ratings for the companies that they follow, including us. Credit rating agencies also evaluate our industry as a whole and may change their credit ratings for us based on their overall view of our industry. We cannot be sure that credit rating agencies will maintain their ratings on us and certain of our debt. As a result of the Acquisition, our credit ratings may be downgraded. Because the ratings of certain of our senior unsecured notes have been downgraded, we will be required to pay additional interest under the senior unsecured notes. Any further downgrades could result in requiring us to pay additional interest under the senior unsecured notes. Moreover, any decision to downgrade our ratings could restrict our access to, and negatively impact the terms of, current or future financings and trade credit extended by our suppliers of raw materials or other vendors.
Changes in interest rates may adversely affect our earnings and/or cash flows.
Our revolving credit facility bears interest at variable interest rates that use the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as a benchmark rate. On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR quotations after 2021 (the FCA Announcement). The FCA announcement indicates that the continuation of LIBOR on the current basis cannot and will not be assured after 2021, and LIBOR may cease to exist or otherwise be unsuitable for use as a benchmark. Recent proposals for LIBOR reforms may result in the establishment of new methods of calculating LIBOR or the establishment of one or more alternative benchmark rates. Although our revolving credit facility provides for successor base rates, the successor base rates may be related to LIBOR, and the consequences of any potential cessation, modification or other reform of LIBOR cannot be predicted at this time. If LIBOR ceases to exist, we may need to amend our existing or enter into a new revolving credit facility, and we cannot predict what alternative interest rate(s) will be negotiated with our counterparties. As a result, our interest expense may increase, our ability to refinance some or all of our existing indebtedness may be affected and our available cash flow may be adversely affected.
Risks Related to our Relationship with Lilly
As a result of the Separation, we no longer have access to Lilly’s brand, reputation, capital base and other resources.
We believe our association with Lilly has contributed to our building relationships with our customers due to Lilly’s globally recognized brand and perceived high-quality products. The Separation could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers, which could result in reduced sales of our products.
The loss of Lilly’s scale, capital base and financial strength may also prompt suppliers to reprice, modify or terminate their relationships with us. In addition, Lilly’s reduction of its ownership of our company could potentially cause some of our existing agreements and licenses to be terminated. We cannot predict with certainty the effect that the Separation will have on our business, our clients, vendors or other persons, or whether our brand will be accepted in the marketplace.
Further, because we have only operated as a standalone company for a limited period of time, we may have difficulty doing so. We may need to acquire assets and resources in addition to those provided by Lilly, and in connection with the Separation, may also face difficulty in separating our assets from Lilly’s assets and integrating newly acquired assets into our business. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we have difficulty operating as a standalone company, fail to acquire assets that prove to be important to our operations or incur unexpected costs in separating our assets from Lilly’s assets or integrating newly-acquired assets.
Lilly may compete with us.
Lilly is not restricted from competing with us in the animal health business. Although Lilly informed us it had no intention to compete with us in the animal health business, if Lilly in the future decides to engage in the type of
business we conduct, it may have a competitive advantage over us, which may cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to be materially adversely affected.
To preserve the tax-free treatment to Lilly and its shareholders of the Separation and certain related transactions, we may not be able to engage in certain transactions.
To preserve the tax-free treatment to Lilly and its shareholders of the Separation and certain related transactions, under a tax matters agreement with Lilly, we are restricted from taking any action that prevents such transactions from being tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes. These restrictions limit our ability to pursue certain strategic transactions or engage in other transactions, including using our common stock to make acquisitions and in connection with equity capital market transactions that might increase the value of our business. Because of these restrictions, following the issuance of our common stock and tangible equity units in public offerings completed in January 2020, and the issuance of the consideration shares to Bayer in connection with the Acquisition, we will have limited or no ability to issue shares of our common stock in the near term.
Lilly’s rights as licensor under the intellectual property and technology license agreement could limit our ability to develop and commercialize certain products.
Prior to the Separation, we had the ability to leverage certain of Lilly’s intellectual property. As part of the Separation, we entered into an intellectual property and technology license agreement. Pursuant to the intellectual property and technology license agreement, Lilly licenses to us certain of its intellectual property (excluding trademarks) related to the animal health business and also grants a license for us to use Lilly’s proprietary compound library for a period of two years plus up to three additional one-year periods, each such period to be granted under Lilly’s sole discretion. If we fail to comply with our obligations under this agreement and Lilly exercises its right to terminate it, our ability to continue to research, develop and commercialize products incorporating that intellectual property will be limited. In addition, this agreement includes limitations that affect our ability to develop and commercialize certain products, including in circumstances where Lilly has an interest in the licensed intellectual property in connection with its human health development programs. These limitations and termination rights may make it more difficult, time consuming or expensive for us to develop and commercialize certain new products, or may result in our products being later to market than those of our competitors. For a summary description of the terms of the intellectual property and technology license agreement, see Note 20: Related Party Agreements and Transactions to our consolidated and combined financial statements.
We have incurred and will continue to incur significant charges in connection with the Separation and incremental costs as a standalone public company.
We are currently replicating or replacing certain functions, systems and infrastructure to which we no longer have the same access after the Separation. We have also made and will continue to make investments or hire additional employees to operate without the same access to Lilly’s existing operational and administrative infrastructure. These initiatives may be costly to implement. Due to the scope and complexity of the underlying projects relative to these efforts, the amount of total costs could be materially higher than our estimates, and the timing of the incurrence of these costs is subject to change.
Prior to the Separation, Lilly performed or supported many important corporate functions for us. Our consolidated and combined financial statements prior to the Separation reflect charges for these services on an allocated basis. Following the Separation, many of these services are governed by our transitional services agreement with Lilly. Under the transitional services agreement we are able to use these Lilly services for a fixed term established on a service-by-service basis. Partial reduction in the provision of any service or termination of a service prior to the expiration of the applicable fixed term requires Lilly’s consent. In addition, either party is able to terminate the agreement due to a material breach of the other party, upon prior written notice, subject to limited cure periods or if the other party undergoes a change of control.
We pay Lilly mutually agreed-upon fees for these services, which are based on Lilly’s costs (including third-party costs) of providing the services through March 31, 2021 and subject to a mark-up of 7% thereafter, with additional inflation-based escalation beginning January 1, 2022. However, since our transitional services agreement was negotiated in the context of a parent-subsidiary relationship, the terms of the agreement, including the fees charged for the services, may be higher or lower than those that would be agreed to by parties bargaining at arm’s length for similar services and may be higher or lower than the costs reflected in the allocations in our historical consolidated and combined financial statements. In addition, while these services are being provided to us by Lilly, our
operational flexibility to modify or implement changes with respect to such services or the amounts we pay for them will be limited.
We may not be able to replace these services or enter into appropriate third-party agreements on terms and conditions, including cost, comparable to those that we receive from Lilly under the transitional services agreement. Additionally, after the transitional services agreement terminates, we may be unable to sustain the services at the same levels or obtain the same benefits as when we were receiving such services and benefits from Lilly. When we begin to operate these functions separately, if we do not have our own adequate systems and business functions in place, or are unable to obtain them from other providers, we may not be able to operate our business effectively or at comparable costs, and our profitability may decline. In addition, we have historically received informal support from Lilly, which may not be addressed in the transitional services agreement. The level of this informal support may diminish or be eliminated in the future.
Risks Related to Elanco Common Stock
Future sales or the possibility of future sales of a substantial amount of our common stock may depress the price of shares of our common stock.
Future sales or the availability for sale of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through future sales of equity securities.
As of December 31, 2019, there were 373 million shares of our common stock outstanding, approximately 3.5 million shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise or vesting of outstanding equity awards and an additional 8 million shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2018 Elanco Stock Plan and Elanco Animal Health Incorporated Directors’ Deferral Plan; issuances of these shares are registered on our Registration Statement on Form S-8. Accordingly, shares of our common stock registered under such registration statement will be available for sale in the open market upon exercise or vesting by the holders of such awards, subject to vesting restrictions and Rule 144 limitations applicable to our affiliates.
On January 27, 2020, we issued approximately 25 million shares of our common stock in a registered public offering. Additionally, we issued on such date 11 million tangible equity units in a registered public offering. Unless settled earlier, each purchase contract that is a component of a tangible equity unit will settle automatically on the mandatory settlement date into up to 1.5625 shares of our common stock, subject to certain anti-dilution adjustments. All of the shares of common stock and tangible equity units sold in the public offering, as well as the shares of common stock issuable upon settlement of the units, are and will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act by persons other than our “affiliates” and sales of the shares of common stock, the units or the underlying common stock may depress the price of shares of our common stock.
Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we have agreed to issue the consideration shares to Bayer and to use our reasonable best efforts to file a shelf registration statement to register such shares within 60 days after the closing date of the Acquisition. The Purchase Agreement provides that, subject to certain lock-up restrictions with respect to the transfer of the consideration shares, Bayer may request that we complete underwritten offerings with respect the consideration shares, subject to limitations on minimum offering size. The completion of the Acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions, including the receipt of antitrust approvals and the absence of any law or order enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the Acquisition in specified jurisdictions. Bayer will receive the consideration shares at the completion of the Acquisition.
Any shares of common stock sold by Bayer under the shelf registration statement in compliance with or following the expiration of the lock-up provisions under the Purchase Agreement will be freely tradable. In the event Bayer exercises its registration rights and sells a large number of shares of our common stock, such sales could reduce the trading price of our common stock. These sales or the prospects of these sales or any other sales also could impede our ability to raise future capital.
In addition, subject to compliance with our tax matters agreement with Lilly, we may also issue additional shares of common stock or convertible debt securities to finance future acquisitions or for other corporate purposes. We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our common stock or other securities or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of our common stock or other securities will have on the market price of our common stock . Sales of substantial amounts of common stock (including shares of common stock issued in connection with the
Acquisition or any future acquisition), or the perception that such sales could occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock.
The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially.
Investors should consider an investment in our common stock to be risky, and should invest in our common stock only if the investor can withstand a significant loss and wide fluctuations in the market value of the investment. Some factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate, in addition to the other risks mentioned in this section of the annual report on Form 10-K, are:
•our announcements or our competitors’ announcements regarding new products, enhancements, significant contracts, acquisitions or strategic investments;
•changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, who cover our common stock;
•failures to meet external expectations or management guidance;
•fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us;
•changes in our capital structure or dividend policy future issuances of securities, sales of large blocks of common stock by our shareholders or our incurrence of additional debt;
•reputational issues;
•changes in general economic and market conditions in or any of the regions in which we conduct our business;
•changes in industry conditions or perceptions; and
•changes in applicable laws, rules or regulations and other dynamics.
In addition, if the market for stocks in our industry or related industries, or the stock market in general, experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of the foregoing occurs, it could cause our stock price to fall and may expose us to lawsuits that, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and a distraction to management.
The market price of our common stock is also likely to be influenced by the tangible equity units issued by us. For example, the market price of our common stock could become more volatile and could be depressed by:
•investors' anticipation of the potential resale in the market of a substantial number of additional shares of our common stock received upon settlement of the purchase contracts that are a component of the units;
•possible sales of our common stock by investors who view the units as a more attractive means of equity participation in us than owning shares of our common stock; and
•hedging or arbitrage trading activity that may develop involving the units and our common stock.
We do not anticipate paying dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
We do not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future on our common stock. We intend to retain all future earnings for the operation and expansion of our business and the repayment of outstanding debt. The New Credit Facilities are expected to contain restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to pay dividends and make other restricted payments. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock may be your major source of gain for the foreseeable future. While we may change this policy at some point in the future, we cannot assure you that we will make such a change.
The distributions we pay on our common stock may not qualify as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which could adversely affect the U.S. federal income tax consequences to you of owning our common stock.
Generally, any distributions that we make to a stockholder with respect to its shares of our common stock will constitute a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. While we expect that we will have accumulated earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, allocated to us as a result of our separation from Lilly, this allocation has not yet been finalized. Furthermore, our ability to generate earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in any future year is subject to a number of variables that are uncertain and difficult to predict.
Generally, any distribution not constituting a dividend under the rules described above will be treated as first reducing the investor's adjusted basis in shares of our common stock and, to the extent that the distribution exceeds the adjusted basis in shares of our common stock, as gain from the sale or exchange of such shares, and if the investor is a domestic corporation, it will not be entitled to claim, with respect to such non-dividend distribution, a “dividends-received” deduction, which generally applies to dividends received from other domestic corporations.
Applicable laws and regulations, provisions of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws may discourage takeover attempts and business combinations that shareholders might consider in their best interests.
Applicable laws, provisions of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and certain contractual rights that have been granted to Lilly under the master separation agreement may delay, deter, prevent or render more difficult a takeover attempt that our shareholders might consider in their best interests. For example, they may prevent our shareholders from receiving the benefit from any premium to the market price of our common stock offered by a bidder in a takeover context. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock if they are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts in the future.
Our amended and restated articles of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that are intended to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover, which could deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions provide for:
•a board of directors divided into three classes with staggered terms;
•advance notice requirements regarding how our shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings;
•the right of our board of directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock with such powers, rights and preferences as the board of directors shall determine;
•only the board of directors to fill newly-created directorships or vacancies on our board of directors;
•limitations on the ability of shareholders to call special meetings of shareholders and require that all shareholder action be taken at a meeting rather than by written consent;
•a two-thirds shareholder vote requirement to amend our amended and restated articles of incorporation;
•the exclusive right of our board of directors to amend our amended and restated bylaws; and
•the requirement that a 66 2/3% vote is necessary to remove directors.
These limitations may adversely affect the prevailing market price and market for our common stock if they are viewed as limiting the liquidity of our stock or discouraging takeover attempts in the future.