-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, P9Q3TrOWyac/Db+uK5f20p9GoLehMae832p4flH/OVF8AXCK1C+ZFKPram6PfY9w 43EFZbPpjPoyOglyDQeQIg== 0001104659-07-081830.txt : 20071109 0001104659-07-081830.hdr.sgml : 20071109 20071109165236 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0001104659-07-081830 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 10-Q PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 4 CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 20070930 FILED AS OF DATE: 20071109 DATE AS OF CHANGE: 20071109 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS INC CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0001142576 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS [2834] IRS NUMBER: 330830300 FISCAL YEAR END: 1231 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: 10-Q SEC ACT: 1934 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 001-33291 FILM NUMBER: 071232494 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 10110 SORRENTO VALLEY ROAD STREET 2: SUITE C CITY: SAN DIEGO STATE: CA ZIP: 92121 BUSINESS PHONE: 8589090736 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 10110 SORRENTO VALLEY ROAD STREET 2: SUITE C CITY: SAN DIEGO STATE: CA ZIP: 92121 10-Q 1 a07-25916_110q.htm 10-Q

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM 10-Q

 


 

x

 

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2007

 

or

 

o

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from                to

 

Commission File Number 001-33291

 


 

OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

 

33-0830300

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

 

10110 Sorrento Valley Road, Suite C
San Diego, CA 92121

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

 

(858) 909-0736
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days:

 

Yes x       No o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

 

Large Accelerated Filer o        Accelerated Filer o         Non-accelerated Filer x

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act):

 

Yes o       No x

 

The number of shares of the registrant’s Common Stock, no par value, outstanding as of November 1, 2007 was 27,851,197 shares.

 

 



 

OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
FORM 10-Q
For the Quarterly Period Ended September 30, 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

PART I –FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

 

 

Item 1. Financial Statements (unaudited)

 

 

 

Consolidated Balance Sheets –September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006

 

 

 

Consolidated Statements of Operations –Three months and nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006

 

 

 

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows –Nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006

 

 

 

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

 

 

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

 

 

 

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

 

 

 

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

 

 

 

PART II –OTHER INFORMATION

 

 

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors

 

 

 

Item 6. Exhibits

 

 

 

SIGNATURE

 

EXHIBIT 31.1

 

EXHIBIT 31.2

 

EXHIBIT 32

 

 

2


 


 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

 

 

 

September 30,

 

December 31,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

 

 

(unaudited)

 

 

 

ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

8,321,602

 

$

6,122,438

 

Short-term investments

 

23,860,948

 

15,218,860

 

Research grant and contract receivables

 

61,636

 

163,502

 

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

 

720,568

 

1,549,062

 

Total current assets

 

32,964,754

 

23,053,862

 

Property and equipment, net

 

730,184

 

744,564

 

Other assets

 

302,416

 

315,490

 

Total assets

 

$

33,997,354

 

$

24,113,916

 

LIABILITIES, REDEEMABLE CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT)

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

2,042,495

 

$

1,753,394

 

Accrued expenses

 

5,758,988

 

3,310,199

 

Total current liabilities

 

7,801,483

 

5,063,593

 

Deferred rent

 

286,029

 

292,384

 

Commitments and contingencies

 

 

 

 

 

Redeemable preferred stock, $0.001 par value:

 

 

 

 

 

Series B redeemable convertible, no shares and 6,461,439 shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; no shares and 4,132,736 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively

 

 

32,198,929

 

Series C redeemable convertible, no shares and 1,615,359 shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; no shares and 1,538,437 shares outstanding at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively

 

 

11,494,052

 

Series D redeemable convertible, no shares and 3,923,016 shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; no shares and 2,861,277 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively

 

 

21,766,662

 

Stockholders’ equity (deficit):

 

 

 

 

 

Preferred stock, par value $0.001, 10,000,000 and no shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively

 

 

 

Series A convertible preferred stock, par value $0.001, no shares and 2,307,656 shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; no shares and 1,523,051 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; liquidation preference of $0 and $ 3,300,000 at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively

 

 

1,523

 

Common stock, $0.001 par value, 75,000,000 shares and 25,384,225 shares authorized at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; 23,226,709 and 2,704,476 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively; 46,153 held in treasury

 

23,227

 

2,704

 

Treasury stock, at cost; 46,153 shares

 

(100,000

)

(100,000

)

Additional paid-in capital

 

116,622,165

 

4,997,421

 

Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)

 

30,435

 

(44,971

)

Accumulated deficit

 

(90,665,985

)

(51,558,381

)

Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)

 

25,909,842

 

(46,701,704

)

Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity (deficit)

 

$

33,997,354

 

$

24,113,916

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

3



 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(unaudited)

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

Nine Months Ended

 

 

 

September 30,

 

September 30,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

2007

 

2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenues:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research grants

 

$

44,493

 

$

209,017

 

$

241,793

 

$

591,189

 

Collaborative research agreements

 

271,555

 

 

431,555

 

256,326

 

Total revenues

 

316,048

 

209,017

 

673,348

 

847,515

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

5,496,136

 

1,619,724

 

35,964,496

 

7,343,410

 

Marketing

 

387,424

 

 

1,238,492

 

 

General and administrative

 

1,362,052

 

1,028,541

 

3,969,695

 

2,319,717

 

Total operating expenses

 

7,245,612

 

2,648,265

 

41,172,683

 

9,663,127

 

Loss from operations

 

(6,929,564

)

(2,439,248

)

(40,499,335

)

(8,815,612

)

Interest income and other, net

 

454,230

 

281,416

 

1,391,731

 

930,691

 

Net loss

 

(6,475,334

)

(2,157,832

)

(39,107,604

)

(7,884,921

)

Accretion to redemption amount of redeemable convertible preferred stock

 

 

(82,302

)

 

(246,906

)

Net loss allocable to common stockholders

 

$

(6,475,334

)

$

(2,240,134

)

$

(39,107,604

)

$

(8,131,827

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders

 

$

(0.28

)

$

(0.86

)

$

(1.94

)

$

(3.24

)

Shares used to compute basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders

 

23,154,266

 

2,572,822

 

20,143,478

 

2,512,450

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

4



 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(unaudited)

 

 

 

Nine Months Ended September30,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating activities

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(39,107,604

)

$

(7,884,921

)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

Depreciation and amortization

 

212,890

 

389,754

 

Stock based compensation

 

930,143

 

503,333

 

Stock awards

 

148,226

 

 

Non-cash compensation related to forgiveness of note receivable from officer

 

 

56,250

 

Loss on disposal of assets

 

 

264

 

Deferred rent

 

(6,355

)

11,189

 

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

Prepaids expenses and other current assets

 

828,494

 

(211,775

)

Research grant and contract receivables

 

101,866

 

447,672

 

Other assets

 

13,074

 

3,204

 

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

 

2,737,890

 

603,558

 

Net cash used in operating activities

 

(34,141,376

)

(6,081,472

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investing activities

 

 

 

 

 

Purchases of short-term investments

 

(48,793,307

)

(5,163,095

)

Sales or maturity of short-term investments

 

40,195,000

 

 

Purchase of property and equipment

 

(198,511

)

(61,901

)

Net cash used in investing activities

 

(8,796,818

)

(5,224,996

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financing activities

 

 

 

 

 

Proceeds from sale of common stock

 

43,735,465

 

102,010

 

Repurchase of common stock

 

 

(100,000

)

Repurchase of Series A preferred stock

 

 

(100,000

)

Proceeds from exercise of warrants

 

1,370,267

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

 

45,105,732

 

(97,990

)

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

 

31,626

 

10,102

 

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

 

2,199,164

 

(11,394,356

)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

 

6,122,438

 

19,943,959

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

 

$

8,321,602

 

$

8,549,603

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:

 

 

 

 

 

Conversion of redeemable convertible preferred stock to common stock

 

65,461,166

 

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

5



 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(unaudited)

 

1.    Interim Financial Information

 

Organization and Business Activities

 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Optimer” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on November 18, 1998 and has three subsidiaries. Optimer Biotechnology, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and is incorporated in Taiwan while Optimer Singapore PTE LTD and Optimer Asia PTE LTD are incorporated in Singapore and are wholly owned subsidiaries of Optimer Biotechnology, Inc. During the year ended December 31, 2006, the Company ceased operations of Optimer Asia PTE LTD and Optimer Singapore PTE LTD and neither had a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

Optimer is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative anti-infective products. The Company currently has two anti-infective product candidates, OPT-80, formerly known as “PAR-101” or “Difimicin”, for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, or CDAD, and Prulifloxacin, for the treatment of infectious diarrhea, including travelers’ diarrhea.

 

Optimer is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to drug discovery, development and commercialization, obtaining regulatory approval of any products it or its collaborators may develop, competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, its effectiveness at managing its financial resources, difficulties or delays in its clinical trials, difficulties or delays in manufacturing its clinical trial materials, implementation of its collaborations, the level of efforts that its collaborative partners devote to development and commercialization of its product candidates, its ability to successfully market and sell any products it develops, the scope and validity of patent protection for its products and proprietary technology, dependence on key personnel, product liability, litigation, its ability to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or  FDA, and other government regulations and its ability to obtain additional funding to support its operations.

 

Basis of Presentation

 

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring accruals, considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results of these interim periods have been included. The results of operations for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2007 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and related notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K

 

6



 

for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 30, 2007.

 

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

 

2.    Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

 

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

 

Investments with original maturities of less than 90 days at the date of purchase are considered to be cash equivalents. All other investments are classified as short-term investments which are deemed by management to be available-for-sale and are reported at fair value with net unrealized gains or losses reported within accumulated other comprehensive loss in the consolidated balance sheets. Realized gains and losses, and declines in value judged to be other than temporary, are included in investment income or interest expense. The cost of securities sold is computed using the specific identification method.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

The Company’s collaboration agreements contain multiple elements, including non-refundable upfront fees, payments for reimbursement of third-party research costs, payments for ongoing research, payments associated with achieving specific development milestones and royalties based on specified percentages of net product sales, if any. The Company applies the revenue recognition criteria outlined in Staff Accounting Bulletin, or SAB, No. 104, Revenue Recognition and Emerging Issues Task Force, or EITF, Issue 00-21, Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables, or EITF 00-21. In applying these revenue recognition criteria, the Company considers a variety of factors in determining the appropriate method of revenue recognition under these arrangements, such as whether the elements are separable, whether there are determinable fair values and whether there is a unique earnings process associated with each element of a contract.

 

Cash received in advance of services being performed is recorded as deferred revenue and recognized as revenue as services are performed over the applicable term of the agreement.

 

When a payment is specifically tied to a separate earnings process, revenues are recognized when the specific performance obligation associated with the payment is completed. Performance obligations typically consist of significant and substantive milestones pursuant to the related agreement. Revenues from milestone payments may be considered separable from funding for research services because of the uncertainty surrounding the achievement of milestones for products in early stages of development. Accordingly, these payments are allowed to be recognized as revenue if and when the performance milestone is achieved if they represent a separate earnings process as described in EITF 00-21.

 

7



 

In connection with certain research collaboration agreements, revenues are recognized from non-refundable upfront fees, which the Company does not believe are specifically tied to a separate earnings process, ratably over the term of the agreement. Research fees are recognized as revenue as the related research activities are performed.

 

Revenues derived from reimbursement of direct out-of-pocket expenses for research costs associated with grants are recorded in compliance with EITF Issue 99-19, Reporting Revenue Gross as a Principal Versus Net as an Agent, and EITF Issue 01-14, Income Statement Characterization of Reimbursements Received for “Out-of-Pocket” Expenses Incurred. According to the criteria established by these EITF Issues, in transactions where the Company acts as a principal, with discretion to choose suppliers, bears credit risk and performs part of the services required in the transaction, the Company records revenue for the gross amount of the reimbursement. The costs associated with these reimbursements are reflected as a component of research and development expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

 

None of the payments that the Company has received from collaborators to date, whether recognized as revenue or deferred, are refundable even if the related program is not successful.

 

Research and Development Expenses

 

The Company accounts for research and development costs in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, or SFAS, No. 2, Accounting for Research and Development Costs, or SFAS 2. SFAS 2 specifies that research and development costs should be charged to expense until technological feasibility has been established for the product. Once technological feasibility is established, all product costs should be capitalized until the product is available for general release to customers. The Company has determined that technological feasibility for its product candidates will be reached when the requisite regulatory approvals are obtained to make the product available for sale, or approval of the new drug application, or NDA, for such product. The Company’s research and development expenses consist primarily of license fees, salaries and related employee benefits, costs associated with clinical trials managed by the Company’s contract research organizations, or CROs, and costs associated with non-clinical activities and regulatory approvals. The Company uses external service providers and vendors to conduct clinical trials, to manufacture supplies of product candidates to be used in clinical trials and to provide various other research and development-related products and services.

 

Comprehensive Income (Loss)

 

The Company has applied SFAS No. 130, Reporting Comprehensive Income, which requires that all components of comprehensive income (loss), including net income (loss), be reported in the financial statements in the period in which they are recognized. Comprehensive income (loss) is defined as the change in equity during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from non-owner sources. Under the SFAS 130, net income (loss) and other comprehensive income (loss), including foreign currency translation adjustments and unrealized gains and losses on investments, shall be reported, net of their related tax effect, to arrive at comprehensive income (loss). The Company’s comprehensive loss was $6.5 million and $2.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006, respectively. The Company’s

 

8



 

comprehensive loss was $39.0 million and $7.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006, respectively.

 

Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders

 

The Company computes net loss per share in accordance with SFAS No. 128, Earnings per Share, or SFAS 128. Under the provisions of SFAS 128, basic net loss per common share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding. Diluted net loss per common share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of common shares and dilutive common share equivalents then outstanding. Common equivalent shares consist of the incremental common shares issuable upon the conversion of preferred stock, and common shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options and warrants. Since the Company has a net loss for all periods presented, the effect of all potentially dilutive securities is anti-dilutive. Accordingly, basic and diluted net loss per share is the same.

 

Income Taxes

 

In July 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109, Accounting for Income Taxes, or FIN 48. FIN 48 creates a single model to address accounting for uncertainty in income tax positions. FIN 48 prescribes a minimum threshold that an income tax position is required to meet before being recognized in the financial statements. The interpretation also provides guidance on derecognition and measurement criteria in addition to classification, interest and penalties and interim period accounting, and it significantly expands disclosure provisions for uncertain tax positions that have been or are expected to be taken in a company’s tax return. FIN 48 was effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2006 and the Company, accordingly, adopted this statement as of January 1, 2007.

 

As a result of the adoption of FIN 48, the Company has not recorded any change to accumulated deficit at January 1, 2007. At September 30, 2007 the Company had no unrecognized tax benefits or liabilities that, if recognized, would affect the Company’s effective income tax rate in future periods. The Company’s continuing practice is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. The Company had no accrued interest or penalties at January 1, 2007 and no accrued interest or penalties at September 30, 2007.

 

The Company has completed a preliminary analysis to assess whether a change in control has occurred and whether there have been multiple changes of control since the Company’s formation. It was determined that a greater than 50% change in ownership occurred on May 9, 2001, which might limit the future utilization of the Company’s net operating loss, or NOL, and research and development, or R&D, credits incurred prior to that date. No subsequent change in ownership has occurred. If the Company experienced a greater than 50 percentage point change or shift in ownership over a 3-year time frame since its formation, utilization of its NOL or R&D credit carryforwards would be subject to an annual limitation under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The annual limitation generally is determined by multiplying the value of the Company’s stock at the time of the ownership change (subject to certain adjustments) by the applicable long-term tax-exempt rate. Any limitation may result in

 

9



 

expiration of a portion of the NOL or R&D credit carryforwards before utilization. The Company has not done a formal calculation of the limitation related to the May 9, 2001 ownership change. As such, no amounts are being presented as an uncertain tax position under FIN 48.

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

 

In September 2006, the FASB issued FASB Statement No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements”, or SFAS 157, which defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value under generally accepted accounting principles, and expands disclosures about fair value measurements. SFAS 157 applies to other accounting pronouncements that require or permit fair value measurements. The new guidance is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007, and for interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of SFAS 157, if any, on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Liabilities, or SFAS 159. SFAS 159 permits entities to choose to measure many financial instruments and certain other items at fair value. SFAS 159 will be effective for the Company’s fiscal year beginning after November 15, 2007. Early adoption is permitted. The Company has not determined the impact, if any, that adopting this standard may have on its financial position, cash flows, and results of operations.

 

In July 2007, FASB released Emerging Issues Task Force Issue 07-3, “Accounting for Nonrefundable Advance Payments for Goods or Services to be used in Future Research and Development Activities”, or EITF 07-3. In accordance with EITF 07-3, nonrefundable advance payments for goods or services to be received in the future for use in research and development activities should be deferred and capitalized. The capitalized amounts should be expensed as the related goods are delivered or the services are performed. EITF 07-3 is effective for new contracts entered into during fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2007, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company’s current accounting treatment is consistent with EITF 07-3 and as such this EITF is not expected to have an impact on its financial position, cash flows, and results of operations.

 

3.    Reverse Stock Split

 

The Company’s board of directors and stockholders authorized a 1-for-2.1667 reverse stock split in December 2006 and January 2007, respectively, for all outstanding preferred and common shares. All share information has been retroactively restated to reflect the reverse stock split.

 

10



 

4.    Initial Public Offering

 

On February 14, 2007, 7,000,000 shares of common stock were sold at a price of $7.00 per share, resulting in aggregate proceeds of approximately $43.6 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. In addition, during February 2007, the underwriters exercised in full the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 1,050,000 shares of the Company’s common stock from a selling stockholder.

 

5.    Short-Term Investments

 

The following is a summary of the Company’s investment securities, all of which are classified as available-for-sale and all of which are due within one year by contractual maturity with the exception of the other securities which are taxable auction rate securities. Determination of estimated fair value is based upon quoted market prices.

 

 

 

September 30, 2007

 

 

 

Gross
Amortized Cost

 

Gross
Unrealized Gains

 

Gross
Unrealized Losses

 

Market Value

 

Certificates of deposits

 

$

2,001,482

 

$

777

 

$

 

$

2,002,259

 

Commercial paper

 

998,666

 

 

(5,236

)

993,430

 

Corporate debt securities

 

7,973,528

 

4,130

 

(3,137

)

7,974,521

 

Foreign debt securities

 

2,296,411

 

262

 

(1,834

)

2,294,839

 

U.S. securities and other government obligations

 

3,501,482

 

4,417

 

 

3,505,899

 

Other securities

 

7,090,000

 

 

 

7,090,000

 

 

 

$

23,861,569

 

$

9,586

 

$

(10,207

)

$

23,860,948

 

 

 

 

December 31, 2006

 

 

 

Gross
Amortized Cost

 

Gross
Unrealized Gains

 

Gross
Unrealized Losses

 

Market Value

 

Government obligations

 

$

15,263,259

 

$

 

$

(44,399

)

$

15,218,860

 

 

Investments in net unrealized loss positions as of September 30, 2007 are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

Less Than 12 Months of
Temporary Impairment

 

Greater Than 12 Months
of Temporary Impairment

 

Total Temporary
Impairment

 

 

 

Number of
Investments

 

Fair Value

 

Unrealized
Losses

 

Fair Value

 

Unrealized
Losses

 

Fair Value

 

Unrealized
Losses

 

Commercial paper

 

1

 

993,430

 

(5,236

)

 

 

993,430

 

(5,236

)

Corporate debt securities

 

6

 

3,985,119

 

(3,137

)

 

 

3,985,119

 

(3,137

)

Foreign debt securities

 

2

 

1,792,140

 

(1,834

)

 

 

1,792,140

 

(1,834

)

 

 

9

 

$

6,770,689

 

$

(10,207

)

$

 

$

 

$

6,770,689

 

$

(10,207

)

 

The Company believes that the decline in value is temporary and primarily related to the change in market interest rates since purchase. The Company anticipates full recovery of amortized cost with respect to these securities at maturity or sooner in the event of a change in the market interest rate environment.

 

11



 

6.    Stock Based Compensation

 

Effective January 1, 2006, the Company adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment, or FAS 123(R). SFAS 123(R) supersedes Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees, or APB Opinion 25, and related interpretations, and revises guidance in SFAS No. 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, or SFAS 123. The compensation costs related to all equity instruments granted prior to, but not yet vested as of, the adoption date of SFAS 123(R) are recognized based on the grant-date fair value which is estimated in accordance with the original provisions of SFAS 123. Compensation costs related to all equity instruments granted after January 1, 2006 are recognized at the grant-date fair value of the awards in accordance with the provisions of SFAS 123(R). Additionally, under the provisions of SFAS 123(R), the Company is required to include an estimate of the value of the awards that will be forfeited in calculating compensation costs, which is recognized over the requisite service period of the awards on a straight-line basis.

 

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model was developed for use in estimating the fair value of traded options, which have no vesting restrictions and are fully transferable. In addition, the Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires the input of subjective assumptions, including the expected stock price volatility. The following table shows the assumptions used to compute stock-based compensation expense for the stock options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006, using the Black-Scholes option pricing model:

 

 

 

Nine months ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

Risk-free interest rate

 

4.72-4.80

%

4.80

%

Dividend yield

 

0.00

%

0.00

%

Expected life of options (years)

 

6.08

 

6.08

 

Volatility

 

60.92-65.82

%

65.82

%

 

The risk-free interest rate assumption was based on the United States Treasury’s rates for U.S. Treasury zero-coupon bonds with maturities similar to those of the expected term of the award being valued. The assumed dividend yield was based on the Company’s expectation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future. The weighted average expected life of options was calculated using the simplified method as prescribed SAB No. 107, Share-Based Payment, or SAB 107. This decision was based on the lack of relevant historical data due to the Company’s limited history. In addition, due to the Company’s limited historical data, the estimated volatility also reflects the application of SAB 107, incorporating the historical volatility of comparable companies whose share prices are publicly available.

 

Based on these assumptions, the per share weighted-average grant-date fair values of stock options granted during the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2007 was $8.88 per share and $9.18 per share, respectively.

 

At September 30, 2007, the total unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested stock options was approximately $2,690,323 and the related weighted-average period over which it is expected to be recognized is approximately 2.8 years.

 

12



 

Total stock-based compensation expense, related to all of the Company’s stock options granted, recognized for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was comprised as follows:

 

 

 

Three months ended
September 30,

 

Nine months ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

2007

 

2006

 

Research and development

 

$

79,390

 

$

72,552

 

$

219,003

 

$

214,583

 

Marketing

 

81,411

 

 

191,555

 

 

General and administrative

 

161,377

 

263,911

 

519,585

 

288,750

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

$

322,178

 

$

336,463

 

$

930,143

 

$

503,333

 

 

No related tax benefits of the stock-based compensation expense have been recognized since the inception of the Company.

 

7.    Collaboration Agreement

 

In January 2007, the Company entered into a prospective buy-back agreement with Par Pharmaceutical, Inc., or Par, which provided the Company with an option to terminate a collaboration agreement entered in April 2005. The collaboration agreement provided that Par would develop and commercialize OPT-80 and granted Par an exclusive royalty bearing license, with the right to sublicense, promote, market, distribute and sell OPT-80 in a territory composed of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with an option to extend the territory to include Israel. The Company retained all other rights to OPT-80 in the rest of the world (i.e. outside North America).

 

In February 2007, the Company elected to terminate the collaboration agreement with Par, and exercised the rights under the prospective buy-back agreement to repurchase Par’s right to develop and commercialize OPT-80 in North America and Israel. The Company paid Par a one-time $20.0 million termination fee and recorded the payment as research and development expense. The Company now holds worldwide rights to OPT-80. The Company is also obligated to pay Par a one-time $5.0 million milestone payment, an accrued expense for a payment due to Par of approximately $1.5 million for OPT-80 clinical supply material and active pharmaceutical ingredient, a 5% royalty on net sales by the Company, its affiliates or its licensees of OPT-80 in North America and Israel, and a 1.5% royalty on net sales by the Company or its affiliates of OPT-80 in the rest of the world. In addition, the Company assumed Par’s obligation to make a potential prepayment to Biocon Limited, or Biocon, subject to future set offs as a result of such assumption and assignment, pursuant to Par’s agreement with Biocon. The one-time $5.0 million milestone payment must be paid after the earliest to occur of (i) the successful completion by the Company of its pivotal Phase 3 trial for OPT-80, (ii) the Company’s grant to a third party of the rights to OPT-80 or (iii) the submission to the FDA of an NDA for OPT-80. In addition, in the event the Company licenses its right to market OPT-80 in the rest of the world, the Company will be required to pay Par a 6.25% royalty on net revenues received by it related to OPT-80. The Company is obligated to pay each of these royalties, if any, on a country-by-country

 

13



 

 basis for seven years commencing on the applicable commercial launch in each such country.

 

8.    Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

 

Stock Options

 

In November 1998, the Company adopted the 1998 Stock Plan, or the 1998 Plan. Upon the completion of the Company’s initial public offering in February 2007, the 1998 Plan was terminated and no additional grants will be issued from this plan. In December 2006, the Company’s board of directors approved the 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2006 Plan. The 2006 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, within the meaning of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, to the Company’s employees and any parent and subsidiary corporations’ employees, and for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock appreciation rights, performance units and performance shares to the Company’s employees, directors and consultants and any parent and subsidiary corporations’ employees and consultants. The Company has reserved a total of 2,000,000 shares of its common stock for issuance pursuant to the 2006 Plan. In addition, the 2006 Plan provides for annual increases in the number of shares available for issuance thereunder on the first day of each fiscal year, beginning with the Company’s 2008 fiscal year, equal to the lesser of (i) 5% of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year; (ii) 750,000 shares; or (iii) such other amount as the board of directors may determine. Under the 2006 Plan, the exercise price of options granted must at least be equal to the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant. The term of an incentive stock option may not exceed ten years from the date of grant (five years for a 10% stockholder). Options generally vest over a period of four years. The 2006 Plan is administered by the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors.

 

Following is a summary of stock option activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2007:

 

 

 

Options

 

Weighted-
Average
Exercise Price

 

Balance as of December 31, 2006

 

1,496,945

 

$

1.17

 

Granted

 

259,353

 

$

9.18

 

Exercised

 

(128,142

)

$

0.89

 

Canceled

 

(3,389

)

$

4.65

 

Balance as of September 30, 2007

 

1,624,767

 

$

2.46

 

 

14



 

As of September 30, 2007, options were outstanding under the 1998 Plan and the 2006 Plan as follows:

 

 

 

September 30, 2007

 

 

 

Options Outstanding

 

Options Exercisable

 

Exercise
Price

 

Number
Outstanding

 

Weighted Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life (in years)

 

Weighted
Average
Exercise Price

 

Number
Exercisable

 

Weighted
Average
Exercise Price

 

$ 0.22 - $0.22

 

67,217

 

3.07

 

$

0.22

 

67,217

 

$

0.22

 

$ 0.65 - $0.65

 

393,905

 

4.06

 

$

0.65

 

393,905

 

$

0.65

 

$ 1.08 - $1.08

 

559,861

 

7.29

 

$

1.08

 

382,252

 

$

1.08

 

$ 2.17 - $2.17

 

361,784

 

8.50

 

$

2.17

 

106,445

 

$

2.17

 

$ 8.06 - $10.00

 

242,000

 

9.52

 

$

9.64

 

 

$

 

$ 0.22 - $10.00

 

1,624,767

 

6.93

 

$

2.46

 

949,819

 

$

0.96

 

 

Of the options outstanding, options to purchase 949,819 shares were vested as of September 30, 2007, with a weighted average remaining contractual life of 6.0 years and a weighted average exercise price of $0.96 per share, while options to purchase 674,948 shares were unvested.

 

Stock Awards

 

On September 12, 2007, the Company issued stock awards for 17,500 fully-vested shares of the Company’s common stock to its directors under the Company’s 2006 Plan. The grant date fair value of the stock awards were $8.47 per share.

 

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

 

Concurrent with the Company’s initial public offering in February 2007, it established the employee stock purchase plan. The Company’s board of directors adopted the employee stock purchase plan in December 2006, and the stockholders approved the plan in January 2007. A total of 200,000 shares of the Company’s common stock were initially made available for sale under the plan. In addition, the employee stock purchase plan provides for annual increases in the number of shares available for issuance under the purchase plan on the first day of each fiscal year, beginning with the Company’s 2008 fiscal year, equal to the lesser of (i) 3% of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year; (ii) 300,000 shares; or (iii) such other amount as may be determined by the Company’s board of directors.

 

The offering date of the purchase plan was February 15, 2007 and the first purchase is scheduled to occur on November 15, 2007. During the quarter ended September 30, 2007, there were no shares of common stock issued and 200,000 shares remained available for issuance under the purchase plan.

 

During the nine months ended September 30, 2007, the Company recorded stock-based compensation expense of approximately $52,482 related to the purchase plan.

 

15



 

Warrants

 

In connection with the Company’s building lease agreement signed in 2000, the Company issued a warrant to purchase 13,845 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $10.83 per share, which expires in June 2010. The estimated fair value of the warrant at the date of grant was not material using the Black-Scholes valuation model. As of September 30, 2007, no shares have been issued pursuant to this warrant.

 

9. Subsequent event

 

On October 30, 2007, the Company completed a private placement in which it raised gross proceeds of approximately $35.9 million through the sale, at a price of $7.80 per share, of 4,600,000 shares of its common stock. Pursuant to a registration rights agreement dated October 23, 2007, the Company agreed to file a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC, within 30 days of the closing of the private placement, to register the resale of the shares. The Company agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to have the registration statement declared effective within 90 days after the closing of the private placement if the registration statement receives no SEC review or 120 days after the closing of the private placement if the registration statement receives SEC review.

 

If the registration statement is not filed or is not declared effective by the required dates, then the Company has agreed to pay each purchaser liquidated damages pursuant to the registration rights agreement at a rate equal to 1.0% of the aggregate purchase price of the shares purchased by such purchaser for any private placement shares then held by such purchaser each month the registration statement is not filed or declared effective, as applicable. The maximum aggregate liquidated damages payable to any purchaser is 18% of the aggregate purchase price paid by such purchaser. If the Company fails to pay any partial liquidated damages in full within 5 business days after the date payable, the Company will pay interest thereon at a rate of 1.5% per month (or such lesser maximum amount that is permitted to be paid by applicable law). In the event that the Company registers some but not all of the private placement shares, the 1.0% of liquidated damages referred to above for any monthly period will be reduced on a pro rata basis.

 

16



 

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

 

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes appearing elsewhere in this report. This discussion and other parts of this report may contain forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and the timing of selected events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report.

 

Overview

 

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative anti-infective products. Our initial development efforts address products that treat gastrointestinal infections and related diseases where current therapies have limitations, including diminished efficacy, serious adverse side effects, drug-to-drug interactions, difficult patient compliance and bacterial resistance.

 

We currently have two late-stage anti-infective product candidates, OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. OPT-80, our lead product candidate, is an antibiotic currently in a Phase 3 registration trial for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, or CDAD, the most common nosocomial diarrhea. In April 2005, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Par Pharmaceutical, Inc., or Par, pursuant to which we and Par, exclusively collaborated in the clinical development and commercialization of OPT-80. In February 2007, we elected to terminate the collaboration agreement with Par, exercised our right under a prospective buy-back agreement to repurchase Par’s rights to develop and commercialize OPT-80 in North America and Israel and paid Par a one-time $20.0 million termination fee. As a result, we now hold worldwide rights to OPT-80. The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has granted Fast Track status for OPT-80 in the treatment of CDAD. Fast Track designation indicates that OPT-80 has the potential to treat life-threatening diseases with unmet medical needs. OPT-80 was also chosen to be the only investigational new drug in the Continuous Marketing Applications, or CMA, Pilot 2 Program in the Division of Anti-Infective and Ophthalmology Products. The CMA designation offers several potential benefits, including a program of continuous FDA feedback designed to streamline the development process. Participation in these programs will not eliminate any phase of clinical development. Prulifloxacin is an antibiotic currently in two Phase 3 trials for the treatment of infectious diarrhea, including travelers’ diarrhea, a community-acquired infection which can be caused by a broad range of bacteria. We will seek a label for Prulifloxacin for the treatment of infectious diarrhea and initially plan to focus commercialization efforts on the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea. Prulifloxacin is a prodrug in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics, a widely-used class of broad-spectrum antibiotics. We are developing additional product candidates using our proprietary technology, including our OPopS drug discovery platform.

 

We were incorporated in November 1998. Since inception, we have focused on hiring our management team and initial operating employees and on developing our product candidates, including OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. We have never been profitable and have incurred

 

17



 

significant net losses since our inception. As of September 30, 2007, we had an accumulated deficit of $90.7 million. These losses have resulted principally from costs incurred in connection with research and development activities, including the costs of clinical trial activities associated with our current lead product candidates, license fees and general and administrative expenses. We expect to continue to incur operating losses for the next several years as we pursue the clinical development and commercialization of our product candidates, as well as acquire or in-license additional products or product candidates, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our own.

 

Critical Accounting Policies

 

Our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of our Financial Condition and Results of Operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, expenses and related disclosures. Actual results could differ from those estimates. While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements appearing elsewhere in this report, we believe the following accounting policies to be critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

Our collaboration agreements contain multiple elements, including non-refundable upfront fees, payments for reimbursement of third-party research costs, payments for ongoing research, payments associated with achieving specific development milestones and royalties based on specified percentages of net product sales, if any. We apply the revenue recognition criteria outlined in Staff Accounting Bulletin, or SAB, No. 104, Revenue Recognition and Emerging Issues Task Force, or EITF, Issue 00-21, Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables, or EITF 00-21. In applying these revenue recognition criteria, we consider a variety of factors in determining the appropriate method of revenue recognition under these arrangements, such as whether the elements are separable, whether there are determinable fair values and whether there is a unique earnings process associated with each element of a contract. Cash received in advance of services being performed is recorded as deferred revenue and recognized as revenue as services are performed over the applicable term of the agreement.

 

When a payment is specifically tied to a separate earnings process, revenues are recognized when the specific performance obligation associated with the payment is completed. Performance obligations typically consist of significant and substantive milestones. Revenues from milestone payments may be considered separable from funding for research services because of the uncertainty surrounding the achievement of milestones for products in early stages of development. Accordingly, these milestone payments are allowed to be recognized as revenue if and when the performance milestone is achieved if they represent a substantive earnings process as described in EITF 00-21.

 

In connection with certain research collaboration agreements, revenues are recognized from non-refundable upfront fees, which we do not believe are specifically tied to a separate earnings

 

18



 

process, ratably over the term of the agreement or the period over which we have significant involvement or perform services. Research fees are recognized as revenue as the related research activities are performed.

 

Revenues derived from reimbursement of direct out-of-pocket expenses for research costs associated with grants are recorded in compliance with EITF Issue 99-19, Reporting Revenue Gross as a Principal Versus Net as an Agent, and EITF Issue 01-14, Income Statement Characterization of Reimbursements Received for “Out-of-Pocket” Expenses Incurred. According to the criteria established by these EITF Issues, in transactions where we act as a principal, with discretion to choose suppliers, bear credit risk and perform part of the services required in the transaction, we record revenue for the gross amount of the reimbursement. The costs associated with these reimbursements are reflected as a component of research and development expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

 

None of the payments that we have received from collaborators to date, whether recognized as revenue or deferred, are refundable even if the related program is not successful.

 

Accrued Clinical Trial Costs

 

A substantial portion of our on-going research and development activities are performed under agreements we enter into with external service providers, including clinical research organizations, or CROs, who conduct many of our research and development activities. We accrue the costs incurred under these contracts based on factors such as estimates of work performed, milestones achieved, patient enrollment and costs historically incurred for similar contracts. As actual costs become known, we adjust our accruals. To date, our accruals have been within management’s estimates, and no material adjustments to research and development expenses have been recognized. We expect to significantly expand the level of research and development activity to be performed by external service providers and our estimated accruals will be more material to our future operations. Subsequent changes in estimates may result in a material change in our accruals, which could also materially affect our results of operations.

 

Stock-Based Compensation

 

Effective January 1, 2006, we adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, or SFAS, No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment, or SFAS 123(R) which revises SFAS 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, or SFAS 123, and supersedes Accounting Principles Board, or APB, Opinion 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees. SFAS 123(R) requires that share-based payment transactions with employees be recognized in the financial statements based on their fair value and recognized as compensation expense over the vesting period. Prior to SFAS 123(R), we disclosed the pro forma effects of applying SFAS 123 under the Black-Scholes method. We adopted SFAS 123(R) prospectively for new equity awards issued subsequent to December 31, 2005. Under SFAS 123(R), we calculate the fair value of stock option grants using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model were 6.1 years for the expected term, 60.9%-65.8% for the expected volatility, 4.7%-4.8% for the risk free rate and 0.0% for dividend yield for the nine months ended September 30, 2007. Future expense amounts for any particular quarterly or annual period could be affected by changes in our assumptions.

 

19



 

The weighted average expected option term for 2007 reflects the application of the simplified method set out in SAB No. 107 which was issued in March 2005. The simplified method defines the life as the average of the contractual term of the options and the weighted average vesting period for all option tranches.

 

Estimated volatility for the 2007 fiscal year also reflects the application of SAB No. 107 interpretive guidance and, accordingly, incorporates historical volatility of similar public entities.

 

As of September 30, 2007, we had approximately $2.7 million of unrecognized stock-based compensation costs related to non-vested equity awards. As of September 30, 2007, we had outstanding vested options to purchase 949,819 shares of our common stock and unvested options to purchase 674,948 shares of our common stock.

 

Equity instruments issued to non-employees are recorded at their fair value as determined in accordance with SFAS 123(R) and EITF 96-18, Accounting for Equity Instruments That are Issued to Other Than Employees for Acquiring, or in Conjunction with Selling Goods and Services, and are periodically revalued as the equity instruments vest and are recognized as expense over the related service period.

 

Results of Operations

 

Three Months Ended September 30, 2007 and 2006

 

Collaboration and Grant Revenues. Collaboration and grant revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $316,000 and $209,000, respectively. The increase of $107,000, or 51%, was primarily due to our development collaboration with a natural healthcare company which generated $240,000 during the three months ended September 30, 2007, offset by a decrease in revenue from a National Institute of Health grant.

 

Research and Development Expense. Research and development expense for the three months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $5.5 million and $1.6 million, respectively. The increase of $3.9 million, or 239%, is primarily due to the progress on our OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin clinical trials.

 

Marketing. The Company incurred $387,000 of marketing expense in the three months ended September 30, 2007 and no such expense in the three months ended September 30, 2006. The expenses in three months ended September 30, 2007 were related to salaries and pre-launch activities which include medical education, scientific conferences and public relations services.

 

General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense for the three months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $1.4 million and $1.0 million, respectively. The increase of $334,000, or 32%, was due to higher legal expenses, patents services, insurance and compensation expenses, including $148,000 of stock compensation expense for stock awards granted to our directors.

 

Interest Income and Other, net. Net interest income and other for the three months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $454,000 and $281,000, respectively. The increase was

 

20



 

primarily due to higher cash and short-term investment balances as a result of the initial public offering which closed on February 14, 2007.

 

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2007 and 2006

 

Collaboration and Grant Revenues. Collaboration and grant revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 were $673,000 and $848,000, respectively. The decrease of $175,000, or 21%, was due to a decrease in revenue from a National Institute of Health grant and the conclusion of a development and license agreement, partially offset by an increase of $400,000 related to a collaboration with a natural healthcare company.

 

Research and Development Expense. Research and development expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $36.0 million and $7.3 million, respectively. The increase of $28.7 million, or 390% was due primarily to the $20.0 million payment to Par to reacquire the North American rights to OPT-80, the advancement of our OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin clinical trials, including the May 2007 initiation of the second pivotal Phase 3 trial for OPT-80, and the purchase of $1.9 million of OPT-80 clinical supply material and active pharmaceutical ingredient for the OPT-80 clinical study.

 

Marketing. We incurred $1.2 million of marketing expense in the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and no such expense in the nine months ended September 30, 2006. The expenses in the nine months ended September 30, 2007 were related to salaries and pre-launch activities which include medical education, scientific conferences, and public relations services.

 

General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 was $4.0 million and $2.3 million, respectively. The increase of $1.7 million, or 71%, was due to higher legal expenses, insurance and compensation expenses, including a $668,000 increase in stock compensation expense.

 

Interest Income and Other, net. Net interest income and other for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 and 2006 were $1.4 million and $931,000, respectively. The increase was primarily due to higher cash and short-term investment balances as a result of the initial public offering which closed on February 14, 2007.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Sources of Liquidity

 

Since inception, our operations have been financed primarily through the sale of equity securities. Through September 30, 2007, we received gross proceeds of approximately $118.9 million from the sale of shares of our preferred and common stock as follows:

 

      in May 2000, we sold a total of 1.6 million shares of Series A preferred stock for proceeds of $3.4 million;

 

      from March 2001 to December 2001, we sold a total of 4.1 million shares of Series B preferred stock for proceeds of $32.2 million;

 

21



 

      in April 2005, we sold a total of 1.5 million shares of Series C preferred stock for proceeds of $12.0 million;

 

      from April 2005 to November 2005, we sold a total of 2.9 million shares of Series D preferred stock for proceeds of $22.3 million; and

 

      in February 2007, we sold a total of 7.0 million shares of our common stock in connection with our initial public offering for proceeds of $49.0 million.

 

On October 30, 2007, we completed a private placement in which we raised gross proceeds of approximately $35.9 million through the sale, at a price of $7.80 per share, of 4,600,000 shares of our common stock.

 

Until required for operations, we have invested a substantial portion of our available funds in money market funds, corporate debt securities, United States government instruments and other readily marketable debt instruments, all of which are investment-grade quality. We have established guidelines relating to diversification and maturities of our investments to preserve principal and maintain liquidity.

 

Cash Flows

 

As of September 30, 2007, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled approximately $32.2 million as compared to $21.3 million as of December 31, 2006, an increase of approximately $10.9 million. We raised $43.6 million in net proceeds from our initial public offering which closed on February 14, 2007. We paid Par $20.0 million of the net proceeds to reacquire the North American rights to OPT-80.

 

We cannot be certain if, when or to what extent we will receive cash inflows from the commercialization of our product candidates. We expect our development expenses to be substantial and to increase over the next few years as we advance the development of our product candidates.

 

In April 2005, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Par pursuant to which we and Par exclusively collaborated to develop and commercialize OPT-80. We had granted to Par an exclusive royalty-bearing license, with the right to sublicense, promote, market, distribute and sell OPT-80 in a territory composed of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with an option to extend the territory to include Israel. We retained all other rights to OPT-80 in the rest of the world. In January 2007, we entered into a prospective buy-back agreement with Par which provided us with an option to terminate the collaboration and repurchase the rights to develop and commercialize OPT-80 in North America and Israel.

 

In February 2007, we elected to terminate the collaboration agreement pursuant to the prospective buy-back agreement with Par and we repurchased the rights to develop and commercialize OPT-80 in North America and Israel. We now hold worldwide rights to OPT-80. Under the terms of the prospective buy-back agreement, we paid Par a one-time $20.0 million termination fee and we are also obligated to pay Par a one-time $5.0 million milestone payment, a 5% royalty on net sales by us or our affiliates of OPT-80 in North America and Israel, and a

 

22



 

1.5% royalty on net sales by us or our affiliates of OPT-80 in the rest of the world. In addition, in the event we license our right to market OPT-80 in the rest of the world, we will be required to pay Par a 6.25% royalty on net revenues we receive related to OPT-80. We are obligated to pay each of these royalties, if any, on a country-by-country basis for seven years commencing on the applicable commercial launch in each such country.

 

In connection with the exercise of our rights under the prospective buy-back agreement, Par assigned to us a supply agreement with Biocon Limited, or Biocon, regarding the active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, for OPT-80. Under this agreement, Biocon shall supply to us our requirements of the OPT-80 API for certain markets. We may elect to pay to Biocon a $3.0 million prepayment for capital investments made by Biocon, which would be subject to set-offs against future purchases by us of the API for OPT-80. The supply agreement will terminate upon the tenth anniversary of the commercial launch of OPT-80 unless earlier terminated by mutual agreement or material default of either party.

 

Funding Requirements

 

Our future capital uses and requirements depend on numerous factors including, but not limited to, the following:

 

      the progress of our clinical trials, including expenses to support the trials and the milestone payment that may become payable to Par and Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd.;

 

      our ability to establish and maintain strategic collaborations, including licensing and other arrangements;

 

      the costs involved in enforcing or defending patent claims or other intellectual property rights;

 

      the costs and timing of regulatory approvals;

 

      the costs of establishing sales or distribution capabilities;

 

      the success of the commercialization of our products; and

 

      the extent to which we in-license, acquire or invest in other indications, products, technologies and businesses.

 

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements for at least the next 18 months.

 

Until we can generate significant cash from our operations, we expect to continue to fund our operations with existing cash resources that were primarily generated from the proceeds of offerings of our equity securities and collaborations and government grants. In addition, we may finance future cash needs through the sale of additional equity securities, strategic collaboration agreements and debt financing. However, we may not be successful in entering into additional collaboration agreements, in receiving milestone or royalty payments under new or existing collaboration agreements, in obtaining new government grants or in obtaining debt financing. In

 

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addition, we cannot be sure that our existing cash and investment resources will be adequate, that financing will be available when needed or that, if available, financing will be obtained on terms favorable to us or our stockholders. Having insufficient funds may require us to delay, scale-back or eliminate some or all of our development programs, relinquish some or even all of our rights to product candidates at an earlier stage of development or renegotiate less favorable terms than we would otherwise choose. Failure to obtain adequate financing also may adversely affect our ability to operate as a going concern. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, substantial dilution to existing stockholders would likely result. If we raise funds by incurring additional debt financing, the terms of the debt may involve significant cash payment obligations as well as covenants and specific financial ratios that may restrict our ability to operate our business.

 

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

 

Our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments as of September 30, 2007 consisted primarily of money market funds, corporate debt securities, United States government instruments and other readily marketable debt instruments. Our primary exposure to market risk is interest income sensitivity, which is affected by changes in the general level of U.S. interest rates. The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time maximizing the income we receive from our investments without significantly increasing risk. A hypothetical ten percent change in interest rates during the quarter ended September 30, 2007 would have resulted in approximately a $46,000 change in net loss. Accordingly, we would not expect our operating results or cash flows to be affected to any significant degree by the effect of a sudden change in market interest rates applicable to our securities portfolio. In general, money market funds are not subject to market risk because the interest paid on such funds fluctuates with the prevailing interest rate.

 

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

 

As of the end of the period covered by this report, an evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, whom we refer to as our certifying officers, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on their evaluation, our certifying officers concluded that as of the end of the period covered by this report these disclosure controls and procedures are effective in providing reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified by the SEC’s rules and SEC reports.

 

We believe that a controls system, no matter how well designed and operated, is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and therefore can only provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the controls system are met, and no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected.

 

In addition, we have reviewed our internal controls over financial reporting and have made no changes during the three months ended September 30, 2007, that our certifying officers concluded materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

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PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors

 

Risks Related to Our Business

 

We are a company with limited sources of revenue, and we are largely dependent on the success of our lead product candidate OPT-80 and, to a lesser degree, our other lead product candidate Prulifloxacin.

 

We are a biopharmaceutical company with no products approved for commercial sale and, to date, we have not generated any revenues from product sales. Our ability to generate future revenues depends heavily on our success in:

 

      developing and securing U.S. and/or foreign regulatory approvals for OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin and, to a lesser extent, other product candidates;

 

      commercializing any product candidates for which we receive approval from the FDA; and

 

      generating a pipeline of innovative product candidates utilizing our drug discovery platform or through licensing strategies.

 

Our product candidates will require extensive additional clinical study and evaluation, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. We have not submitted an NDA, or received marketing approval for either OPT-80 or Prulifloxacin, and we cannot be certain that either of these product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. If we do not receive regulatory approval for and successfully commercialize OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin, we will not generate any revenues from product sales for several years, if at all, and we may not be able to continue our operations.

 

We believe our initial success will be more dependent on OPT-80 than Prulifloxacin, because we believe that our market for the treatment of CDAD is larger than our market for the treatment of infectious diarrhea. Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approval to market OPT-80 or Prulifloxacin, our revenues for either drug candidate will be dependent upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we have commercial rights. If the markets for the treatment of CDAD or infectious diarrhea are not as significant as we estimate, our business and prospects will be harmed.

 

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We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future.

 

We have experienced significant operating losses since our inception in 1998. As of September 30, 2007, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $90.7 million. We have generated no revenues from product sales to date. We have funded our operations to date from the sale of approximately $154.8 million of our securities and through research funding pursuant to collaborations with partners or government grants. We expect to continue to incur substantial additional operating losses for the next several years as we advance our clinical trials and research and development initiatives and build our marketing and sales capabilities. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing and commercializing antibiotics, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses. We may never successfully commercialize our product candidates and thus may never have any significant future revenues or achieve and sustain profitability.

 

If we fail to obtain additional financing, we may be unable to commercialize OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin or develop and commercialize our other product candidates, or continue our other research and development programs.

 

We will require additional capital to commercialize our current lead product candidates OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. To the extent that we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution. Any debt financing, if available, may require us to pledge our assets as collateral or involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional indebtedness, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could negatively impact our ability to conduct our business. If we are unable to raise additional capital when required or on acceptable terms, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates or one or more of our other research and development initiatives. We also could be required to:

 

 

seek collaborators for one or more of our current or future product candidates at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable or on terms that are less favorable than might otherwise be available; or

 

 

 

 

relinquish or license on unfavorable terms our rights to technologies or product candidates that we otherwise would seek to develop or commercialize ourselves.

 

Any of the above events could significantly harm our business and prospects and could cause our stock price to decline.

 

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We do not currently have sufficient resources to commercialize OPT-80 on our own. If we are unable to raise additional capital or we are unable to find a collaboration partner or are unable to effectively collaborate with one or more partners for the commercialization of OPT-80 or Prulifloxacin, we will not generate revenues from sales of OPT-80 and our business will be materially harmed.

 

We are dependent on third party collaborators and we may be unable to enter into future collaboration agreements or we may have disagreements with these collaborators.

 

We currently plan to build our own marketing and sales force for OPT-80 in North America and Prulifloxacin in the United States. However, we may also seek one or more partners for the commercialization of OPT-80 outside of North America. We cannot be certain that we would be successful in attracting any such partners. If we were not able to find appropriate partners for the continued development and commercialization of OPT-80, we would either have to delay these initiatives which would harm our business and prospects, or raise significant additional funds to develop clinical and commercialization capabilities internally.

 

We are subject to a number of additional risks associated with our dependence on collaborations with third parties. Conflicts may arise between us and collaborators, such as conflicts concerning the interpretation of clinical data, the achievement of milestones, the interpretation of financial provisions or the ownership of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. If any such conflicts arise, a collaborator could act in its own self-interest, which may be adverse to our best interests. Any such disagreement between us and a collaborator could result in one or more of the following, each of which could delay or prevent the development or commercialization of OPT-80, and in turn prevent us from generating sufficient revenues to achieve or maintain profitability:

 

 

reductions in the payment of royalties or other payments we believe are due pursuant to the applicable collaboration arrangement or agreement;

 

 

 

 

uncertainties regarding ownership of intellectual property rights arising from our collaborative activities, which could prevent us from entering into additional collaborations and commercializing such rights;

 

 

 

 

actions taken by a collaborator inside or outside our collaboration which could negatively impact our rights or benefits under our collaboration; or

 

 

 

 

unwillingness on the part of a collaborator to keep us informed regarding the progress of its development and commercialization activities or to permit public disclosure of the results of those activities.

 

In addition, a collaborator may shift its research, development, manufacturing and commercialization resources to other product opportunities including those that might be competitive with OPT-80.

 

If we cannot commercialize OPT-80, we will have to rely solely on Prulifloxacin and earlier stage product candidates for any future revenues, and our ability to achieve and sustain profitability will be materially and adversely harmed.

 

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If we are unable to obtain FDA approval of our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize them in the United States.

 

We need FDA approval prior to marketing our product candidates in the United States. If we fail to obtain FDA approval to market our product candidates, we will be unable to sell our product candidates in the United States, which will significantly impair our ability to generate any revenues.

 

This regulatory review and approval process, which includes evaluation of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates as well as the evaluation of our manufacturing processes and our third-party contract manufacturers’ facilities, is lengthy, expensive and uncertain. To receive approval for a product candidate, we must, among other things, demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials that the product candidate is both safe and effective for each indication for which approval is sought. Satisfaction of the approval requirements typically takes several years and the time needed to satisfy them may vary substantially, based on the type, complexity and novelty of the pharmaceutical product. We cannot predict if or when we might receive regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates currently under development. Moreover, any approvals that we obtain may not cover all of the clinical indications for which we are seeking approval, or could contain significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings, precautions or contra-indications with respect to conditions of use. In such an event, our ability to generate revenues from such products would be greatly reduced and our business would be harmed.

 

The FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process and may either refuse to consider our application for substantive review or may form the opinion after review of our data that our application is insufficient to allow approval of our product candidates. If the FDA does not consider or approve an application that we may submit, it may require that we conduct additional clinical, pre-clinical or manufacturing validation studies and submit that data before it will reconsider our application. Depending on the extent of these or any other studies, approval of any applications that we submit may be delayed by several years, or may require us to expend more resources than we have available. It is also possible that additional studies, if performed and completed, may not be successful or considered sufficient by the FDA for approval or even to make our applications approvable. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to abandon one or more applications for approval that we may submit, which might significantly harm our business and prospects.

 

It is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain the appropriate regulatory approvals necessary for us or our collaborators to commence product sales. Moreover, recent events, including complications arising from FDA-approved drugs such as Vioxx and Ketek, have raised questions about the safety of marketed drugs and may result in increased cautiousness by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in reviewing new drugs based on safety, efficacy or other regulatory approvals. This increased scrutiny by regulatory authorities may result in significant delays in obtaining regulatory approvals, as well as more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing requirements.

 

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Although the FDA has granted Fast Track status to OPT-80 and selected it for participation in a CMA Pilot 2 Program, we cannot be certain that we will receive any benefits from these designations or that the designations will expedite regulatory review or approval of OPT-80. Participation in these programs will not eliminate any phase of clinical development. Moreover, our participation in the CMA Pilot 2 Program will involve frequent scientific discussions and other interactions with the staff of the FDA during the investigational new drug phase of our development of OPT-80. These frequent discussions could subject OPT-80 to a greater level of scrutiny than it might otherwise have received or require us to make more frequent submissions and endure other burdens that would have been avoided if we had not participated in the program. Therefore, despite any potential benefits of OPT-80’s Fast Track and CMA Pilot 2 Program designations, significant uncertainty remains regarding the clinical development and regulatory approval process for OPT-80.

 

Clinical trials involve a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results.

 

Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of pre-clinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through pre-clinical studies and initial clinical testing. In addition, the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain regulatory approval for our product candidates may change. We have not obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate.

 

Even after we complete our planned clinical trials, our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

 

                  the results of our clinical trials may not demonstrate to the satisfaction of or meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for any indication;

 

                  the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials;

 

                  to the results of our clinical trials may not demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;

 

                  to the results of our clinical trials may not demonstrate that a product candidate presents an advantage over existing therapies, or over placebo in any indications for which the FDA requires a placebo-controlled trial;

 

                  the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from pre-clinical studies or clinical trials;

 

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                  the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of a new drug application or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere; and

 

                  the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.

 

Delays in clinical trials are common and have many causes, and any such delays could result in increased costs to us and jeopardize or delay our ability to achieve regulatory approval and commence product sales as currently contemplated.

 

We may experience delays in clinical trials of our product candidates. OPT-80 is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of CDAD. We initiated a second Phase 3 pivotal trial of the same design in the second quarter of 2007. We anticipate completing both of these trials in 2008. If both trials are successful, we intend to file an NDA as soon as practical thereafter. In addition, we are planning to conduct clinical and proof of concept clinical trials for other indications of OPT-80. Prulifloxacin is in two Phase 3 trials for the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea. We intend to conduct a Phase 4 trial of Prulifloxacin subsequent to NDA submission to compare Prulifloxacin to ciprofloxacin. We do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, will need to be redesigned or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays in obtaining regulatory approval to commence a trial, in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical trial sites, in obtaining institutional review board approval at each site, in recruiting suitable patients to participate in a trial, in having patients complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up, in adding new sites or in obtaining sufficient supplies of clinical trial materials. Many factors affect patient enrollment, including the size and nature of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, competing clinical trials, clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the drug being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating and whether the clinical trial design involves comparison to placebo. Several of our principal investigators have stated that the enrollment rate in the clinical trials for OPT-80 has been less than projected. Our original projections were based on enrollment rates for our Phase 2a trial of OPT-80. We continue to experience lower than expected enrollment in the trials and as a result, the trials may not be completed as currently scheduled and we may incur delays in obtaining regulatory approval as well as additional significant expenses. Furthermore, with respect to the clinical trials conducted by third parties, we will have no control over their timing or success.

 

We could encounter delays if prescribing physicians encounter unresolved ethical issues associated with enrolling patients in clinical trials of our product candidates in lieu of prescribing existing antibiotics that have established safety and efficacy profiles or with administering placebo to patients in our placebo-controlled trials. Further, a clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, our collaborators, the FDA or other regulatory authorities due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues

 

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or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. In addition, our Prulifloxacin product candidate treats bacterial infections which tend to peak during high travel seasons. As a result, during certain times of the year, it is more difficult to enroll patients in our trials for Prulifloxacin. If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

We may be required to suspend or discontinue clinical trials due to adverse events, adverse side effects or other safety risks that could preclude approval of our product candidates.

 

Our clinical trials may be suspended at any time for a number of reasons. We may voluntarily suspend or terminate our clinical trials if at any time we believe that they present an unacceptable risk to participants. In addition, regulatory agencies may order the temporary or permanent discontinuation of our clinical trials at any time if they believe that the clinical trials are not being conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements or that they present an unacceptable safety risk to participants. In previous clinical trials of OPT-80, certain patients experienced non-drug related adverse events. Patients treated with Prulifloxacin have experienced drug-related side effects including abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, renal toxicities, cardiac arrhythmias, photosensitivity, rash, excessive flushing of the skin and central nervous system effects, such as seizures. The FDA recommended that we conduct a study to determine the effect, if any, of Prulifloxacin on the prolongation of the QT interval, a condition that is associated with potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Our future clinical trials will involve testing in larger patient populations, which could reveal a high prevalence of these or other side effects. In such event, our trials would be interrupted, delayed or halted and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Even if we believe our product candidates are safe, our data is subject to review by the FDA, which may disagree with our conclusions and delay or deny approval of our product candidates which would significantly harm the commercial prospects of such product candidates. Moreover, we could be subject to significant liability if any volunteer or patient suffers, or appears to suffer, adverse side effects as a result of participating in our clinical trials. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business and prospects.

 

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we and our collaborators may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates.

 

We have entered into agreements with third-party CROs, such as INC Research, Inc. formerly known as Advanced Biologics, LLC, to provide monitors and manage data for our on-going clinical programs.

 

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We and the CROs conducting clinical trials for our product candidates are required to comply with current good clinical practices, or GCPs, regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA for all of our products in clinical development. The FDA enforces GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or the CROs conducting clinical trials of our product candidates fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in the clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA may require additional clinical trials before approving any marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any clinical trials of our product candidates comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under good manufacturing practices regulations, or cGMP, and will require a large number of test subjects. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would be costly and delay the regulatory approval process and commercialization of our product candidates.

 

Typically, the CROs conducting clinical trials of our product candidates have the right to terminate their agreements with us or our collaborators upon notice in the event of an uncured material breach. In addition, some CROs have an ability to terminate their respective agreements with us if we fail to perform our obligations, if it can be reasonably demonstrated that the safety of the subjects participating in our clinical trials warrants such termination, if we make a general assignment for the benefit of our creditors or if we are liquidated. INC Research has been heavily involved in the clinical development and regulatory approval process for our lead product candidates and possesses significant experience with the regulatory process. We substantially rely on INC Research to conduct the clinical trials for OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. INC Research has also subcontracted with other third-party CROs for various aspects of the clinical trials. If any relationships with INC Research or these other third-party CROs terminate, we or our collaborators may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or we may enter into arrangements with alternative CROs that do not have the expertise or relationships that INC Research has with government agencies. In addition, these third-party CROs are not our employees, and we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our on-going clinical programs. These CROs may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical studies or other drug development activities, which could harm our competitive position. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements, or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.

 

If we fail to gain and maintain approval from regulatory authorities in international markets for OPT-80 and any future product candidates for which we have rights in international markets, our market opportunities will be limited.

 

Sales of our product candidates outside of the United States will be subject to foreign regulatory requirements governing clinical trials and marketing approval. Even if the FDA grants marketing approval for a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities of foreign

 

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countries must also approve the manufacturing and marketing of the product candidate in those countries. This is important for the commercialization of OPT-80 for which we currently have exclusive worldwide marketing rights. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and require additional pre-clinical studies or clinical trials which would be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay the introduction of our products in those countries. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. In addition, our failure to obtain regulatory approval in any country may delay or have negative effects on the process for regulatory approval in others. Other than Prulifloxacin, which is sold by other parties in Japan, Italy and certain other European countries, none of our product candidates is approved for sale in any international market for which we have rights, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in our international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to generate revenues will be diminished, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

 

We currently have no marketing and sales organization and have no experience in marketing drug products. If we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to generate product revenues.

 

We currently do not have a sales organization for the marketing, sales and distribution of pharmaceutical products. In order to commercialize any products, we must build our marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services. We plan to build our own marketing and sales force to commercialize OPT-80 in North America and will seek third-party partners outside of North America. We own exclusive rights to commercialize Prulifloxacin in the United States, and we contemplate establishing our own sales force or seeking third-party partners to sell Prulifloxacin in the United States. The establishment and development of our own sales force to market any products we may develop will be expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch, and we cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully develop this capability. We will also have to compete with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to recruit, hire, train and retain marketing and sales personnel. To the extent we rely on third parties to commercialize our products, if any, we may receive less revenues than if we commercialized these products ourselves. In addition, we may have little or no control over the sales efforts of any third parties involved in commercializing our products. In the event we are unable to develop our own marketing and sales force or collaborate with a third-party marketing and sales organization, we would not be able to commercialize our product candidates which would negatively impact our ability to generate product revenues.

 

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We may not be able to enter into acceptable agreements to market and commercialize OPT-80 outside of North America or if, needed, adequately build our own marketing and sales capabilities.

 

If appropriate regulatory approvals are obtained, we intend to commercialize OPT-80 outside of North America through collaboration arrangements with third parties. We may be unable to enter into collaboration arrangements in international markets. In addition, there can be no guarantee that if we enter into these collaboration arrangements with other parties that they will be successful or result in more revenues than we could obtain by marketing OPT-80 on our own. If we are unable to enter into collaboration arrangements for our products or develop an effective international sales force, our ability to generate product revenues would be limited, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If we are unable to enter into such collaboration arrangements, we may need to develop our own marketing and sales force to market OPT-80 in a number of countries in Europe and Latin America to hospital-based and long-term care physicians. These efforts may not be successful as we have no relationships among such hospital-based and long-term care physicians. There is no guarantee that we will be able to develop an effective international sales force to successfully commercialize our products in these international markets.

 

If our product candidates are unable to compete effectively with branded and generic antibiotics, our commercial opportunity would be reduced or eliminated.

 

If approved, our lead product candidates will compete against both branded antibiotic therapies, such as Vancocin Pulvules with respect to OPT-80 and Xifaxan® with respect to Prulifloxacin, and generic antibiotics such as metronidazole and vancomycin with respect to OPT-80 and ciprofloxacin with respect to Prulifloxacin. In addition, we anticipate that OPT-80 will compete with other antibiotic and anti-infective product candidates currently in development for the treatment of CDAD, such as Xifaxan®, an antibiotic being developed by Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. Many of these products have been or will be developed and marketed by major pharmaceutical companies, who have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, pre-clinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, manufacturing and marketing approved products than we do. As a result, these companies may obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we are able to and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products as well. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies.

 

We anticipate that, if approved, OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin will face increasing competition in the form of generic versions of branded products of competitors that will lose their patent exclusivity. For example, OPT-80, if approved, will immediately face steep competition from an inexpensive generic form of metronidazole. OPT-80 currently faces generic oral vancomycin competition in Europe and may face competition from generic oral vancomycin in the United States in 2008. Generic antibiotic therapies typically are sold at lower prices than branded antibiotics and are generally preferred by managed care providers of health services. For example, because metronidazole is sold at such a low price, we believe it will be difficult to sell OPT-80 as a first-line therapy for the treatment of CDAD. If we are unable to demonstrate to physicians and patients that, based on experience, clinical data, side-effect profiles and other

 

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factors, our products are preferable to these generic antibiotic therapies, we may never generate meaningful product revenues. In addition, many antibiotics experience bacterial resistance over time because of their continued use. There can be no guarantee that bacteria would not develop resistance to OPT-80, Prulifloxacin or any of our other product candidates. Our commercial opportunity would also be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize generic or branded antibiotics that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effects or are less expensive than our product candidates.

 

We currently depend, and will in the future continue to depend, on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, including OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. If these manufacturers fail to provide us and our collaborators with adequate supplies of clinical trial materials and commercial product or fail to comply with the requirements of regulatory authorities, we may be unable to develop or commercialize our products.

 

We outsource all manufacturing of clinical trial supplies of our product candidates to third parties. We seek to establish long-term supply arrangements with third-party contract manufacturers. We intend to continue outsourcing the manufacture of our product candidates to third parties for any future clinical trials and large-scale commercialization of any product candidates that receive regulatory approval and become commercial drugs.

 

Our ability to develop and commercialize OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin and any other product candidates depends in part on our ability to arrange for collaborators or other third parties to manufacture our products at a competitive cost, in accordance with strictly enforced regulatory requirements and in sufficient quantities for clinical testing and eventual commercialization. We have not yet manufactured commercial batches of OPT-80, Prulifloxacin or any of our other product candidates. Collaborators or third-party manufacturers that we select to manufacture our product candidates for clinical testing or on a commercial scale may encounter difficulties with the small- and large-scale formulation and manufacturing processes required for such manufacture. Such difficulties could result in delays in clinical trials, regulatory submissions, or commercialization of our product candidates. The inability of us or our collaborators to enter into and maintain agreements with third-party manufacturers on acceptable terms would cause shortages of clinical trial supplies of our product candidates, thereby delaying or preventing regulatory approval and/or commercialization of the affected product candidate, and adversely affecting our ability to generate revenues. Further, development of large-scale manufacturing processes will require additional validation studies, which the FDA must review and approve. Even if we are able to establish additional or replacement manufacturers, identifying these sources and entering into definitive supply agreements and obtaining regulatory approvals may take a substantial amount of time and cost and such supply arrangements may not be available on acceptable economic terms.

 

In addition, we, our collaborators and other third-party manufacturers of our products must comply with current strictly enforced cGMP requirements enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program. These requirements include quality control, quality assurance and the maintenance of records and documentation. We rely on Biocon to manufacture OPT-80 drug supplies. Biocon is the manufacturer and supplier of API for OPT-80 and is located in India. As such, Biocon will be subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and other agencies for compliance with current cGMP, and similar foreign standards. We also rely on

 

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Nippon Shinyaku, which contracts with Juzen Chemical Corporation, or Juzen, and Angelini ACRAF/SpA, or Angelini, to manufacture Prulifloxacin drug supplies. The manufacturing facilities of Biocon and Juzen have been inspected and approved by the FDA for other companies’ drug products; however, neither Biocon’s nor Juzen’s facilities have yet been approved for the manufacture of our drug supplies. Angelini’s facilities have not been inspected or approved by the FDA. We or other third-party manufacturers of our products may be unable to comply with cGMP requirements and with other FDA, state, local and foreign regulatory requirements. We and our collaborators have little control over third-party manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards. A failure to comply with these requirements by our third-party manufacturers, including Biocon, Juzen and Angelini, could result in the issuance of untitled letters and/or warning letters from authorities, as well as sanctions being imposed on us, including fines and civil penalties, suspension of production, suspension or delay in product approval, product seizure or recall or withdrawal of product approval. In addition, we have no control over these manufacturers’ ability to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the safety of any quantities supplied by third parties is compromised due to their failure to adhere to applicable laws or for other reasons, we may not be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business and prospects.

 

The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon attaining significant market acceptance of these product candidates among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and the medical community.

 

Even if our product candidates are approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities for marketing and sale, physicians may not prescribe our product candidates, which would prevent us from generating revenues or becoming profitable. Market acceptance of OPT-80, Prulifloxacin and any of our future product candidates by physicians, patients and healthcare payors will depend on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

      the clinical indications for which the product candidate is approved;

 

      acceptance by physicians and patients of each product candidate as a safe and effective treatment;

 

      perceived advantages over alternative treatments;

 

      the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments, including numerous generic antibiotics;

 

      the extent to which the product candidate is approved for inclusion on formularies of hospitals and managed care organizations;

 

      the extent to which bacteria develop resistance to the product candidate, thereby limiting its efficacy in treating or managing infections;

 

      whether the product candidate is designated under physician treatment guidelines as a first-line therapy or as a second- or third-line therapy for particular infections;

 

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      the availability of adequate reimbursement by third parties, such as insurance companies and other healthcare payors;

 

      limitations or warnings contained in a product’s FDA-approved labeling;

 

      relative convenience and ease of administration; and

 

      prevalence and severity of adverse side effects.

 

Because OPT-80 is a differentiated antibiotic for the treatment of CDAD, it may encounter additional hurdles to market acceptance by physicians, who may be skeptical about its clinical benefits or healthcare payors who may resist reimbursing a premium-priced therapeutic particularly in light of the availability of generic alternatives.

 

We plan to target our marketing of Prulifloxacin primarily to high-prescribing physicians of antibiotics for travelers’ diarrhea, including those at travel clinics. Because of the number of these physicians in the United States, we will be required to expend significant time and resources to obtain broad market acceptance of Prulifloxacin among these physicians. We do not have experience in marketing to this population of physicians and do not currently have the resources to be able to conduct such marketing efforts on our own. As such, we may not be successful in any of these marketing efforts which would limit the commercial success of Prulifloxacin. In addition, because Prulifloxacin has already been marketed by other companies to treat a wide range of bacterial infections, including infectious diarrhea, urinary tract infections, or UTIs, and respiratory tract infections, or RTIs, patients may be able to obtain Prulifloxacin from these other companies, and not from us, if Prulifloxacin is approved in the market where the patient is located. We have rights to Prulifloxacin only in the United States. These patients may obtain Prulifloxacin in these other markets from other companies even if these patients are from the United States.

 

If we fail to develop and commercialize other products or product candidates, we may be unable to grow our business.

 

A key element of our strategy is to commercialize a portfolio of new anti-infective products in addition to OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. As a significant part of our growth strategy, we intend to develop and commercialize additional products and product candidates through our discovery research program using our proprietary technology, including OPopS. The success of this strategy depends upon our ability to identify, select and acquire pharmaceutical product candidates and products that fit into our development plans on terms that are acceptable to us.

 

Any product candidate we identify may require additional development efforts prior to commercial sale, including pre-clinical studies, extensive clinical testing and approval by the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities. All product candidates are prone to the risks of failure that are inherent in pharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that the product candidate will not be shown to be sufficiently safe and/or effective for approval by regulatory authorities. In addition, we cannot assure you that any such products that are approved will be manufactured or produced economically, successfully commercialized or

 

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widely accepted in the marketplace or be more effective than other commercially available alternatives.

 

A significant portion of the research that we are conducting involves new and unproven technologies. Research programs to identify new disease targets and product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources whether or not we ultimately identify any candidates. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development.

 

If we are unable to develop suitable potential product candidates through internal research programs or by obtaining rights to novel therapeutics from third parties, our business and prospects will suffer.

 

Our focus on drug discovery and development using our technology platform, including our patented proprietary OPopS drug discovery platform, is novel and unique. As a result, we cannot be certain that our product candidates will produce commercially viable drugs that safely and effectively treat infectious diseases or other diseases. To date, our technology platform has yielded only a small number of anti-infective product candidates. In addition, we do not have significant clinical data with respect to any of these potential product candidates. Even if we are successful in completing clinical development and receiving regulatory approval for one commercially viable drug for the treatment of one disease using our technology platform and carbohydrate chemistry focus, we cannot be certain that we will also be able to develop and receive regulatory approval for other drug candidates for the treatment of other forms of that disease or other diseases. If we fail to develop and commercialize viable drugs using our platform and specialized focus, we will not be successful in developing a pipeline of potential product candidates to follow OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin, and our business prospects would be harmed significantly.

 

Our future growth depends on our ability to identify and acquire or in-license products. If we do not successfully identify and acquire or in-license related product candidates or integrate them into our operations, we may have limited growth opportunities.

 

We in-licensed the U.S. rights to Prulifloxacin from Nippon Shinyaku who, along with Meiji-Seika Kaisha Ltd., conducted the initial development of this product candidate. An important part of our business strategy is to continue to develop a pipeline of product candidates by acquiring or in-licensing products, businesses or technologies that we believe are a strategic fit for our business. Future in-licenses or acquisitions, however, may entail numerous operational and financial risks, including:

 

      exposure to unknown liabilities;

 

      disruption of our business and diversion of our management’s time and attention to develop acquired products or technologies;

 

      incurrence of substantial debt or dilutive issuances of securities to pay for acquisitions;

 

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      higher than expected acquisition and integration costs;

 

      increased amortization expenses;

 

      difficulty and cost in combining the operations and personnel of any acquired businesses with our operations and personnel;

 

      impairment of relationships with key suppliers or customers of any acquired businesses due to changes in management and ownership; and

 

      inability to retain key employees of any acquired businesses.

 

We have limited resources to identify and execute the acquisition or in-licensing of third-party products, businesses and technologies and integrate them into our current infrastructure. In particular, we may compete with larger pharmaceutical companies and other competitors in our efforts to establish new collaborations and in-licensing opportunities. These competitors likely will have access to greater financial resources than us and may have greater expertise in identifying and evaluating new opportunities. Moreover, we may devote resources to potential acquisitions or in-licensing opportunities that are never completed, or we may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such efforts.

 

If we do not find collaborators for our future product candidates, we may be required to reduce or delay our rate of product development and commercialization and/or increase our expenditures.

 

Our strategy to develop and commercialize our product candidates in pre-clinical studies or early clinical trials includes entering into relationships with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to advance our programs. We may not be able to negotiate collaborations with these partners on acceptable terms. If we are unable to establish collaborative arrangements, we may be required to reduce or delay further development of some of our programs and/or increase our expenditures and undertake the development activities at our own expense.

 

If we are able to identify and reach agreement with collaborators for our product candidates, those relationships will also be subject to a number of risks, including:

 

      collaborators may not pursue further development and commercialization of product candidates resulting from our collaboration or may elect not to renew research and development programs;

 

      collaborators may delay clinical trials, underfund a clinical trial program, stop a clinical trial or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct additional clinical trials or require the development of a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing;

 

      a collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to one or more of our products may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of our

 

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products, limiting our potential revenues from the commercialization of these products; and

 

      disputes may arise delaying or terminating the research, development or commercialization of our product candidates, or result in significant litigation or arbitration.

 

Even if we successfully establish collaborations or commercial agreements, these relationships may never result in the successful development or commercialization of any product candidates or the generation of sales or royalty revenues.

 

Our ability to pursue the development and commercialization of Prulifloxacin, our other product candidates and our future product candidates depends upon the continuation of our licenses from third parties.

 

Our license agreement with Nippon Shinyaku provides us with an exclusive license to develop and commercialize Prulifloxacin for any indication in the United States, with a right to sublicense to third parties. In the event Nippon Shinyaku is not able to supply us with Prulifloxacin, the license agreement provides us with a non-exclusive, worldwide right and license to manufacture or have Prulifloxacin manufactured for us. Either we or Nippon Shinyaku may terminate the license agreement immediately upon the bankruptcy or dissolution of the other party or upon a breach of any material provision of the agreement if the breach is not cured within 60 days following written notice. In addition, we are entitled to terminate the agreement in the event that the FDA compels us to cease sales of Prulifloxacin in the United States. If our license agreement with Nippon Shinyaku terminates, we will lose our rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Prulifloxacin and our potential revenues would be limited. Similarly, if our agreement with TSRI for the license of our OPopS technology is terminated, we will not be able to further develop future product candidates using our OPopS technology.

 

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.

 

We face an inherent risk of product liability lawsuits related to the testing of our product candidates, and will face an even greater risk if product candidates are introduced commercially. An individual may bring a liability claim against us if one of our product candidates causes, or merely appears to have caused, an injury. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against the product liability claim, we may incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

 

      decreased demand for our product candidates;

 

      injury to our reputation;

 

      termination of clinical trial sites or entire clinical trial programs;

 

      withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

 

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      significant litigation costs;

 

      substantial monetary awards to or costly settlement with patients;

 

      product recalls;

 

      loss of revenues; and

 

      the inability to commercialize our product candidates.

 

We may become dependent upon consumer perceptions of us and the safety and quality of our product candidates. We could be adversely affected if we or our product candidates are subject to negative publicity. We could also be adversely affected if any of our potential products or any similar products distributed by other companies prove to be, or are asserted to be, harmful to consumers. Also, because of our dependence upon consumer perceptions, any adverse publicity associated with illness or other adverse effects resulting from consumers’ use or misuse of our potential products or any similar products distributed by other companies could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

 

We have global clinical trial liability insurance that covers our clinical trials up to a $6.0 million annual aggregate limit. Our current or future insurance coverage may prove insufficient to cover any liability claims brought against us. We intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products if marketing approval is obtained for our product candidates, which would increase our insurance premiums. Because of the increasing costs of insurance coverage, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

 

Even if we receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing significant regulatory obligations and oversight.

 

Even if we receive regulatory approval to sell our product candidates, the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities will likely impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses or marketing of such products, or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies. In addition, following any regulatory approval of our product candidates, we and our collaborators will be subject to continuing regulatory obligations, such as requirements for storage, recordkeeping and safety reporting, and additional post-marketing obligations, including regulatory oversight of the labeling, packaging, promotion and marketing of our products. If we or our collaborators become aware of previously unknown problems with any of our product candidates in the United States or overseas or at our third-party manufacturers’ facilities, a regulatory agency may impose restrictions on our products, our third-party manufacturers or on us, including requiring us to reformulate our products, conduct additional clinical trials, make changes in the labeling of our products, implement changes to, or obtain re-approvals of, our third-party manufacturers’ facilities, or withdraw the product from the market. In addition, we or our collaborators may experience a significant drop in the sales of the affected products and our product revenues will be reduced, our reputation in the marketplace may suffer and we may become the target of lawsuits, including class action suits. Moreover, if we or our collaborators or third-party manufacturers fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, we may be

 

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subject to civil or criminal fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions, costly new manufacturing requirements and criminal prosecution. Any of these events could harm or prevent sales of the affected products and reduce our related revenues or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of commercializing and marketing these products, which would significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

If we fail to attract and retain senior management and key scientific personnel, we may be unable to successfully develop our product candidates, conduct our clinical trials and commercialize our product candidates.

 

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management, clinical and scientific personnel and on our ability to develop and maintain important relationships with leading academic institutions, clinicians and scientists. We are highly dependent upon our senior management and scientific staff, particularly Michael N. Chang, Ph.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer, Tessie M. Che, Ph.D., our Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Youe-Kong Shue, Ph.D., our Vice President, Clinical Development, and Kevin P. Poulos, our Vice President, Marketing and Sales. The loss of services of any of Dr. Chang, Dr. Che, Dr. Shue or Mr. Poulos or one or more of our other members of senior management could delay or prevent the successful completion of our planned clinical trials or the commercialization of our product candidates. Replacing key employees may be difficult and costly and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to develop and commercialize products successfully. We do not maintain “key person” insurance policies on the lives of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees. We employ these individuals on an at-will basis and their employment can be terminated by us or them at any time, for any reason and with or without notice.

 

We will need to hire additional personnel as we expand our clinical development and commercial activities. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified management and scientific personnel on acceptable terms in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses, particularly in the San Diego, California area. If we are not able to attract and retain the necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints that will impede significantly the achievement of our research and development objectives, our ability to raise additional capital and our ability to implement our business strategy. In particular, if we lose any members of our senior management team, we may not be able to find suitable replacements, and our business and prospects may be harmed as a result.

 

We will need to increase the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing growth.

 

We are a small company with 43 employees as of November 1, 2007. To continue our clinical trials and commercialize our product candidates, we will need to expand our employee base for managerial, operational, marketing, sales, financial and other resources. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain and integrate additional employees and may take time away from

 

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running other aspects of our business, including development and commercialization of our product candidates. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth effectively. To that end, we must be able to:

 

      manage our development efforts effectively;

 

      manage our current clinical trials for OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin effectively;

 

      integrate additional management, administrative and manufacturing personnel;

 

      build a marketing and sales organization; and

 

      maintain sufficient administrative, accounting and management information systems and controls.

 

We may not be able to accomplish these tasks, and accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals. Our failure to accomplish any of these goals could harm our financial results and prospects.

 

Third-party payor coverage and reimbursement may be insufficient or unavailable altogether for our product candidates, which could diminish our sales or affect our ability to sell our products profitably.

 

Market acceptance and sales of our product candidates will depend on reimbursement policies and may be affected by future healthcare reform measures. Government third-party payors, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and private payors, including health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels for these drugs. Because third-party payors increasingly are challenging prices charged and the cost-effectiveness of medical products, significant uncertainty exists as to the ability of our product candidates to receive adequate coverage and reimbursement. We cannot be sure that third-party payors will place our product candidates on approved formularies or that reimbursement will be available in whole or in part for any of our product candidates. Also, we cannot be sure that insufficient reimbursement amounts will not reduce the demand for, or the price of, our products.

 

Many healthcare providers, such as hospitals, receive a fixed reimbursement amount per procedure or other treatment therapy, and these amounts are not necessarily based on the actual costs incurred. As a result, these healthcare providers may choose only the least expensive therapies regardless of efficacy. We cannot guarantee that our product candidates will be the least expensive alternative and thus providers may decide not to use them or buy them for treatment.

 

We have not commenced efforts to have our product candidates reimbursed by government or third-party payors. If reimbursement is not available or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to commercialize our products successfully or at all, which would harm our business and prospects.

 

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Recent proposed legislation may permit re-importation of drugs from foreign countries into the United States, including foreign countries where the drugs are sold at lower prices than in the United States, which could materially adversely affect our operating results and our overall financial condition.

 

We may face competition for our products from lower priced products from foreign countries that have placed price controls on pharmaceutical products. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, or MMA, contains provisions that may change U.S. importation laws and expand consumers’ ability to import lower priced versions of our and competing products from Canada, where there are government price controls. These changes to U.S. importation laws will not take effect unless and until the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifies that the changes will lead to substantial savings for consumers and will not create a public health safety issue. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has not yet announced any plans to make the required certification. Even if the changes do not take effect, and other changes are not enacted, imports from Canada and elsewhere may continue to increase due to market and political forces, and the limited enforcement resources of the FDA, the U.S. Customs Service, and other government agencies. For example, Pub. L. No. 109-295, which was signed into law on October 4, 2006 and provides appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2007, expressly prohibits the U.S. Customs Service from using funds to prevent individuals from importing from Canada less than a 90-day supply of a prescription drug for personal use, when the drug otherwise complies with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Further, several states and local governments have implemented importation schemes for their citizens, and, in the absence of federal action to curtail such activities, we expect other states and local governments to launch importation efforts. The importation of foreign products that compete with our own product candidates could negatively impact our business and prospects.

 

Current healthcare laws and regulations and future legislative or regulatory reforms to the healthcare system may affect our ability to sell our product candidates profitably.

 

In both the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we anticipate there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably. In particular, the MMA added an outpatient prescription drug benefit to Medicare, the publicly-funded health insurance program in the United States generally for the elderly and disabled, which became effective on January 1, 2006. Drug benefits under this new benefit are administered through private plans that negotiate price concessions from pharmaceutical manufacturers. We cannot be certain that OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin or other current or future drug candidates will successfully be placed on the list of drugs covered by particular health plan formularies, nor can we predict the negotiated price for our drug candidates, which will be determined by market factors.

 

The MMA also changed the formula for determining payment for certain drugs, which include drugs provided in physician offices and other outpatient settings. Further, with respect to the Medicaid program, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made changes to certain formulas used to calculate pharmacy reimbursement under Medicaid, the health insurance program in the United States generally for individuals and families with low incomes and resources, which became effective on January 1, 2007. These changes could lead to reduced payments to pharmacies. Many states have also created preferred drug lists and include drugs on those lists only when the

 

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manufacturers agree to pay a supplemental rebate. If OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin or other current or future drug candidates are not included on these preferred drug lists, physicians may not be inclined to prescribe them to their Medicaid patients, thereby diminishing the potential market for our products.

 

As a result of legislative proposals and the trend towards managed healthcare in the United States, third-party payors are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drugs. They may also refuse to provide any coverage of uses of approved products for medical indications other than those for which the FDA has granted market approvals. As a result, significant uncertainty exists as to whether and how much third-party payors will reimburse for newly-approved drugs, which in turn will put pressure on the pricing of drugs. Further, we do not have experience in ensuring approval by applicable third-party payors outside of the United States for reimbursement of our products. The availability of numerous generic antibiotics at lower prices than branded antibiotics can also be expected to substantially reduce the likelihood of reimbursement for OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin. We also anticipate pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our products due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals.

 

We must comply with federal and state “fraud and abuse” laws, and, if we are unable to fully comply with such laws, we could face substantial penalties, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

We are subject to various federal and state laws pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse, including anti-kickback laws and physician self-referral laws. Violations of these laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, in some instances, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of operations. We believe that our operations are in material compliance with such laws. However, because of the far-reaching nature of these laws, there can be no assurance that we would not be required to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws. In addition, there can be no assurance that the occurrence of one or more violations of these laws or regulations would not result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our business involves the use of hazardous materials and we and our third-party manufacturers must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do business.

 

Our third-party manufacturers’ activities and, to a lesser extent, our own activities involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials, including the components of our product candidates and other hazardous compounds. We and our manufacturers are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. Although we believe that the safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. We currently have insurance coverage in the amount of approximately $250,000 for damage claims arising from contamination on our property. These amounts may not be sufficient

 

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to adequately protect us from liability for damage claims relating to contamination. If we are subject to liability exceeding our insurance coverage amounts, our business and prospects would be harmed. In the event of an accident, state or federal authorities may also curtail our use of these materials and interrupt our business operations.

 

Our business and operations would suffer in the event of computer, telecommunications or other system failure.

 

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. Any system failure, accident or security breach that causes interruptions in our operations could result in a material disruption of our drug development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial information from completed or ongoing clinical trials for OPT-80 or Prulifloxacin, which is maintained by our third-party CRO, could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we may incur liability and the further development of our product candidates may be delayed.

 

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

 

It is difficult and costly to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies, and we may not be able to ensure their protection.

 

Our commercial success will depend in part on obtaining and maintaining patent protection and trade secret protection of the use, formulation and structure of our product candidates, and the methods used to manufacture them, as well as successfully defending these patents against third-party challenges, including those from generic drug manufacturers. Our ability to protect our product candidates from unauthorized making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing by third parties is dependent upon the extent to which we have rights under valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets that cover these activities.

 

The patent positions of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology patents has emerged to date in the United States. The biotechnology patent situation outside the United States is even more uncertain. Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property. Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our licensed patents, our patents or in third-party patents.

 

The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, because legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep our competitive advantage. For example:

 

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      others may be able to make compounds that are similar to our product candidates but that are not covered by the claims of our pending patent applications or licensed patents, or for which we are not licensed under our license agreements;

 

      others may be able to make competing pharmaceutical formulations containing our product candidates or components of our product formulations but that are not covered by the claims of our licensed patents, or for which we are not licensed under our license agreements;

 

      we or our licensors might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by our pending patent applications or the pending patent applications and issued patents of our licensors;

 

      we or our licensors might not have been the first to file patent applications for these inventions;

 

      others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies;

 

      it is possible that our pending patent applications or our licensed patent applications will not result in issued patents;

 

      our pending patent applications or the pending patent applications and issued patents of our licensors may not provide us with any competitive advantages, may be designed around by our competitors, including generic drug companies, or may be held invalid or unenforceable as a result of legal challenges by third parties;

 

      we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable; or

 

      the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.

 

In addition, to the extent we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for one of our lead product candidates or in the event such patent protection expires, it may no longer be cost effective to extend our portfolio by pursuing additional development of a product candidate for follow-on indications.

 

While we have filed 6 patent applications for OPT-80, we do not yet have any issued patents for OPT-80.

 

These patent applications related to OPT-80 encompass various topics relating to:

 

      composition of matter;

 

      crystalline polymorphs

 

      manufacture process;

 

      treatment of diseases;

 

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      methods of treating Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus  and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus  infections; and

 

      formulation.

 

If we are unable to obtain a composition of matter patent, our competitors, including generic drug companies, may be able to design other similar formulations of the active ingredient of OPT-80. Furthermore, even if these process and formulation patent applications become issued patents, our competitors, including generic drug companies, may be able to design around our manufacturing processes or formulation for OPT-80. As a result, our competitors may be able to develop competing products.

 

In addition, assuming our clinical trials are successful and completed in a timely manner, we currently plan to launch Prulifloxacin for the treatment of infectious diarrhea in 2009. However, the patent covering Prulifloxacin is scheduled to expire in February 2009, and due to this short remaining patent life we may be forced to abandon plans to pursue development and approval of Prulifloxacin for any indications, including infectious diarrhea. Although we also currently plan to apply for an extension of this patent term until 2014, we cannot assure you that the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, will grant the extension for the full additional five years, or at all. In either event, our business and prospects would be significantly harmed.

 

We depend, in part, on our licensors and collaborators to protect a portion of our proprietary rights. In such cases, our licensors and collaborators may be primarily or wholly responsible for the maintenance of patents and prosecution of patent applications relating to important areas of our business. For example, Nippon Shinyaku, SKI, TSRI and Cempra are responsible for the maintenance of patents and prosecution of patent applications relating to Prulifloxacin, OPT-822/OPT-821 combination therapy, our OPopS technology, and OPT-1068 and OPT-1273, respectively. We may also be dependent on Par to provide technical support for a certain patent application relating to OPT-80 formulation. If any of these parties fail to adequately protect these product candidates with issued patents, our business and prospects would be significantly harmed.

 

Under our agreement with Nippon Shinyaku, in the event Nippon Shinyaku fails to take all steps necessary to seek extension of the patents licensed to us in the United States 180 days after we request such action be taken, then we have the right to take all necessary actions to extend the licensed patents. Our agreements with SKI, TSRI, Cempra and Par do not have explicit provisions regarding our rights to take necessary action with respect to maintenance of patents and prosecution of patent applications nor do such agreements provide us with any legal recourse in the event such parties do not so maintain and/or prosecute. If any of these parties fails to adequately maintain patents and prosecute patent applications relating to technology licensed to or from us, we may be required to take further action on our own to protect this technology. However, we may not be successful in maintaining such patents or prosecuting such patent applications and if so, our business and prospects would be significantly harmed.

 

We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. Although we use reasonable efforts to protect our trade secrets, our employees, consultants,

 

48



 

contractors, outside scientific collaborators and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our information to competitors. Enforcing a claim that a third-party entity illegally obtained and is using any of our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect trade secrets. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how.

 

If we or our licensors fail to obtain or maintain patent protection or trade secret protection for our product candidates or our technologies, third parties could use our proprietary information, which could impair our ability to compete in the market and adversely affect our ability to generate revenues and attain profitability.

 

We may incur substantial costs as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to our patent, trademark and other intellectual property rights, and we may be unable to protect our rights to, or use, our technology.

 

If we choose to go to court to stop someone else from using our inventions, that individual or company has the right to ask the court to rule that the underlying patents are invalid and/or should not be enforced against that third party. These lawsuits are expensive and would consume time and other resources even if we were successful in stopping the infringement of these patents. There is also the risk that, even if the validity of these patents is upheld, the court will refuse to stop the other party on the ground that such other party’s activities do not infringe our rights to these patents.

 

Furthermore, a third party may claim that we or our manufacturing or commercialization partners are using inventions covered by the third party’s patent rights and may go to court to stop us from engaging in our normal operations and activities, including making, using or selling our product candidates. These lawsuits are costly and could affect our results of operations and divert the attention of managerial and technical personnel. There is a risk that a court would decide that we or our commercialization partners are infringing the third party’s patents and would order us or our partners to stop the activities covered by the patents. In addition, there is a risk that a court will order us or our partners to pay the other party damages for having violated the other party’s patents. We have indemnified our commercial partners against patent infringement claims and thus would be responsible for any of their costs associated with such claims and actions. The biotechnology industry has produced a proliferation of patents, and it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of use. The coverage of patents is subject to interpretation by the courts and the interpretation is not always uniform. If we are sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrate that our products or methods of use either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant patent and/or that the patent claims are invalid, and we may not be able to do this. Proving invalidity, in particular, is difficult since it requires a showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued patents.

 

Although we have conducted searches of third-party patents with respect to OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin, these searches may not have identified all third-party patents relevant to those products and we have not conducted an extensive search of patents issued to third parties with respect to our other product candidates. Consequently, no assurance can be given that third-party

 

49



 

patents containing claims covering our products, technology or methods do not exist, have not been filed, or could not be filed or issued. Because of the number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our technical areas or fields, we believe there is a risk that third parties may allege they have patent rights encompassing our products, technology or methods. In addition, we have not conducted an extensive search of third-party trademarks, so no assurance can be given that such third-party trademarks do not exist, have not been filed, could not be filed or issued, or could not exist under common trademark law. While we have filed a trademark application for the names “Optimer” and “Optimer Pharmaceuticals,” we are aware that the name “Optimer” has been registered as a trademark with the PTO by more than one third party, including one in the biotechnology space. As such, we believe there is a significant risk that third parties may allege they have trademark rights encompassing the names for which we have applied for protection.

 

Because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until eighteen months after filing, and because publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications for technology covered by our licensors’ issued patents or our pending applications or our licensors’ pending applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to invent the technology. Our competitors may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering technology similar to ours. Any such patent application may have priority over our or our licensors’ patent applications and could further require us to obtain rights to issued patents covering such technologies. If another party has filed a U.S. patent application on inventions similar to ours, we may have to participate in an interference proceeding declared by the PTO, to determine priority of invention in the United States. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that such efforts would be unsuccessful, resulting in a loss of our U.S. patent position with respect to such inventions.

 

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

 

Risks Related to the Securities Market and Ownership of Our Common Stock

 

The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile.

 

Before our initial public offering in February 2007, there was no public market for our common stock. We cannot assure you that an active trading market will exist for our common stock. You may not be able to sell your shares quickly or at the market price if trading in our common stock is not active.

 

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

50



 

      announcement of FDA or comparable foreign regulatory agency approval or non-approval of our product candidates, or specific label indications for their use, or delays in the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory agency review process;

 

      actions taken by the FDA or other regulatory agencies with respect to our product candidates, clinical trials, manufacturing process or marketing and sales activities;

 

      changes in laws or regulations applicable to our products, including but not limited to clinical trial requirements for approvals;

 

      the success of our development efforts and clinical trials, particularly with respect to OPT-80 and Prulifloxacin;

 

      announcements by our collaborators with respect to clinical trial results and communications from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory agencies;

 

      the success of our efforts to acquire or in-license additional products or product candidates;

 

      developments concerning our collaborations and partnerships, including but not limited to those with our sources of manufacturing supply and our commercialization partners;

 

      actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results;

 

      announcements of technological innovations by us, our collaborators or our competitors;

 

      new products or services introduced or announced by us or our commercialization partners, or our competitors and the timing of these introductions or announcements;

 

      third-party coverage or reimbursement policies;

 

      actual or anticipated changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts;

 

      conditions or trends in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries;

 

      announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

 

      general economic and market conditions and other factors that may be unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors;

 

      changes in the market valuations of similar companies;

 

      sales of common stock or other securities by us or our stockholders in the future;

 

51



 

      additions or departures of key scientific or management personnel;

 

      disputes or other developments relating to intellectual property, proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our technologies; and

 

      trading volume of our common stock.

 

In addition, the stock market in general and the market for biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies in particular have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated and/or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry factors may significantly harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

 

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to decline.

 

On August 7, 2007, our 180-day lock-up agreements between our underwriters and our security holders prior to our public offering expired. As a result, persons who were our stockholders prior to the sale of shares in our initial public offering continue to hold a substantial number of shares of our common stock that many of them are now able to sell in the public market. Significant portions of these shares are held by a small number of stockholders. Sales by our stockholders of a substantial number of shares, or the expectation that such sales may occur, could significantly reduce the market price of our common stock. Moreover, the holders of a substantial number of shares of our common stock have rights, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements to permit the resale of their shares in the public market or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders.

 

We have also registered all common stock that we may issue under our employee benefits plans. As a result, these shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to restrictions under the securities laws and any applicable lock-up agreement. In addition, our directors and executive officers may in the future establish programmed selling plans under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act for the purpose of effecting sales of our common stock. If any of these events cause a large number of our shares to be sold in the public market, the sales could reduce the trading price of our common stock and impede our ability to raise future capital.

 

Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exercise significant influence over matters subject to stockholder approval.

 

As of November 1, 2007, our executive officers, directors and their respective affiliates, currently beneficially own approximately 14.1% of our common stock. Accordingly, these

 

52



 

stockholders will likely be able to influence the composition of our board of directors, influence the approval of all matters requiring stockholder approval and continue to have significant influence over our operations. This concentration of ownership could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in our control or otherwise discouraging a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of us, which in turn could cause the market value of our common stock to decline.

 

We will incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

 

As a public company, we are and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. Until we are able to implement comprehensive accounting policies and procedures, we may not be able to prepare and disclose, in a timely manner, our financial statements and other required disclosures or comply with existing or new reporting requirements. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Global Market, or Nasdaq, have imposed various new requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these new compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to maintain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain the same or similar coverage.

 

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective internal controls for financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. In particular, commencing in fiscal 2008, we must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management and our independent registered public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. Our compliance with Section 404 will require that we incur substantial accounting expense and expend significant management efforts. We currently do not have an internal audit group, and we will need to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge. We currently have five employees dedicated full-time to accounting and finance matters. In the future we will hire additional full-time employees in the accounting and finance department, as necessary, to ensure we have effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. We also hire consultants from time to time to address these matters. If we are unable to hire adequate accounting and finance personnel, we may not be able to meet our public company reporting and governance obligations, including those set forth under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Moreover, if we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our stock

 

53



 

could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

 

Some provisions of our charter documents and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

 

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would benefit our stockholders, or remove our current management. These provisions include:

 

      a board of directors divided into three classes serving staggered three-year terms, such that not all members of the board will be elected at one time;

 

      authorizing the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval;

 

      limiting the removal of directors by the stockholders;

 

      prohibiting stockholder action by written consent, thereby requiring all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;

 

      a requirement of approval of not less than 66 2/3% of all outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote to amend any bylaws by stockholder action, or to amend specific provisions of our certificate of incorporation;

 

      eliminating the ability of stockholders to call a special meeting of stockholders; and

 

      establishing advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings.

 

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with a stockholder owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless such transactions are approved by our board of directors. This provision could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control, whether or not it is desired by or beneficial to our stockholders. Such a delay or prevention of a change of control transaction could cause the market price of our stock to decline.

 

54



 

Item 6. Exhibits

 

Exhibit
No.

 

 

 

Description of Document

3.1

 

(2)

 

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the registrant.

3.2

 

(4)

 

Amended and Restated Bylaws of the registrant.

4.1

 

(3)

 

Form of Common Stock Certificate of the registrant.

4.2

 

(1)

 

Warrant Agreement between the registrant and Pacific Sorrento Technology Park dated June 1, 2000.

4.3

 

(1)

 

Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement by and among the registrant and certain stockholders of the registrant dated November 30, 2005.

4.4

 

(6)

 

Registration Rights Agreement, dated October 23, 2007, by and between the registrant and the purchasers listed on the signature pages thereto.

10.1

 

(4)

 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended.

10.2

 

(5)

 

Summary of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2007 Incentive Compensation Plan.

31.1

 

 

 

Certification of principal executive officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a).

31.2

 

 

 

Certification of principal financial officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a).

32

 

 

 

Certification by the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Registrant, as required by Rule 13a-14(b) or 15d-14(b) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1350).

 


  +

 

Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

(1)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 on November 9, 2006.

(2)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Amendment No. 3 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 on January 22, 2007.

(3)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Amendment No. 4 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 on February 5, 2007.

(4)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K on September 18, 2007.

(5)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K on July 23, 2007.

(6)

 

Filed with Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K on October 29, 2007.

 

55



 

SIGNATURE

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

 

OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dated: November 9, 2007

 

 

By:

/s/ John D. Prunty

 

 

 

 

Name:

John D. Prunty

 

 

 

 

Title:

Chief Financial Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Duly Authorized Officer and Principal Financial
and Accounting Officer)

 

56


EX-31.1 2 a07-25916_1ex31d1.htm EX-31.1

Exhibit 31.1

 

CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER

 

I, Michael N. Chang, certify that:

 

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;

 

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

 

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

 

4. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

 

a)         designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including any consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

b)        evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

 

c)         disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

 

a)         all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

 

b)        any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

Date: November 9, 2007

 

/s/ Michael N. Chang

 

Michael N. Chang

 

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 


EX-31.2 3 a07-25916_1ex31d2.htm EX-31.2

Exhibit 31.2

 

CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL OFFICER

 

I, John D. Prunty, certify that:

 

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;

 

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

 

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

 

4. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

 

a)         designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including any consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

b)        evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

 

c)         disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

 

a)         all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

 

b)        any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

Date: November 9, 2007

 

/s/ John D. Prunty

 

John D. Prunty

 

Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 

 


EX-32 4 a07-25916_1ex32.htm EX-32

Exhibit 32

 

CERTIFICATION

 

Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted), Michael N. Chang, the Chief Executive Officer of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company”), and John D. Prunty, the Chief Financial Officer of the Company, each hereby certifies that, to the best of his knowledge:

 

1.

 

The Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, to which this Certification is attached as Exhibit 32 (the “Quarterly Report”), fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and

 

 

 

2.

 

The information contained in the Quarterly Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition of the Company at the end of the period covered by the Quarterly Report and results of operations of the Company for the period covered by the Quarterly Report.

 

Dated: November 9, 2007

 

/s/ Michael N. Chang

 

/s/ John D. Prunty

Michael N. Chang

 

John D. Prunty

Chief Executive Officer

 

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Executive Officer)

 

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 

A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.

 

This certification accompanies the Form 10-Q to which it relates, is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filling of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (whether made before or after the date of the Form 10-Q), irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.

 


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